I would like to start buying stock but dont have a clue how to start or who to trust?

Standard investment advice is that you should invest in a diversified mix of stocks, bonds, and money market funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stocks, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks as individual stocks are too risky. Highly knowledgeable people can buy a properly balanced portfolio, but most folks have a difficult time balancing things on their own. They will misbalance their portfolio by buying all small stocks or all growth stocks, or some other misbalanced assortment of stocks. Back in 2000, Some people bought all internet stocks; they got burnt when they all crashed together. You have to diversify across industries. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best to buy mutual funds. Buy no-load, low cost funds. Mutual funds should have expense ratios of less than 0.5%.

If your company offers a 401K plan at work, try to invest the most you can. The money grows tax free, and some companies will match your contribution. Investing in a mutual fund IRA is also a good idea. If you have children, you may want to consider a 529 plan or other college savings plan that grows tax free.

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. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above. You should also have 3-6 months of salary saved up as an emergency fund in a bank or money market fund before trying more risky investments.

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.

Sources:
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics
http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

529 plans: http://www.savingforcollege.com

Get your parents advice before taking anyone's advice.

I would do your homework if you intend to use mutual funds. About 75% of them under perform the market. All of them have management fees, and some have sales loads.

There are good mutual funds, but you have a 3 out of 4 chance of getting one that under performs the market. So just look at all the necessary info when deciding.

If you are in it for the long-term, a DRIP plan is great. I have had one for many years, and the annual returns get better the longer you keep it. I love the fact that Blue Chip companies with low risk levels, gives such generous returns.

Good Luck

Joe gives a good answer to your question. I would only add that you should educate yourself and not trust anyone to give you your portfolio choices. Instead, pick your own investments. Move ahead slowly, this may not be the best of times to put too much of your capital at risk in the U.S. market.

First off, whatever decision you make, check with your parents, as they will have your best interest at heart.

A safe and inexpensive investment technique you might wish to look at, is a DRIP Plan.

They are seldom talked about because brokers make very little money when they suggest them. Yet, they have proven to be one of the best, if not the best, long-term strategy on Wall Street.

The best part is you get solid annual returns from well-known, safe Blue Chip companies like: McDonalds, General Electric, Pfizer, Walmart, US Bancorp.......etc........

They are perfect for small investors, as well as big investors. They are safe and allow you to not care about whether the market is going up or down.

Educate yourself first. If you don't know what you are doing, don't buy stocks.

You need to open an online account with a stock broker. World's cheapest broker Sogotrade offers cheap stock trading at $1.50 - $3.00.
All accounts are secured and protected by SIPC.
Start with the education section of Sogotrade.
Also check out the great features that make Sogotrade as the preferred broker for investors.

IÂ´ve been investing for more than 20 years and trading for almost 14, and I can tell you that if you want to make BIG and FAST profits, I recommend you trading rather than investing, trading can help you to go from rags to rich.
If you are investing, you must have already achieved some degree of financial success, long term stock investing and FOREX can help you become much richer than you are today.
My experiences as a Nasdaq Market Maker, Head trader of seveal brokerage firms, and currently as a professional trader and private hedge fund manager, I can suggest you that:

We trade because we want quick, short term profits on a consistent basis. We want to cash flow the market. Milk it like a cow. Make consistent, small, short term gains rather than trying to hit a home run on every trade. Don't ever forget that, don't marry a stock, marry the idea of making money trading stocks. That's the only way to do it.

For me "All stocks are equally worthless"

I don't hold on to any illusion that the stock market will continue to go up and provide a nice retirement for me.
I could care less which way the market goes. It's irrelevant to me if the market goes higher, crashes or moves sideways for the next 50 years. I really could care less. Stocks are just four letters with two prices next to them that I use to make a living trading.

Trade ONLY when you have a clear, easy and identifiable advantage, because without a CLEAR EDGE your odds of success are NO better than a flip of a coinâ€¦ ThatÂ´s why so many new traders (and investors) lose money.

Take a look at any daily chart of any index or stock and you'll probably see the most volatility and the biggest opportunity for profit during the first Hour of the stock market's opening.

The popular thinking and conventional wisdom is that you should wait about an hour before you start trading.

But if you do, you'll miss the big, fast moves that stocks make as all the amateurs let their emotions out through their online accounts, usually right after they read some news headline or hear Maria Bartiromo go off about a stock on CNBC.

It's easy to see why trading the open is the market's prime time for profiting from other online traders.
The market's open is very volatile - that is the perfect environment for LARGE, FAST profits.

Learn to trade as a professional Market Maker ,not as an emotionally driven amateur trader or investor with few thousand dollars in an account at Etrade.

There isn't any other time during the day or any stock you can invest in, that can make you 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or more points in minutes OTHER than during the first hour the stock market is open. That's why I love trading the open so much.

I trade only when I have an edge and that means "only the first hour the market is open".

If you are a beginning trader or investor, you can give yourself an unfair advantage in the market trading this way.

I can continue giving you a lot of advises about how to make money trading, but if you ask me:
"What is the best thing you can do for me or that I can do for myself?
Go to this hidden site and learn the BEST guarded system on making the largest and fastest day trading profits youÂ´ve ever seen...

www.onehourtrading.com

After you review this site you wonÂ´t need any other system, strategy, book, software or mentor to tell you what to do,
you will be able to find big profits opportunities every day, and donÂ´t rely on anybody else.

P.S. Check my last 3 trades, so you can have a better perspective...Check them in any chart software or website.

Date: 2/13/2008, Stock: NILE, Gap: $13.57, Action: Bought at $42 Sold at $43.5, Profit: $1500, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 3 minutes.

Date: 2/14/2008, Stock: EQIX, Gap: $7.25, Action: Sold short at $80 Bought at $78, Profit: $2000, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 1 hour.

Date: 2/15/2008, Stock: DRYS, Gap: $3.67, Action: Sold short at $86.5 Bought at $84.5, Profit: $2000, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 1 hour.

TOTAL PROFITS IN 3 DAYS: $5500

What is the best option for you, to invest or day trade? The answer will depend on your expectations, experience, money, time, but if you are a beginner and you want to put yourself light years ahead of every investor and trader you know and give yourself an unfair advantage in the market get The One Hour Trading System right away!!!

Good luck and good trading,

Study well about stocks than only go for purchase but tomorrow Reliance Power Ltd can be purchased if its not going v high as bonus issue is planned on it.

Go to see a financial advisor at your bank.

dear person,
I would check this out :
http://www.garsworld.com/smb.htm
make sur you go to the stock market basics course,
it is very good, and true.

I am not a Pro, but have some real worled trading experience and have great resources and love to shaer what I know
e-mail me at kelly.james@comcast.net if you want more info..
good luck !
take care
james

i would suggest you check out "mutual funds" the fund [and there are many] buys stock and bonds in many companies to make up the fund. the profits are given to the share holders [ you ]. in the form of dividens. you can take them out at the end of every month or you can leave them in and they are used to buy more shares for you. its like having a basket of eggs.-if one breaks its no big deal cause you still have more left. individual stock [and there are good ones] but if it goes down you have no back up like you do in a mutual fund. check out "franklin templeton income fund class A-with your local broker or investment firm.--its low cost and i am very satisified with it.

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