Stock investing can be fun and interesting. Finding the best stocks to buy right now, investigating them and then finally investing in those companies can give you a thrill from the chase. However, it is good to remember that stock investing is not designed to be fun – it is meant to be profitable. If you want excitement, then we recommend watching a Hollywood blockbuster instead, because your hard-earned money is at risk here.

When buying stocks, you can choose to purchase them using an index fund, via either a mutual fund or exchange traded funds (ETFs), or simply buy the companies individually once you have researched them thoroughly.

An index fund is comprised of a list of business that is owned as a group and traded as a single share, as with an ETF, or as a mutual fund where you buy units in the fund itself that owns the stocks in the index. The benefits of index funds are lower fees, lower turnover, lower taxes and transparency.

An exchange traded fund, or ETF as it has come to be known, is often an index fund too, but it is traded as a share that can be purchased, just like when buying shares in a company. There are now a growing number of ETFs available, covering all sections of the investment spectrum, from large to small company index funds to commodity funds that index various commodity futures indices.

With stock investing, you will need to know the symbol that the company trades under, known as the ticker symbol. Microsoft Corporation, for instance, trades under ticket MSFT. You will want to check out the latest results of your prospective investment to review their product line, growth rates, cash dividend pay-outs, etc.

Finally, when trading stocks, you will need a brokerage account to complete the transaction. Opening a brokerage account is much like opening a bank account and is not complicated. Typically buying a stock will cost as little as $5-10 each time you wish to buy or sell some shares. You can do this over the telephone or on-line; trading on-line is usually a lot cheaper. It is good to buy with a sizable amount of cash, say $1,000 minimum, so that the brokerage fees are only a small fraction of your initial capital. If you do not trade very often, you may also have to pay inactivity fees which cover the costs of keeping your account open whilst you are not actively trading.