How can I get started in the stock market with little money?

I have a very limited income (I'm a college student) but I keep up with the market because my trust fund is based on stock. Is there anyway I can begin investing money for myself with my limited resources?

You should definitely start with no load mutual funds. With limited resources, the commissions will kill your returns on single stocks. Go to www.vangaurd.com or www.fidelity.com and I think you can start for as little as $25. When you talk to them, let them know you are young and want a fund with above average risk.

The max now on a Roth IRA is $4,000 a year (the fiscal year starts April 16) . The advantages of a ROTH IRA are that the gains are not taxable, you don't have to withdrawl (unlike an IRA or 401K) and if you die you can give what's left over to somebody else tax free. The only downside is it's ment for retirement.

You can also put money into a HSA, which is sort of an IRA, but it's geared toward health costs.
http://www.louisiana-business.com/Insura...

In the market invest only what you can afford to loose. Use an on line brokerage....it costs too much to buy/sell with a personal broker.

Try ETF - exchange traded funds. go to www.nseindia.com. one of the ETF's u can trade is NIFTYBEES. it replicates the movment of NIFTY. say it goes up, u make money and like that. point is if NIFTY is at 3555.00 u need only 355 to buy one unit(it is called unit here instead of share). so capital required is low and the return is same as that of market. still if sounds too easy..60% of U.S market trades in ETF's only. being a new concept here nobody knows.