What is a good investment firm to get involved with?

Like Ameritrade, E-trade, etc. I am looking to get involved but know nothing about how they work. I would like to learn and be able to manage my portfolio. Would this be a daily routine? How does one get started?

I use two discount brokers -- Charles Schwab and OptionsXpress -- and they are both good. With other discount brokers I have tried, when you need to talk to a live person you would get put on hold for 20 minutes. Not true with Schwab or OptionsXpress. OptionsXpress, as the name implies, is especially good for option traders -- it has numerous online tools, scans, simulations, charts, etc. -- but it is also fine for trading stocks and mutual funds, and there is no minimum account size. How much time it would take to manage your portfolio would depend on your trading style. A day trader who never keeps a trade open overnight would have to spend hours a day. However, there are many strategies that would require that you readjust your portfolio only once a year (see dogsofthedow.com, for example), and others where you might make adjustments once a month, or every few days if you are a swing trader.
To get started, just fill out the account forms and send a check to the broker. Then do a lot of studying to decide how you want to trade. Learning the markets is a lifelong task -- you won't do it in a week, a year or even 20 years.

Best firms are sharebuilder ($50 bonus if you open the new account), and Charles Schwab.

www.sharebuilder.com
www.schwab.com

Check out these websites. Hope it is helpful for you.