I have a little bit of investment experience.. Roth IRA, good idea.. after 5 years you are allowed to take out your invested amount. Max out your 401k E-trade is the way to go 10 bucks per trade is CHEAP. People claim the biggest rules are 1.Diversify, diversify, diversify.. However, not in a normal account, because all those 'diverse trades' will nickel and dime your investments. 2.Buy low, sell high- Thats the idea.. but what happened when the market almost crashed? People that bought high... sold low... Womp Womp Womp.. if your looking to invest 10k or under. i'd look for cheaper stocks. Mainly under 10 dollars. because the more shares you have, the more money you make when it goes up. but also the more you lose when it goes down. My portfolio includes C @1.69 average Siri @ .07 Bee @ .89 BAC @ 5.97 S @ 4.10 I tried some leveraged etf's... the rate of decay in those kinds of shares kicked my ass. Im only a few years in, but my % of gain is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, i made money, while others lost. My investments were only in the thousands, but, hopefully at the next crash, i can push 6 figures.