Advice on investments can be found on the Internet or at a local brokerage firm. Many choose to invest on their own to save money by using a discount broker, reducing your transaction costs. Discount brokerage houses are set up just to carry out a trade, but do not give advice.

If you decide to do-it-yourself, you can go on the Internet and get advice for a small fee at a few sites. Then continue the trade through a discount brokerage house. In other words, an investment online site will give you a financial profile for a fee and they will give you a plan and recommendations on stocks and bonds. They will monitor your portfolio and give recommendations when to buy and sell when necessary.

One such advisory is www.createafund.com. It charges an upfront annual management fee of 1% on your capital. For this you get a plan prepared by a financial planner that allocates your assets, telling you how much of your money you should invest in stocks, how much in bonds and how much you should keep in cash. It also recommends specific stocks and bonds. Transaction costs are included in your fee.

The following tips on online resources should provide you with valuable information.

CNN online news is a great source for advice on the market and current research of stocks. Hoover’s site will give you recent stock news and company descriptions. Go to Quicken to find out a company’s profile and current quotes, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) site will give you information about filings and enforcement. Make sure that you look for disclosure statements on Internet sites and newsletters on who wrote the information. Tips can sometimes be misleading because companies trying to sell stock write them.