My advice is avoid individual stocks. Can be big rewards, but also big risk. Spread out your risk with a no-load mutual fund that tracks the market, lots of them track the S&P.
As some other posters have said, I agree. IMHO, the great majority of individual investors are not well equipped and don't have the resources to evaluate and monitor individual stocks. I manage our investments and invest only in no-load mutual funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs). I am retired and we are very comfortable due to having saved the maximum we could for many years in IRAs, 401(k) plans, etc. Our main investment-advisory resources are the Morningstar premium subscription, Bob Brinker's Market Timer publication, our account reps at Schwab and Fidelity (and through them access to specialists in their firms, such as specialists in bond funds), and the research resources available on the Schwab and Fidelity web sites. Numerous studies support the conclusion that the expenses charged by a mutual fund or ETF are a major factor in long-term investment success. A good part of our investments are in index funds with very low expenses, and I always check the expenses in actively managed funds. IMHO, diversification is important. Our investments are spread among all categories of funds (large cap, mid cap, small cap, growth, value, blended, bond funds, and recently some 12-month USA treasury bonds). About 25% of our stock funds are foreign at this point. FWIW, I don't try to "time" the market--pick when to sell and when to buy large amounts--but I have started taking some money out of the USA stock market, a little at a time. If anyone is interested in timing the market, Bob Brinker is the only advisor I know of who has correctly called all or almost all of the major times to sell or buy in the last 20 years. All just my 2 cents' worth (arguably not worth even that much).
