Expert: Dr. Joseph de Beauchamp - 12/30/2005

Question
I am interested in starting to invest money in the stock market.  Should I use an online trading company?  Any other resources you would recomend to learn more about investing in the stock market?  I know very little about it.  Any help you can give me to get me started in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Nick,

I think you should start by going to the public library and pulling out Valueline. Read this in detail. I would also recommend reading the Morningstar in the public library. These are free resources and contain much information. I would recommend that you start, when you have completed reading, only with small sums in a mutual fund. I do not respect anyone that recommends day trading or trading of stocks. It simply does not work-short term trading of stocks. Reading some books on Warren Buffett and Grahmn Dodd is another good resource. You might want to look over the http://wfnn.info to find some more information.

Some small amounts into a good mutual fund recommended by Morningstar  --and for long term --say ten years. By the by, if Bill Gates was asking me right now, I would also be saying the same thing---since I am doubtful about the stock market right now.

Dr. Joseph de Beauchamp