| Fidelity isn't a good company for a beginner because of their high brokerage fees. I use them because I trade so much that my fees are low like they are at ScottTrade, Ameritrade, Etrade and others. Be aware that if you buy 10 shares of a $10 stock it will cost you $100 plus the brokerage fee. Even if you use a discount broker with a fee of $8, to break even, the $10 stock has to rise to $11.60 for you to break even. The stock will cost you $108 to buy, and another $8 to sell, which is $116. In other words, the stock has to go up 16% before you break even.
If you thinking about buying a stock for long term, you might want to consider a stock that pays a dividend. There are some low priced stocks that pay dividends and have good fundamentals. Some examples are Friedman Industries (FRD), WH (WSP Holdings), FIX (Comfort Systems USA), BVF (Biovail Corp) and ELRC (Electrorent Corp). I have bought and own WH in my daughters IRA, but wouldn’t recommend you buy any without doing research and seeing if they look like something you would feel comfortable owning.
If you are going to buy a mutual fund, you might want to consider no load funds that don't charge fees. Another possibility is that if, and when the world recovers, funds that invest in commodities that do well in a recovery might be good to consider. Three funds that offer interesting possibilities are Oppenheimer Real Asset, Pimco Commodity Real Return Fund and Rogers Raw Materials Fund. You should research these to see if any of them might be of interest to you. Keep in mind that they do charge fees so compare the fees as well as how they invest. | 
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