What Little I Know of Investing

OK, this is my first official post for the investing category, so I think it only fair to lay out what tiny, miniscule amount I actually know about the subject.  It shouldn’t take long to exhaust LOL because I simply don’t know much because I have never been taught about investing in a way that is easy-to-understand.

The main thing I *do* know is not to invest in single stocks.  I’ve been watching the stock market lately, trying to get a feel for it through a game called virtual stock market.  It has taught me that watching single stocks is like watching someone dribble a basketball since they go up, down, up, down, and so on.  Maybe later on in life when I am financially independent I might play with  single stocks, but as an investment strategy it doesn’t sound smart at all.

Since single stocks are out, that leaves the debate between mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs.  This is where I am definitely needing to do some research.  Dave Ramsey says mutual funds, but I have heard some folks say he is overly simplistic with his investing advice.  Dave Ramsey also says to NOT invest in anything you don’t understand.  Right now my Roth IRA money is in a mutual fund, because I honestly don’t know anything better yet and I do understand the concepts of a mutual fund.  Also, I have noticed the index funds recommended to me all have minimum investments of $3,000 which I am no where near having yet (remember I only have $391 in my Roth at this point!).

Soooo…where to go to educate myself?  Where can I find someone who talks about this kind of stuff in a way the UNsophisticated person can understand?  Pinyo over at Moolanomy (the mastermind behind the M-Network) is a bit miffed that I don’t read his blog…but when he gets onto investing it goes so far over my head.  So does just about every other PF blogger I have seen.  My eyes glaze over and I feel like I am back in physics class trying to figure out planetary rotation again (I seriously BOMBED that test for the record…).

So I am at “Single stocks bad…”  I’ve been listening to a Nashville radio show on investing by a fellow named Paul Winkler the “Investing Coach” because he breaks things down somewhat easy to understand, although there are still times when I just can’t follow him.  My buddy Dan the Numbers Man from MyTMMO boards has given me another link to check out which I will be listening to tonight.  He is years ahead of me on investing knowledge, so I’ll have to check it out before I link to it.

Does anyone have a link for this ignorant fledgling wannabe investor?