Everyone has heard of the stick market, and just about everyone has heard of the thousands of people who have gotten rich by making wise stock market investments and cashing in at just the right time. However, there are still a great many people who have yet to start preparing for major life needs (such as retirement) out of fear of the unknown; those folks often put off investing because their major thought always seems to return to the basic question, How do I start investing in the stock market?
As with most things in life, getting started is really the hardest part. It takes a bit of work researching how the market works, what the different terminology means, what kinds of companies you are interested in, what your life goals are, and so on; it also takes a small leap of faith to actually send that first bit of money off to the investment world. So, the first step in answer to the question how do I start investing in the stock market is to make the decision to do so and also take any necessary actions to keep yourself from backing out.
After deciding that this is what you want to do and getting a decent book or some online articles to read, the next step is...