I want to invest in the stock market but am unsure how to get started?  I need a good book or lead for myself.
364326
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.
1031633
There is a website (www.madmoneymachine.com) that has created some mock portfolios based on Mr. Cramer's recommendations.  Look under "Portfolio Challenge" and you'll find some in there.  There's also an accompanying podcast where he regularly talks about Jim's picks.  Recently the site has turned its attention to Index Funds and their merits, but there is still lots of Cramer talk.  Good site.
1076880
Nowaday's there are alot of basic how-to's on investing. I suggest taking a financial accounting course at a local college (audit it) to attaina more thorough understanding.
782093
If you are still 18 years old, you need to read a lot before you even start to approach a personal investment adviser.\n\nRobert Kiyosaki's books are a great start. From his classic "Rich Dad Poor Dad" to "Retire Young Retire Rich", these books gave me the right mindset, taught me what are the choices available and allowed me to go from totally broke and in debt to retired stock market millionaire at 28 years old. For more books that I personally recommend, please visit http://www.bestoptiontradingbooks.com . To read my presonal story how I went from rags to riches, please visit http://www.mastersoequiy.com and look for my free reports.\n\nHope these helps.
1026567
First you should know what your options for investing are. \n\nIf you don't have a good deal of money (in the thousands), you shouldn't invest in stocks because you won't be able to diversify your holdings enough - you need a well balanced portfolio that fits your goals and spreads out risk.\n\nUsually mutual funds are the most convenient and practical way for most people to invest in the stock market, with fund minimums starting around $1000 for funds like Vanguard STAR (VGSTX, a fund for beginning investors), and most of them being around $3,000 (and certainly going past that).\n\nAnother option is exchange-traded funds. They are baskets of stocks that are traded like stocks, and have lower expense ratios (the percentage that the fund company takes from your total return every year, usually under 1%) than mutual funds. ETFs don't have minimums.\n\nHere's the "Learn" section of a very reputable securities analysis company called Morningstar - they make lots of books about investing which you might want to check out as well.\n\nhttp://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Workshop.html?pgid=hetablearn\n\nIf you take a lot of tests there (and do well on them), you can actually send for a free book. Of course, you'll be on their mailing list after that.\n\nhttp://www.investopedia.com is also another great website for reading about all the different options available to you.\n\nAs for the brokers that you will have to buy your investments through (unless you buy it straight from a fund company like Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, or Fidelity), you have quite a few choices. The more affordable, while still easy-to-use brokers are Scottrade and TradeKing, while E-Trade and TDAmeritrade are very well-established and user-friendly but more costly brokers.\n\nHope I helped.
1038205
I would go to Vanguard.com.  Their website is an excellent resource for laymen education about investing.  Plain speak so Joes like us can understand what they are talking about.  Additionally, they have some of the lowest-cost funds out there (not to mention they are pretty good).  Lastly, the service is very good.  I would start there.
488939
Generally speaking, there is no such thing as cheapest way to invest in stocks.\n\nYou need to have plenty of fluff and lot  of knowledge to really make it in the stock market
358597
None.  IMHO, you should start by learning how to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy with Technical Analysis. \n\nIMO, newsletters only make narrow recomendations based on their system of analysis and investment strategies, and often they are compensated heavily for their recomendations and therefore dangerously biased.   I firmly believe that to get a clear picture about any stock, and to determine whether you're actually going to invest in it, it's best to do your own research and adapt a system that meets your investment needs, style and risk level.  There are many stocks ripe for the picking just about at any time if you know how and where to look.\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 Fundementals 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\nSo basically 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, no matter where
298108
