[forreal]

I've never invest my money in Stock.Can a person invest in the stock market with $50.00 or less?

[KongTheKonqueror]

There are few choices with such a small amount of money. Most places charge at least $10 per trade, so if you invest $50 you will already be down %20 due to transaction costs. Your best bet is to open an account with somewhere that will waive the minimum balance ($500 most of the time).

T Rowe Price will waive the minimum balance if you sign up for an automatic investment plan of $50 a month. The money will automatically come out of your checking account.

They offer several mutual funds which is really what you need since you can buy them for free. They have some that track the S&P 500 which is a major index comprised of 500 of the largest companies in the U.S. When you hear people talking about the market, this is it most of the time. The mutual funds that track this will have the same performance as the market. You won't beat the market but you won't do worse than the market. This is actually a major accomplishment since each year 80% of all mutual funds fail to beat the market.

T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 (PREIX) has a low annual expense (all mutual funds have expenses) and is offered in their automatic investment plan. You could try to give them a call or check out there website (www.troweprice.com), but they look like your best bet unless you can find a similar company that offers something better.

Just a few notes:
Never pay a front load, back load, deferred load, commission or any other similar term on a mutual fund. 12b1 fees are OK and expenses are involved in all funds but the lower the better.

Stick with an index fund until you learn more about investing and can make informed choices. Index funds may seem boring but you can't loose unless the marked does poorly.

Diversify: Later on buy an index fund that tracks the MSCI EAFE, one that tracks the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index, one that holds nothing but RETIS, and some emerging market funds.