Lisa, I know you didn't ask for my advice but you don't have to listen to me. I just wish somebody had given me advice while I was starting, and here's my 2cents to pass to you.
My first advice to you is stay away from the forums because these forums will eat you alive. It can cause you false hopes or bring you to panic as these forums are built with bashers and pumpers. Even seasoned traders get influenced by these forums. Read one of the best sellers books "how I made 2,000,000 by Nicholas Darvas". This will tell you how important it is NOT to be influenced by pumpers and bashers. Once in a while, I come to forums to confirm what I know. And if I hear new things from the posts, I verify them and use them. Well sometimes I get to forums when I've got nothing better to do like now :)
My second advice is do not trade a dime not until you're confident enough to weather the ups and downs of each stock you own. There's a lot more to learn about market and stocks. Believe me, the person that posts technical terms and different trading lingo could give you the worse advice. Not because they sound smart (that includes me :)), you will go by what they say. You have to learn all these things yourself to be able to understand the behavior of the market and the stock you own (or want to own). Read books from different gurus like O'Neil to Peter Lynch to Benj Graham to Lefevre (etc etc). It is the best investment you can have for yourself before investing your money in the market. I was doing shadow trading for over a year before I put a dime in the market. It means pick your stocks and watch them from the side without involving money.
Third, Be a defensive trader/investor. This is a crazy market and stocks go up and down with or without any valid reasons. DD can help you a lot and that means going extra miles (same as what JZMan, Bruce, etc are doing). At the end of the day, you weigh your risk and decide from there. Some info are relevant and some do even amount to anything. Without doing DD can make you lose money, loss after loss. When this happens, you will start to become frustrated and give up on investing. Trading/Investing is the opportunity you can not afford to give up if you want to get really rich like most of the guys here.
Goodluck to you.....
BTW, I would have sent this private message to Lisa but I'm a cheapshot and just don't want to get premium account yet.
