Where is the best place to begin investing in the stock market with very little money?
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If you want to invest a small amount of money but can do it regularly every week or month try Sharebuilder.com
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Congratulations on getting started. It’ll help you more than you know! \n\nYour first dollars should be spent on getting educated on investing. You don't have to train to trade them professionally, but we are talking about your future here. So the more you learn, the more it'll help you! So let's start there.\n\nYou ask a very broad question, so be prepared for a pretty long answer. Just take it in chunks!\n\n\nHow to invest depends on what you already know. We'll assume that you're beginning since you say you're new to this!\n\nA good primer is How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil. You can get it cheap just about anywhere. It’s widely available new or used.\n\nAnother good one is one of Jim Cramer's books like Real Money (he’s got a few). \n\nBut books will only get you so far. At some point, you'll also want to get at least a little training. There are some great education companies if you want to make the investment. Investools.com or optionetics.com are both very good companies as is tmitchell.com\n\nFor free, you can start by visiting thestreet.com and investopedia.com. That'll get you a pretty good primer so at least you'll understand what the markets are and what a stock is, etc. \n\nIf you get a chance, watch Mad Money on CNBC. Don't trade any of his picks until you track many of them over time. Just use the show to get you to understand some basics and get a feel for the market itself.\n\nNext, subscribe to something like Investorsbusiness daily or something like that that can help you identify good stocks.\n\nOnce you understand stocks, go to 888options.com. It's a website that'll help you understand options (what they do, how they work, etc). You don't need to trade them, but the more you know, the more you'll see how options can really be the safest way to invest (once you're educated).\n\nFor discipline (which is crucial to successful trading), probably Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas or Mastering the Trade by John Carter\n\nI know that’s a LOT to absorb. Just take it one step at a time for now. Start with a book or two to give you an idea of where to begin. Take your time, and let it seep in. \n\nAs you get up to speed, you should papertrade to practice (highly recommended). This should help reduce your losses in the beginning as you get used to buying/selling.\n\nYou can practice for free on almost any reputable broker site (optionsxpress, scottrade, thinkorswim, etc). And yes, you can definitely deal easily online.\n\nStart slow, then as you figure things out, you can buy more shares.\n\nCongrats again on getting started. If you have any questions, please let me know. \n\nHope this helps!
273119
beginnersinvest.about.com and earlyearners.com\nTwo websites you can check out. Best way to start investing is to just by setting aside a small about each week or month i.e. 25.00/week and letting it set in a savings account until you find a certain investment you would like. Whatever you do make sure that the investment is something you are comfortable with. And whatever anyone tells you nothing will guarantee a return except goverment obligations such as government issued bongs and banks. OTher than that there is risk. However risk isn't necessarily bad. Just research before you buy.
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tradeking.com is one of the cheapest.\nbrown & co. which is owned by etrade is next.\n\nscottrade, ameritrade, fidelity, schwab are a bit higher.\n\nif you have large cash balances then schwab or fidelity have higher yielding options for your idle cash.
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I like Scottrade.  You need only $500 dollar to open an account.  It is perfect for small investors.  You can compared  and see for yourself.\n\nhttp://scottrade.com/frame_brokers.asp
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there are mutual funds with small initial investments. $500 for example. Some even less. That is a good way to start. I have included a link through Yahoo finance showing funds of that nature that are rated better than average by Moringstar. Yahoo sometimes does not provide correct information so you need to use this as a starting point and research a little furture. \n\nAnother way is to open an on line brokerage account and buy shares directly in good solid companies that have a good track record and pay dividend that have tended to increase over time, such as BAC, for example. But that is more risky without having at at least 5 and preferably 10 different stocks in your portfolio to reduce the risk of a piece of bad news causing disaster. You also have the option of buying exchange traded index funds. That is an inexpensive method to participate in general market trends. I personally do not like the idea, but a lot of people do.
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for convience sake, find the nearest discount broker with an office.\n\nSchwab, Fidelity, Ameritrade or Scottrade ... for a few stock sales any of them would work. Scottrade being the cheapest. If you are going to leave the money in your account, then Fidelity would be best as they have a higher paying sweep money market.
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There are sites such as sharebuilder.com that have very low commissions but they execute your order in a non-timely fashion.  It's a decent way to get started investing.
422619
As far as I know, you can only buy stocks from a broker.  If you're a beginner investor and want to invest in stocks while lessening your risk, start out by investing in stock mutual funds.  Some of those you can buy direct from the mutual fund company.  Fidelity has a large array of funds you can choose from.
835687
Try forex.com, they will start you out with as little as $250
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With real estate prices still high, I think the best place to invest is the stock market.  If you decide to invest in stocks, the first thing to do is see what the best traders are buying and selling.   This is the idea behind the site http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx\n\nGood luck!
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There is not enough information to answer your question.\n\nI suggest you to ask:\nWhat is the best small project for (Amount of money you want to invest)?
