I want to get involved in stocks and i'm not sure what to do now?

Ok first off congratulations on investing, looking for places to put your hard earned capitol to work for you is paramount to building wealth. Now this new found road is not without its perils, and should be treated like any of life's great journeys.

Preparation, due diligence, and some elbow grease can prepare you to start your journey,

1) Arm yourself with as many tools as you can, Read Read and Read ( did i say read?) Every thing you can in your local library about investing, fundamental .and technical analysis

A few books to start would be Rich dad Poor dad, Warren buffet and trump's book, and for a understanding of stock technicals and movements read A beginner's guide to trading by toni turner.

Ok, maybe after a little reading , now your feeling like you can give this investing idea a shot and now you want to put the principles you learned to work.

2)So what company to invest in, ?
Well first you have to have a plan certain par meters our goals that ideally you want your investment to provide.

lets say you are looking for a stock that has the potential to go up 100% + and your time frame is 1-3 years. Well from your reading, you remember that generally small - mid caps and growth stocks typically out preform the general market . You also remember that on average the stocks market has given 10% roi. You are shooting for 33% each year over 3 years. So that would be a example of one goal.

You also were watching live earth, and enjoying the music and thinking how you could do your part to help out.
So you were doing some research on alernative energy and green companies on hoovers.com

Maybe another goal, is to invest in a company that not only can make you money, but whos product has the ability to disrupt the market place and is has a socially responisble misison statement or ethos. The point is, your dollar is your vote at the supermarket or in the stock market. Without investors some of the greatest technologic advances of the last century would of never taken place. So just realize your investment is you actively taking part in what the world could be like in the future. ( sorry to ramble, im a better talker then i am writer =], )
As smart guy, you realize that global landscapes are changing and green energy will be the new paradigm of the future and would probably make a good investment.

So you start you research, you get a list of green companies.When you invest, you may be doing it just to make money, but your investment also spurs the world we are born in live in and will die in.

You stumble across a stock called Raser Technologies Inc., because you think hybrid demand will increase and there will be a shift from oil, and efforts to reduce energy consumption accross the board. Since Raser is a relatively new company, that holds many patents, and is just turning the corner from a R&d company into commercialization of its technologies. You think this could be a great company in its infancy and could fit you investment goals.

So now you check various places to find info on the company
you check the website (www.rasertech.com) , the sec filings, and maybe yahoo or msn.com for ratings if applicable and recent news etc......Then you check the stocks technicals, you see that the stock has a strong uptrrend developing and see that historically stock is undervalued and oversold relative to its previous high of 50. You examine its fundamentals, share structure , any revenues cash in the bank.

keep in mind when we invest in potential growth stocks, we are not looking at what has happned in the past but more concerned to what the future holds. Since the the company which was founded in 2002 and up until now has been a research and development company, dont expect it to see many revenues now. Since the company is about to carry out the commericilization of its techs and go online with its geo thermal projects,you are investing for the bright future.

3) finding a broker so you can invest

Now you must choose a broker, i would think a online retail broker would be perfect for you when begining.

etrade.com schwab.com scottrade.com
or a few adequate choices.

4) Now if you think you need more experience, and you dont want to risk your hard earned money yet. You can choose a site like www.clearstation,com and paper trade your investment ideas. This way if you are wrong about your analysis, you can learn without losing real money.

paper trading will allow you to monitor your success, the bad part is if you are right then you dont make any real money paper trading=[

5) Ok here ya go, you are ready to palce your first order
few tips always use limit order , market orders put you at the mercy of the market makers and is not reccomended ever!

Another tip always sell on the ask never the bid!

Before you hit that trade button,you have developed your investment plan, contigency plan, and done all your research.

Plan your trade and Allways trade your plan, use the tools you have learned and always try not to invest on emotions>>>>>>

Use research technicals to make investing decisions not emotions.

I hope this is the best answer and you have a long prosperous road as a future investor, its late now so please excuse me for the grammar and spelling errors. If my opinions can be of anymore help feel free to contact me.

goodluck
Source(s):

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/hom...
hoovers.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/investment...
www.stockcharts.com