Hello I am not an expert on this but I have been investing for a few years. First what I would recommend you do would find a good investment brokerage. They do charge a small fee but then they invest direct and you dont have to worry about the hassle. Second you want to figure out how you want to invest your money. With the way the market is down anything would be a pretty promising investment for the future. If you are older you probably want to be moderate with your investing find a proven fund and stay away from tech stocks. If you still have 20-30 yrs before you plan on retiring you could definitely have some fun with your investing. Personally I deal with Edward Jones and I stick to the American Funds Group and The Hartford Funds Group. There are other good groups and some banks offer some plans. But I would also recommend investing directly into some good companies. Phillip Morris, Home Depot, Exxon Mobil, Guidant, Duke Energy, alot of Pharmaceuticals(Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Pharmacia,etc) are also good. To do this there is something called Drip Investing. If you are interested let me know and I will pass on the address for the newsletter.