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Start by learning How to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy through Technical Analysis. \n\nStart with Investors.com, it's William O'Neil's online version of Investors Business Daily.  The How To Invest section is the best place to start learning the importance of Fundamentals and the basics of Technical Analysis.   The site has the IBD 100, a cross index list of the market leaders, the Stock Checkup, a great tool for checking fundamentals on any stock, and articles and analysis of stocks and general market conditions.  They also run various screens every day which in addition to the other lists, (IBD100, New America, stocks under $10, CANSLIM select, ect) are very helpful for finding investment ideas with solid Fundamentals that are ready to move.  The CANSLIM method alone is a very successful and popular trading system, but I prefer to use a combination of Fund & Tech Analysis, rather that just the rating system alone. \n\nFrom there you can move on to more detailed study of Technical Analysis. \n\nStart with StockCharts.com, they have an excellent free Chart School which helpfully explains various chart patterns and Technical Indicators and overlays.  Pay particular attention to the Chart Patterns section, and make sure you learn about Zig Zag patterns, Bollinger Bands, Moving Average, Volume, RSI, the MACD (Mac-D), The Williams %er, Stochastics, and the Chaikin Money Flow.  Sounds complicated, but when you start chart reading you'll want about a half a dozen or so of these overlays and indicators.  I personally rely heavily on the ZIG-ZAG, MACD, Chaikin Money Flow, Volume, Moving Average and RSI. \n\nStockTA.com is also an excellent Technical Analysis site, with charted Fibonacci resistance and support lines and will tell you if the stock is bullish or bearish in the short, medium and long run.  The site also has an extensive Candle Pattern Glossary and a fantastic technical screener. \n\nThe above sites do have premium services, but all the services I mentioned are free.  After you've absorbed some of the Technical information, do some reading on Fibonacci numbers and Elliot Wave theory, there are good links in the "School" section of StockTA.com.  I've been using Elliot Wave and Fibonacci's to help refine my in and out points.  StockCharts.com's "ZigZag" overlay helps me plot and count the waves and that helps determine where I am in the overall pattern. \n\nThe way I personally work is, I'll find interesting stocks through the screens on Investors.com or StockTA.com, run them through the Stock Checkup at Investors.com, if they measure up I'll run them through the Analyisis & Fib Analysis at StockTA.com and do an extensive chart study, examining the 2 yr, 1 yr, 6 mth, 3 mth, 1 mth & 5 day.  I'll also do my due dilligence, studying the profile, key statistics, headlines, etc. through Yahoo Finance and web searches.  If it all measures up and the stock is in a base or in a pull back and it's starting a wave 1 or wave 3, it's time to buy. \n\nRemember, always protect your downside with a stop loss or a trailing stop loss.  Once you have absorbed a few of the things I've mentioned, the fog will begin to lift and you'll start seeing which stocks should be bought or sold and you'll be able to do your own analysis on any stock. \n\nIf it's all too daunting or confusing, stick with it, it takes time to absorb.  Start by paper trading.  Yahoo Finance lets you track portfolios for free, try picking a couple stocks and see how they do.  Be realistic with your buy and sell prices if you paper trade, seeing for example if you can actually get in at the price you want during intraday trading.  If Mutual Funds are more to your liking, the same principles mentioned above can be applied to those as well.\n\nGood luck, hope it helps.
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InteractiveBrokers has $1 trades, which is as cheap as you'll find.  You need to make 10 trades/month.  If you're an active trader, that should be no problem.\n\nScottrade is one of the best that actually has branch locations.  They charge $7 for limit and market trades.
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there are two ways that may help you. scott trade which for the minimun amount to open charges just 7.00 a trade if your buying and selling. this way you get real time live trades and information with no brokers. there is also what is known by few as drips. you buy the stock right from the company itself. if you search drips in the net you will come up with a list of many companies selling their stock some require as little as 50 to 100.00 to open a direct stock account with them and that price includes as much stock as you can get depending on its price. you can put so much in each month if you want and you'll get the shares to that amount. each company is differant on how much you start with and how long you have to keep the stock before selling it. its usually 60 to 90 days with some. good hunting!
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Open an account on Marketocracy and learn about investing using virtual money - then try it for real. then start helping "poor" people to invest their money.
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Getting an education is a great investment in yourself, and being cautious with your investments is wise, but don't ever let anyone tell you that low income families shouldn't invest in the same types of opportunities that anyone else could.\n\nPeople with very low incomes have made themselves into millionaires by a combination of responsible spending and thoughtful investing.\n\nThe best place to start with small balances is mutual funds.  As long as you stick with mainstream funds, you should be fairly safe.  Don't expect a straight upward line, but over time, on average, you should expect the long-term results to be strong over the long run.\n\nMeanwhile, as you build up your portfolio, you can be reading and learning more about investing for the future. By the time you outgrow mutual funds, perhaps you will know more about the different stock market decisions you will need to make.  Perhaps hiring a financial advisor would be wise at this point, or perhaps you can go on your own with your newly acquired knowledge.  \n\nConsider books by Peter Lynch, Jeremy Siegel, and Benjamin Graham as some of the best sources.  \n\nBest of luck to you.