It depends on your definition of rich, and on how patient you are.

If you want to start with little money, and become a billionaire in 2 years, forget it. You’re just dreaming.

If you invest 15-20% of your income consistently and patiently over time, with an eye towards the long-term goal instead of short-term gambling, people of average incomes can have an excellent chance of eventually becoming millionaires, or multi-millionaires. But you have to do your research, and act carefully and thoughtfully.

Naturally, most people prefer the “easy” quick-riches route, which is almost certainly doomed to failure, instead of the “hard” patient slow route, which has a very good chance of success.

The economy in general follows the Law of Supply and Demand. That’s part of a Basic Economics class.

The stock market is manipulated and influenced and controlled by the really powerful and rich in some cases. That makes it not a pure example of Supply and Demand.

Closed on Weekends? That is related to history. Weekends have been days of rest from a week’s labor. Not typical of a world economy but the people who work there need a weekend break too, right? Ya, I can hear you saying “Let’s hire some people for the weekend too.” Ya, you could be right…..why don’t you work there and try to change it?

I’m a futures trader, and trade the mini dow or YM. Check out www.tradethemarkets.com You can sign up for a free daily news letter, and John Carter provides daily updates on the markets he is trading.

You can trade futures using a number of brokers. I use Tradestation for sharting and Infinity for order execution.

If you are based in the UK, you can also spread bet the stock indexes, as well as commodities and individual stocks, and it is tax free.

For spread betting, check out www.capitalspreads.com, or www.cityindex.co.uk

As long as you have a good trading plan and good money management, you can make some good money whether the stock market goes up or down. Shorting the market is not more risky than going long, just make sure you have a stop in place, the same as going long…

Good luck!

as said above. its the share price X the number of shares. Its the amount of money you would need to buy every share of that company being traded.

I started in high school. What you need to do is have a stock broker but you can use a stock brokerage company like scottrade or etrade or ameritrade so you can buy and sell stock online. It is quite a simple start up process. You have to be 18 so have your mom or dad start you an account in their name. Some sites like Zecco allow you to start with a low amount of money. Others require 1,000 + .

I think the market is undervalued!

2006 and the start of 2007 stock values lagged behind Earnings growth. P/Es continue to contract. this will soon end as we enter the final stage of the great babyboom BOOM!

By July I expect the DOW to be over 13,000, NASDAQ over 2600 and S&P500 1550.

I do not expect this BULL run to end until 2010!

The biggest difference is that investments in stock have a positive expectation, while all forms of legal gambling have a negative expectation. Granted — if you are particularly good at handicapping horses or particularly good at playing poker — then there is a positive expectation for you (and a larger negative expectation for someone else).

While you can get a 20-1 payoff on a horse, the volatility is a lot higher than the market. Reward is related to risk.

A better argument can be made that the options market is like gambling. However, this argument is mitigated by the fact that derivative securities can be used to hedge other positions.

It’s always a good time and always a bad time. I prefer to utilize game based websites so that you can get the feeling of buying/selling and understand how commissions effect your profit. kaChing is a good one. In the real life I prefer Scottrade but for the most part your broker is simply an interface preference along with a cost determination based upon how many trades you plan to make. In general I would recommend that you study for a minimum of 3 months. The next piece is to read online portfolios and understand both the good and the bad decisions that people make. You can view these at sites like kaChing or sites where people post their picks  The final piece of the puzzle involves talking with people and I don’t mean on a message board. Find a knowledgeable and experienced friend that you can simply discuss topics with. Once you are comfortable discussing you know that you have enough knowledge to begin.
In terms of profits, it can certainly be worthwhile, but it can also cost you, ultimately, I believe it’s worth it, but it comes down to what you’re comfortable with.

you mean stockmarketgame.org? im playing that too. I bought burger king and im doing really well…its gonna go up soon…

Make Money Money!

practice for free, winner gets a prize? then when ur skilled u can either make a stack of cash for yourself or get people to pay you more to play with theirs! Winner!