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[toney]

I am a novice in this. I do know the very basics of stocks and bonds. But is there someone who can give me a head start on this? I am a conservative person with money, so most of my plans are of the safer kind, for long term benefits. But I want to get a hang of things.
I know that some patience is required to learn more. I bought the acclaimed The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham but the size of the book as well as the small font discourage me from spending more time with it. Is that book a good start?
I know Ravi and Tombaan have made careers in accounting, finance etc. And there are some of you who are the serious investor kind too. PLease shed some light on this.

[tombaan]

best way for a novice to do is go mutual funds than waste money in stocks......go to a mutual fund website like say www.fidelity.com
they have funds listed by types with ratings by independent agency and track record which is easy to follow.....morning star ratings of 4 and 5 are stocks with good track records....look at their 3 5 and 10 year performance....this looks complicated login and it is very to do it...........let me know if i can help

[toney]

thanks for the help, I'll look into it. Yeah, I had been warned about the pitfalls of stocks by others too.

[dextrous]

toney,
some sites allow you to make a demo account -- you aren't trading any real money but you can do that for a month or so to get a hang of all the different stock trade options. mutual funds are OK, but if you have a little bit of money to play with, id suggest looking into stocks. i will find you some sites where you can have a demo account. also, do you know anything about stock options?

[toney]

Yeah, I know abt stock options (my employer isnt offering any thoug ;()
But tell me when you find those trial/demo a/cs