incredibly bad with money!

Give me all your money, I'll invest the money wisely for you.

The best advice I can give you is, get your advice from people who actually know WTF they are talking about. This generally doesn't mean the Internet (although look at mint.com and motley fool just the same) or your brother in law. Instead, it means someone like your banker. Keep in mind the term "investments" is huge; it's almost like saying you want to put your money in "animals". Well, which ones? Turtles? Dolphins? Unicorns?

Seriously consider taking a class in finance. Even something you can audit at a college. There are so many ways for the uneducated to easily get ripped off. Protect yourself.

Common sense approach suggest to first start by living within your means. Easy as not spending more than you earn. Keep tabs on everything to keep your finances organized. Save up until you have $5k to invest.
The secret to making it long term in the stock market without loosing all your money and earning reliable gains on is choosing a solid company that is stable and not going anywhere down and under anytime soon. Pick something that you personally use and isn't making any stupid decisions. My principles above, that suggest sticking with food, alcohol and gambling, they never go wrong. Pennystocks aren't that helpful as the odd of gains is somewhat low. I also suggest that you put some money in established companies that have been around for years and have a track record of profit and earnings that generate profit. Such companies pay a dividend (it is a tax advantageous method of getting money from your investment without cashing out). In your favor, the value and earnings and dividends will go up over the years if the company you picked is really solid.
Once you get into it, below the shallow point, you'll automatically be researching and finding patterns that you missed in the past that can work out in your benefit.
I'll warn you though that the first few years will be rough, unless you're really lucky and choose very favorable stocks to invest in.
You might also wanna look at this before you do anything with your money, as jespah pointed out.

http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/thirteen-steps/index.aspx?source=ifltnvsnv0000001
http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/broker/index.aspx?source=ifltnvsnv0000001
http://wiki.fool.com/Foolsaurus?source=ifltnvsnv0000001
http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/index.aspx?source=ifltnvsnv0000001

http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/markets/smartmoneys-annual-broker-survey-23119/
http://online.wsj.com/media/smbrokersurvey0612.gif

I agree a great deal with what RST recommends, but rather than individual stocks, I would recommend funds that are managed by "experts." They combine a mix of the best companies they believe will provide for safety and long-term performance. If you buy on a regular basis, like every month, you'll cost average your investments - which is the most efficient way to invest. You'll never pay the highest or lowest prices, and the investment returns will be higher.

Go to morningstar.com and do some research on the best funds that have performed well over the long-term and short-term. Invest with Vanguard or Fidelity; they both provide the lowest fees in the industry.

Never try to time your investments - either for buying or selling. Most day traders lose money. As with buying on a regular basis, sell on a regular basis when you reach 70.5 years old when you will be required by the IRS to begin withdrawing from your IRA.

Begin early to invest; the longer you wait, the more difficult it gets to meet your goals.

Good luck.

You, .

Excuse me! My wife and I have saved 15 to 20% of our income during our working years, invested them into retirement funds (IRA's) and are now retired - in comfort.

You must represent the majority who's saving isn't enough to last one year in retirement.

A savings account is one of the worst place to "invest." It's because any interest earnings on savings account results in lost buying power - the longer you keep it in savings accounts.

You need investments that will increase in value beyond the inflation rate; otherwise you're only losing ground every year.

Depending on your age, you should have a mix of equities and bond funds; when young, a greater ratio in equities.

Follow simple investment principles for the long-term, and you'll be okay.

It's like many of life's challenges, we must study those issues that will impact our lives, and that includes health and financial.

Here's another suggestion you may wish to consider. Manage your own funds; other people just want to earn their commission, and really don't have your best interest at heart. Most financial planners do not perform any better than the "average" investments. That's because nobody on this planet can predict the economy's performance for the short-term or long-term, and the stock market moves more on emotion than it does critical analysis.

Even so-called experts on economics disagree on many issues concerning what will happen in the future.

Remember this.

Yes, it's fixed to the degree it has always gone "UP>" Just look at the history. That's pretty reliable history when there's not much else except income property - which requires personal management skills and time.

I had income property that I sold when I retired, because I didn't wish to manage anything after retirement.

Never forget that markets exists in order to take your money. You just have to be navigable enough to create profit in the money game.
The wealthy are successful because they have the money to wait it out, as well as have a well-diversified portfolio. The market rises and falls over the years, a recession hitting about every decade. It allows the wealthy to buy low and sell high at appropriate times, the same holds true for real estate.
The fiscal cliff should be factored in at the moment. Volatile unpredictable times ahead.

When I was younger I initially learned about investing and personal finance mainly by reading magazines devoted to the subject. I still think that's a good way for a beginner to get started.


I think both Kiplingers and Money Magazine are very good, and if you hunt around, you can find the lowest prices on subscriptions to both of them. You can also visit your public library and see if they have them available there. If they do, take out a few issues of both of them and read through the articles and see if you find them helpful.

Investing should be looked at as a long term prospect, you want your money to grow over time. So plan on using funds you won't need any time soon for your investments. Over the long term, you will make money in the stock market if you invest wisely and sensibly--particularly in mutual funds--and that's where those financial magazines can be very helpful. They can steer you to the best, consistently well-performing, mutual funds, and help to educate you about the different market sectors and the various types of mutual funds. Armed with this info, you can begin focusing on a few mutual funds that interest you and you can do even more reading about them. Since you sound fairly young, you should consider the best equity growth funds--those with a solid track record, and not the latest flash in the pan--you want your money to grow and appreciate over time, so you want equity growth funds headed by good, proven fund managers at major firms, like Fidelity or Vanguard, or others in the same league.

If you don't already have an individual traditional IRA, you should start one at whatever firm has the mutual funds that interest you. Open the IRA by making the minimum required investment to the mutual fund(s) of your choice--and, if you can afford it, pick 2 or 3 different mutual funds when you start your IRA. I would focus on growth, rather than income, for all of them, at this stage of the game for you--you can always diversify more in the future--although you could select a balanced fund as one of your choices if you are starting with 3 mutual funds. After the IRA is open, make regular periodic contributions to it (like every month or two) until you reach your yearly contribution limit.

If you are going to invest in mutual funds outside of an IRA, you should also make contributions to those funds on a regular, periodic basis--for instance, you can have a sum, like $100, transferred automatically from your bank account to a mutual fund account every month or two, and that helps to balance out fluctuations in the stock market which affect the cost of shares in the fund at any given time.

In addition to looking at some financial/personal finance magazines, you might want to take a look at some of the very readable books for people who are "incredibly bad with money". A very good, and sensible, source of info about personal finance is Suze Orman, and you might check out her Web site--she's a good resource, and a good teacher.
http://www.suzeorman.com/igsbase/igstemplate.cfm?SRC=SP&SRCN=layout_resourcecenter&GnavID=84
Orman has written a number of very useful books, but one you might find particularly useful is "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke".
http://www.suzeorman.com/igsbase/igstemplate.cfm?SRC=MD002a&SRCN=catalogdetail&ProductID=23&StartRow=1&GnavID=10&SnavID=45&TnavID=

I think that the more you begin reading, and learning, the more you'll trust yourself with money because your decisions will be based on firmer ground--you'll not only get a better sense of what to do, but why to do it, and what not to do, and you'll also get a better sense of what your financial goals are and how to obtain them. None of us were born knowing this stuff, we all had to start from scratch.

Good luck.