Can anyone help me learn to invest my money to make it work for me?

I am living pay check to pay check and would like to become more financial secure can anyone help

I subscribe to a good email newsletter on investing, budgeting, banking, and other personal finance topics. It's free, and when you sign up you get a free e-book on personal finance (including some about investing) and some spreadsheets for tracking budgets, etc.

I think this would be good for you too. See Sources.

In order to win, you need a good offense AND a good defense, meaning you have to be smart about saving and you can work on earning more income as well. Take on a second job, start a business, sell things on ebay. In order to save, pay yourself first then use what's left to pay the necessities. Figure out EXACTLY where your money is going as you could probably find a few slow "leaks" and stop them. Little things add up, and besides, finding $50 a month that you could re-route to a savings plan like a Roth IRA or 401K or something can REALLY add up over the years! Check out a guy named Dave Ramsey. He's GOOD! He will teach you the basics of this stuff and is very motivational. Highly recommended and worth the investment. Look at his website and look for one of his live seminars or FPU classes in your city! E-mail me if you'd like more help. Good luck!

It sounds like you have 2 questions here:

1.) How to Invest Your Money
2.) How to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck and Become More Financially Secure

Of the two, I'd say that 2 needs to be tackled before you can even think about moving onto 1.

I agree that Dave Ramsey is a great resource for anyone in the position you find yourself in.

The first thing you need to do is create a budget and identify exactly how much money you have coming in every month and where it all goes such that you don't have any left by your next paycheck. Without this information, you will not be able to diagnose your problem and know what kind of corrective measures to take.

Do you ever dine out at a fast food restaurant or grab a latte? STOP!
Do you have a closet full of clothes that you never wear? Sell them and STOP buying more!
Do you have cable television? +$50-100 right there

Its all shooting in the dark right now, but unless your income is below the poverty line, there realy is no reason why you shouldn't be able to get your finances in order and start building up your net worth.

If you have ANY credit card debt than that needs to be paid off ASAP and way before you even think about putting $ into investments.

It boils down to delayed gratifcation usually. What are the things you are buying now that are preventing you from having money to save? Is that a trade off you are willing to continue to make? I'm going to assume that you have an income of at least $25,000 because if you do not, then that is a whole different issue/question.

Create a spreadsheet with the following cells going down the far left column:

Rent:
Car Insurance:
Student Loans:
Health Insurance:
Water:
Electric:
Gas (driving):
Wal Mart/Food:
Health/Meds:

Cell Phones:
Entertaiment:
Dining Out:
Other Personal:
Business:
Vacation:
Gifts:
Other:

Total Expenses:
Total Income:
Net Income: (Total Expenses - Total Income)

Keep track of every single payment you make and add it to the corresponding cell. Certain payments are unnavoidable: Food, Gas, Rent, Insurance, Medication...but really, that's about all that is absolutely necessary to sustain life is it not?

Any #s in any of those other columns should be closely scrutinized and most likely eliminated. Just as an experiment, were you to eliminate all of those expenses not in the first section, how much money would you have left over at the end of the month?

If the number is still negative that means 1 of 4 things:

1.) You are eating way too much
2.) You are living in a place you can't afford
3.) You are having health problems (not your fault here)
4.) You just aren't making enough $ and need to find an extra job or rich spouse :-)

I could keep gpoing but without more info there's only so much I can say.

Hope this helps

The easiest way to do this is to find a better job. A really good job will have a salaried savings plan. You shouldn't rely on this as the ONLY long-term investment you have (remember Enron) but it's a good start.

There are people called financial advisors who will usually try to sell you financial products (stocks, funds, etc) on commission. Some of these will have good advice for you as well. There are books about investing that are easy to read.

How about this: Attempt to only spend money on things that will either save money for you or earn money for you.

you should call my financial advisor, Moreland Capital Management, at 208-578-7931. they can answer all your questions.

Pay off debt 1st!

Then invest in a no-load mutual fund!