I'm 100% new to the stock market.?

Can someone please give me some advice on how to get involved with it, and some companies that I should start with. Please help me out.

First, I would make sure you have at least 3 months salary saved up in the bank or in a money market fund for an emergency fund. (Some people say 6 months.) Financial disasters like getting layed off or sick happen to all of us.

Second, I would pay off all high interest debt. Pay off everything you can except the house mortgage and student loans. Paying off debt is one of the best investments you can make. You will have more money in the future because you won't have credit card bills to pay. (Depending on the rates, you may want to pay off the mortgage and student loans as well.)

Third, start investing in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. For most folks this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money conservatively, in money market funds and bond funds, and part aggressively in stock funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be.

I like index funds. Because of their broad diversification, you are less likely to have a dramatic drop in value. They also have the lowest expenses. For stock funds, I would suggest putting ~70-80% of your money in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. and ~20-30% in a foreign stock index fund.

Investing in a mutual fund IRA for retirement may give you an income tax break. Talk to your tax adviser. You may also be able to invest in a mutual fund via a 401K plan at work. Buying a house instead of renting will make you a lot of money in the long run.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/scottburns/columns/2007/vitindex.html
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education

Stay away from over the counter stocks (Pink Sheets), they are basically unregulated, and price manipulation is rampant, most are scams.

Go to your bank, buy a "Balanced Mutual Fund", make sure it is NO-LOAD (no fee to buy or sell)
This fund has a basket of good stocks, bonds and money market instruments, it is low volitility, and lower on the risk scale than individual stocks.

Start here while you learn, when youknow more and have increased your investment in the balanced fund, Keep it, but start buying a Blue chip Equity fund or dividend fund. one you have added to this for a few years, keep both funds and start buying into a growth fund.

Slow and sure builds you wealth, individual stocks are risky, because your investment is not diversified.

Check out www.fool.com. Great website on investing in everyday language.

Before you start investing, you have to figure out what your financial goals are. If you want to buy a house, car, go on vacation, or pay for anything else in 1-3 years, you should just save cash in a money market fund. Stock markets are for the long haul.

For retirement investing (long way away) stocks are the way to go. Your best bet is to just buy a low cost index fund--that way you are buying a tiny piece of every single stock in that index (there are US indexes, International indexes, large cap, small cap, sector indexes, etc.). Indexes have the greatest return and lowest cost over time.

But some of us like to "play" with our money--even though we know that the very best stock pickers usually fail to out-perform the boring index funds. So if you have extra cash to play with, open an online brokerage account (Scottrade is great; $7/trade, including limit orders). Put some money in and pick a few stocks. Just choose companies you like, or companies you read about in articles online. Do your research and start placing your bets--because that's really what trading stocks is mostly about. Gambling.

Before you start investing youâ€™ll need to understand some basic principles of investment and understand which type of investment suits you.start investing in stocks, bonds, and money market funds. You can buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are risky.To know more about stock market ,check the link below.
Hope it helps.

http://www.smart-investments.org/Best-Stock-Investments/How-To-Invest-In-Stock.php

Excellent answer by Joe. I agree with all of it. I would just add that if you DO have access to a 401k at work, and the company MATCHES your contributions, that should be your first priority. At least contribute enough to the 401k to take advantage of the company match. It's free money and the equivalent of a guaranteed return--often a very good one, at that.

Open a brokerage account at TD Ameritrade and start with DIA.

it's always best to start out small. look into pink-sheet companies that you think have a lot of potential. buy those companies and use their assets to raid wall street

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