OK, if you've met the requirements for beginning to invest (see my previous entry on the prerequisites to investing), the first step is to select a broker and open an account with them. When I'm choosing a broker, the things I look for are: online trading, low fees, good execution, and a nearby office. It's useful to check out articles like the annual Smart Money list of top brokers. You can also google for "Top rated online brokers", and get lots of similar articles.
By coincidence, the top three brokers on the list this year (2011) were all brokers that I currently use. They are Fidelity Investments, Scottrade, and TD Ameritrade. These all have offices nearby, and they all support online trading. Their fees range from $7.00 to $10.00 per trade.
One of the themes of this blog is that you need to be responsible for your own investing. You can ask a broker for advice, but the sad fact is that no one cares as much about your investments as you do. When you get advice from a broker, that advice is influenced by the products that the broker's company is selling. Another problem with financial advice is that it is often generic, rather than tailored to your specific situation. A third problem with financial advisors is that some of them are incompetent or outright crooks.
If you don't understand enough to do your own investing, then how can you tell the good advice from the bad advice? That's why I recommend opening an account that supports online trading, so you can make your own trades without going through a broker.
Of course, the big question is, how do you get the knowledge to do your own investing? That's what I'll be talking about in the future. For now, one resource you can use is Investopedia. It's got a handy dictionary of investment terms, and regular articles on different topics.
In the next few entries in this blog, I will describe a simple investing strategy that works in all different kinds of market conditions.
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