Is this the right time to buy stocks?

This the first time I am planning to invest money in the stock market. Can anyone with any experience give me some advice on what stocks should I invest my money in? I want to start small so I gain experience and learn how things work.

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April 25th, 2010 at 1:08 am
It depends as to what your goals are: if you want to save money for retirement, then now is in fact a good time, as you will end up making money in the long run.
However, if you’re in things for the short term, the market has not quite hit its low (you’ll find very few advisors who will say otherwise).
As Warren Buffet says, "buy when others get fearful, and sell when others get greedy."
April 25th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Never (ever) take specific recommendations from anyone (especially strangers, whose qualifications and motives can never be known)……. I can tell you that most "honest" answers in this forum are dead wrong. Just good people giving bad advice.
Reading some good books on investing, mutual funds and retirement investing is the way to start.
The most important topic (first) topic to concentrate on is "asset allocation"…… Without understanding its importance, you could be doing great damage to your financial health.
Avoid "fad" investments. Don’t chase recent "performance". "Winners" for the past few years are usually the losers of today.
April 25th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Pick up the book "The Intelligent Investor" by Graham – it’s on the highly recommended reading list of Warren Buffet.
Pick some stocks to monitor, research them, narrow the field down – you may be interested in investing in them, or throw them all out, once you get some experience in the basics and start anew with another group.
Your instincts are good – the market is down, contrary to the novices out there, it could be a good time to buy, depending on what you look at. Just don’t rush in when it gets high and buy with the novices – that’ll cost you in the long run.
Stay cool, follow the benchmarks and your research, you’ll know when to strike.