Stock market questions from a newbie

[saint]

Okay, here's my situation. 24 years old, 2nd year in dental school, have some money in savings that is sitting there doing nothing. I've always wanted to get a couple grand of it into the stock market. The only problem is I don't know where to start. I tried to do some reading on it, but there are way too many sources out there for me to weed out what is good. So where can I start to get a base knowledge of the market and general principles?? I'm williing to put in time to research and read up on things, but I'm puzzled as to how to get started. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

 

[selkirk]

Greetings Saint, first if you need this money in the short term or you may need to borrow money you may just as well keep it in cash.

As for building up a portfolio with $2000 would start with mutual funds/ETFs.

You can research funds through many places Barrons has a large section on it, Morningstar has a good site.

You could go buy an index fund like Vanguard which offer many and are not load. such as Vanguard total stock market index.

when buying an index fund make sure the MER is low you are buying something that tracks a certain market. Also there are Spiders (SP500), Diamonds DOW, and the QQQ Nasdaq 100.

If I were you would pick a general index and invest and build it up, then buy other products.

There is a sharebuilder ad on Morningstar, you can invest in many stocks and have divs reinvested for as low as $4. Not a bad service. DRIP/SPP are a good idea as you can slowly and cheaply build up a position in a stock. Keep the fees down on these investments.

after you build up your mutual funds or ETF then buy indivual stocks.

Also you may want to open a discount brokerage account, Scottrade, Etrade, Ameritrade, TD Waterhouse. Have to see which on suits you best.

thanks
selkirk