Hi Lara; I'm not sure what site(s) we talked about in the past, but I agree with you about Motley Fool.  I used to love it and now I'm on overload.  There's an investment survey called ValueLine that's GREAT, but you have to have a membership to get the good stuff.  Most public libraries carry it, as do some university libraries.  My investment club uses ValueLine reports every time we evaluate a stock.  They are online, too, and you can get some info. without the membership.

I talk with a friend here at work who has been investing for years.  He can afford a real broker, but I just do little stuff.

I put in $5 or $10 per month on whatever seems to be worthwhile at the time.  I am looking to see if the items I select will hold or gain in value.  Most are holding, a few have gained, and a few have lost a bit.

So far, I have not made enough to cover the $4 per trade fee that it costs, but I figure 'buy and hold' is the way to go, and they'll gather momentum over the long term.

I know that my 403(b) for work wasn't much a while back, but it has been growing for 4 years and is starting to look a little better.

I wish I had learned about stocks and such sooner, but then again they didn't really have all these self-investing tools that they have today either, so it may not have made much difference.

Edited to add:  Sorry, I'm babbling.  Sometimes I look at Yahoo! Finance for information.  Sometimes I look at Motley Fool.  I read in some books that energy and gold are appealing investments over the long term.  If I recognize a company and it's familiar to me (I shop there, etc.) and I think it's good then I try to buy a little of that too.