I'm looking to invest in the stock market, where do I begin?

[Dave]

I'm 22 years old and interested in investing in the stock market. I want to know the ins and outs of how it works and want to know the best way to make money. Who do I go to talk to and get started? I don't have a lot of money, so what would be the best company to invest in? I know tech companies like Apple, and Google are hot right now. Also Facebook will be making an IPO soon, so I might bank on that.

[Rob]

visit library info free.
don't have much $$ = invest in
education of career - highest ROI
invest in getting debt - good ROI
if some one tells u of investment
and u can't explain it to 8th grader-
Run with $$ away.

[C B]

There is a tutorial at Morningstar.com where you can learn at your own pace. You may want to investigate Sharebuilder.com where you can invest small amounts on a monthly basis. The fees at a brokerage are hard to justify when you only have a small amount. You may also want to check out Moneypaper.com for dividend investment programs available from some major corporations. Have fun!

[Shalu Garg]

U hv very gud knowledge. U shud go ahead with IT sector n alsomake your portfolio diversified.invest in debentures to make your portfolio safe.

[proud2bpinoy]

Stock market is very risky so it is better to educate yourself first on the ins and outs of the stock market

In other words you have to know first what you're getting in to (what are the possible risks) before taking a dive in.

Take sone stock market seminar thats a.good start or if you happen to know a broker he/zhe will ne your main source of info ( brokers are the masters of tje.stock market)

Once you're well educated plan your portfolio ( list of stock you are going to buy)
asking this queztion to yourself to help
Are you a risk taker (willing to take on a very high chance of loss for a high amount of return) or risk averse ( opposite of risk taker)?
Generally there ard two main types of stocks however these are not the only types

The growth stocks (has the potential to grow in price in the near future like Apple) and the value stocks ( stocks of stable companies that consistently give out dividends)

If your are a risk taker have a portfolio of 70% growth stocks and 30% value stocks
If you are risk averse have a portfolio of 70% value stocks and the rest growth stocks

Of course its still up to you on what stocks will you play and how you want your portfolio to be

Three main advice:
Set aside the funds for invesrments
Learn to let go once you made enough profit or accumulated a certain degree of loss
Diversify never put your eggs on one basket

[justcallme_mrx]

Since you are young, one can trade or invest more aggressively in high growth stocks. But on other hand as you are just starting out, be cautious. So how can one be cautious and aggressive - well, buy in partials. Buy high growth best performing stocks over a period of time (not whole chunk of it at once and then suffering to watch it go down). Or one can invest in exchange traded funds - ETFs (like QQQ which holds basket of stocks like Apple & Google) to get some diversification. Buy first chunk now and add more every month. Apple and google are great stocks but best performing stocks vary time to time (for instance, housing stocks appear to be doing better now). Remember, most stocks move along with market and if market is going down then even the beststocks also do not perform.

[Gwen L]

Do a lot of research first. I would recommend something from a more reputable source than just the people who hang out on Yahoo Answers (including me... heh).

One good source is IPO Boutique which offers research packages. They're $50, which seems like a lot when you're starting out, but it's good info--IPOB's senior managing partner is a respected authority and he gets quoted in top newspapers (like the NYT etc.) all the time. Considering how much you might plan on investing, that's one option you could look into. They also have subscriptions you get by E-mail which keeps you updated on the details about IPOs and secondaries.

I'd definitely recommend you look for research on Facebook before you invest in it though, I know it's popular but at this stage I've yet to see an expert with an optimistic outlook on that company.