Question: I am a stay at home mom. Me and my husband have six children. My husband has a great job. However, I would like to generate some income without having to work outside the home. I have been learning about trading, I want to invest in the stock market. What is the best place to start?

Answer: Alas, trading for a living without institutional resources and a long apprenticeship is NOT likely to be a fruitful endeavor for you.

I started investing at age 17 back in 1979. By the time I was 30, I felt like I had a good handle on the work, and by age 35 I felt confident enough to invest for clients. At present, we have a full time investment research team spending tens of thousands/year on Bloomberg terminals and research who do this work as a full time job.

We compete in the markets against the really good investors, the mutual fund complexes, the exchange traded funds and the high frequency traders. Casually dropping into this enviroment is like casually dropping in on a scrimage with a pro football team - you're gonna get crushed!

If you have some spare cash, buy the plainest of plain vanilla index ETF funds through Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. You'll get a projected return of about 8%/year over the next several decades without lifting a finger. To learn more about ETF's specifically, or investing in general, visit our library with free investment guides.