What advice can you give a beginning investor (me)?

I don't need specific advice (invest in oil, for ex.), really, but I want to know what lessons others have learned through investing.

two lessons to invest by.

1. take half of all raises and put it into investments, as you will never know any pain around this method.

2. Buy assets(investments). People get rich holding assets not buying and selling like it is a game.

Buy gold...it's value is not dependent on the full faith and credit of any government. It is timeless.

Start off with a sure thing then ask Martha Stuart for inside tips.

HI. Investing always is for the long run. Have that in mind. If you've any other ideas, investing is not the term to use.

According to your time limit and expectations, we can go for various investment options. There is a lot of information lying around on the net.

Talk to a real Financial Advisor before do it. That would help you.

Buy when everyone is selling and sell when everyone is buying in an investment that you have done your homework on.

I would say, find soild companies, One I love is GE! Soild and adapts to the market, no extreme swings, has invested in clean tech, plane parts, trains, even NBC, and pays a decent dividend... You should do LOTs of research P/E is a way to compare how much your getting for your money... Price(cost its quote price is) divided by its earnings( money bring it in baby) some are high like yahoo $90 you pay for $1 that they earn in one year, P/E around 20 is avg... but if people expects growth later they will tolirate a high P/E... they will have predictions of future P/E... dont go nuts with this, if you feel like the company is solid and actually has a plan and good financal shape... good... Avoid oil, or anything that ran up, look for the market that people are missing... I did in trailers, and trains and Katrina happened and trains were in demand as there arent enough truckers and coal demand grows since the energy crisis... Be Creative! Oh yea, when you find good foundation companies (LISTEN TO YOUR GUT) Buy Low as low as you can find it, you will understand the basic price, like ge normally 35 just to ramdly use and it is at 26 and havent been like that in a long time but the markets down and it has no reason to go down, BUY as they rate it, then it may correct to be 35 or 37 you made money... like buying a home and selling higher.. Thats it and good Luck, DO your HOMEWORK! as Jim Cramer says CNBC

Read everything you can about investing before investing in anything with your own money.

Some good places to look are:
http://www.fool.com
http://www.fool.co.uk
http://www.everyinvestor.co.uk
http://www.investopedia.com
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buff...