Stock Market Today

Start by heading to the library to check out a few books on investing. Start with “Investing for Dummies” a good beginning book. Do not do anything until you have brushed up on your knowledge.

Then you have a couple of choices. Invest directly in one or more companies that you fancy or invest in a mutual fund or two.
Which you choose to do depends a lot on the risks you are willing to take. Buying stocks in particual companies is considerably more risky than buying stock in a mutual fund but the potential rewards are greater. Also the potential losses.

You can buy mutual funds directly from the mutual fund companies. No commission on no load funds, but higher initial investment requirements. Among front end load funds American Funds is a good one. Among no load funds, Royce Funds and Fidelity and Vanguard among others.