Where can I get money to invest in stocks?

I really don't have much money to invest right now but is there any way I can get a fairly large sum of money to invest in stocks?

Get a job and save at least 30% of it every month. I'm not sure how old you are, what kind of job you have, or if you can even afford to do that. My best advice is just save as much as you can. Don't buy anything you don't need. That means no eating at restaurants, no fancy new clothes, and so on. Save money any way you can... even if it means taking cold showers to save on your hot water bill.

The really rich are frugal with their money. It's the "millionare next door" that drives a beat-up car from 20 years ago, and it's the poor people who drive around in brand new leased/on-credit Escalades.

If you are young and still live with your parents and don't pay any bills, that's the perfect time to start making some money. I'm a student right now with a part-time job and I save nearly all of my money and put it in the stock market. With the average minimum wage job working about 25 hours a week after school, you can make about $12,000 a year. Sure you can spend money on yourself... spend about $2,000 a year on entertainment, and save about $10,000. Once you have $5,000 cash (about 6 months with a minimum wage job) you have enough to open up an investment account and start buying stock in my opinion. Like I said I'm in college and everyone else is complaining about how they have no money. Meanwhile I'm planning on having about $50,000 saved up when I'm done school. The secret is simply SAVE SAVE SAVE.

family and friends...thats about it

From your own savings. No one is going to give it to you.

no chance unless your friends / family will lend you.
otherwise save up and gamble your own money.

credit card cash advances

Work harder.

It's generally not a good idea to invest borrowed money.

You could borrow the money (see a Financial Adviser or a broker) but then you run the risk of a loss in the share market and then you will have to pay back the borrowed funds plus interest.

If i were you, and I wanted to get into investing, go through a managed fund. It's a lot easier than directly investing in stocks, and cheaper. The managed fund buys stocks on behalf of account holders, issues units, and your investment is made up of 'units' in the fund, not separate shares. This means that if some of the shares they have invested in go up, and some go down, you are protected because the risk balances out. Your investment will gradually increase in value over time, especially if you choose to reinvest your dividend each year and buy more units. There are hundreds of managed funds on offer.

Managed funds allow you to invest regularly (say $100 a month) into the fund, which buys units at the current price. Some months you will buy more, some less. On average you will buy more units when the price is down, using this methodology. It is called 'dollar cost averaging'. That's what I do, and it works over the long term.

Who wouldn't like to know where to get a large sum of money?? Get your start using Sharebuilder. You can start with very little money and ad a little more each month automatically. Its best to start small if your new to investing anyway, because you will lose money to start.

save lots more of your income

Well, I suggest you should get some books about investing. Educate yourself as much as you can, then start with small amount just try to test the water.

If you really need a large sum of money, try Prosper which is a P2P lending site. Hope it helps!