Please allow me to give some advice: Don’t do it. I speak with some experience, having lost my fair share in the “open market” as a do-it-yourself investor. The odds of success in this kind of investing are comparable to the odds of wining the lottery. It’s a crap shoot. Unless you are willing to take the time to investigate, investigate, and then do some investigation. Successful investing is not a privilege of the stock broker and the financial analyst, alone. It is an area open to voluntary participation from any walk to life. The catch here is that you must be knowledgeable, or you will lose.
Take the time to understand all the components of the investing arena, before you risk losing your nice little nest egg in ten minutes or less. What you have spent a lifetime saving can be gone in as little as ten minutes. Now, that should be a scary thought for any sane, rational, investor.
If you still intend to invest alone, here are a few tips and guidelines to help ensure your success. If you are going to invest, at least hire some form of investment professional to give you advice. It’s not necessary to let them do the investing, but use common sense, here. They know things you do not, and have not had time to learn.