How to get started

Q

I want to invest in some stocks and maybe a mutual fund, too. How do I actually do that? — M.L., Kinston, North Carolina

A

For stocks, open an account at a respectable brokerage. (You can read about some good ones at Broker.Fool.com.) It's generally easy to do: You'll fill out an application and deposit money into the account, then you can begin buying and selling. You can probably set it all up online, too. Most good brokerages will let you set up individual retirement accounts (IRAs) as well as regular taxable accounts.

Many brokerages offer access to zillions of mutual funds, so you may be able to invest in your fund(s) of interest in your brokerage account. (A workplace 401(k) account will generally offer some mutual fund options as well.) Otherwise, click over to the mutual fund's parent company (such as Vanguard or Fidelity) and see if you can invest directly from there. Some funds have minimum initial investment requirements, such as $500 or $3,000.

You can look up mutual fund track records, fees and other information at Morningstar.com. Look into exchangetraded funds (ETFs), too — they're like mutual funds, but trade like stocks, with no minimum investment requirements.

Note that for many of us, low-fee index funds, such as ones that track the S&P 500, are the easiest and best way to get into stocks.

Q

I don't read the footnotes in companies' financial reports. Should I?

— V.S., Syracuse, New York

A

Ideally, yes — you can run across some useful things to know. These might include the accounting methods the company uses when preparing its financial reports, or the various interest rates that the company is paying on its debts.