Start investing in the stock market.  I have listed below a link to a really interesting article that can say it much better then I can.  It is a great way to start out with little or no money and not pay big commissions to brokers.\n\nI used this program and have done really well over the last two years.  Started with little money, added little money and learned discipline and a lot about the stock market.  I now teach others to do the same.  \n\nDon't have that $100 bucks to get started?  I bet you do if you just change the way you spend money.  Will include a link to the online broker that I used to start my savings.  I also went ahead and opened a credit card through the Sharebuilder website.  The credit card has a 0% APR on opening transfers and pays you 1% cash back that you can use to purchase Stocks with in your Sharebuilder plan.  If you pay your balance every month (which is the only way that you should use credit), then this is FREE money. \n\nIf you have a Bank of America Checking account they have started a plan that is called "Keep the Change."  With this plan, once you have opened a savings account with $100, they round up all your purchases.  If you buy something for $1.25 with your debit card, they will withdrawal $.75 (rounded up to $2.00) from your checking account and deposit it into your savings account.  After the first three months of doing this, they then will match your money dollar for dollar, 100%.  Then after the first year, they will match your round ups at a 5% rate.  The account only pays .5% APR, but the 100% matching for the first three months is FREE money. \n\nThat is a 100% return on your deposits (round ups) for the first three months.  \n\nIf you don't have a BOA account then try looking online for a good paying Money Market Fund (MMF).  Some have balance requirements, some don't.  The better rates out there as of today are running about 4.25% or higher.  Watch for fees, compounding methods and other charges before you consider purchasing a MMF.  \n\nGood luck and start saving today!  \n\nToo many Americans don't save enough money.  Instead, they look for the lowest payment on that purchase.  You should ask yourself, do I want to pay myself first (saving money) and purchase something for cash or retire with style or do I want to always be in debt paying others interest.  Don't you deserve the interest more then the lender?  I think you do.  \n\nI don't work for any of the above mentioned ways to save.  I do hold accounts (Individual Roth IRA, Individual investing plan, Individual trading account, MMF and a Visa Card through Bank One attained after opening my account with Sharebuilder.) with Sharebuilder.  I have no other interest in Sharebuilder.  I do have a bank account at Bank of America, both checking and savings (opened with $100.00 deposit), but own no stock or other interest in the company.  I am not affiliated with MSN in any way or form and do not own any company stock.  Investments may loose money and in many cases are not FDIC insured.  Any investment should be after careful consideration by the investor before investing.  Your results may very.  (think that covers the Brochure law.)\n\nGood luck and let me know how you do.
119992
thestreet.com has an excellent article on Cramers advice. The contributor was showing how people get in trouble just blindly following his advice..like i did with bookham not taking the time to realize their quarterlyy report came out the next day. bummer...
949561
a good start to listen but must fit the advice into your needs/goals/risk tolerance. schwab.com & tdameritrade good. Fell free to e-mail if have further qs but don't hold off investing for thinking.
18303
Do your own research and don't rely on other people's "tips"   I started doing my own stock screening and research this past year and I've earned higher returns this year than in years past.  Based on personal experience, most stock tips are useless.
131668
I started small, you might want to think about penny stocks, you can buy tons of shares, for hardly any money, but it is very risky. Make sure you have a comfortable amount saved first, then work on investing.
656560
Buy high quality stocks in companies that you know something about.Start by looking for names in your kitchen cupboard, your garage, your cleaning supplies closet, or on your telephone bill or utility bill.  Go to the reference Dept at your library and read Value Line, Standard & Poors Outlook, and Morningstar. Also look on the Internet;(Quicken.com Zack's Brokerage Reports.com MSN Money.com. Morningstar.com, Best investing Sites.com Market watch.com Businessweek.com, Forbes.com Buy only the ones that won't cause you to lose sleep at night.  If your stocks go down in value, don't worry.  The good ones will come back.But use money that you won't need for 4-5-6 years. You can start buying at any time, although the market seems to be a bit high right now.  Be patient and buy stocks gradually. Look into "DRIPS"(Dividend Reinvestment Programs). It's better than compound interest at the bank
1156395
Think of this as the first step in performing adequate research into  stock. Use yahoo finance, look in the business section of the newspaper, go to the library and get a s and p stock guide. If you can't find it in one of those sources, chances are that it either is not a publicly traded company or it isn't worth your time.
416820
Lot's of fun to watch. No way would a "real" investor follow his advice.  The most someone like him can do for you is to give you leads to follow up with your own research...... but for the most part... find another way to find leads to good investments.
896420
Start with investopedia.  \n\nThen go to thestreet.com. \n\nThen go to 888options.com\n\nYou'll get progressively more information to learn and it's all free.\n\nIf you want to learn to trade in general, look at some of my answers related to starting out trading (it's a long answer), but a good one.\n\nBest of luck!