STOCK PICKING FOR DUMMIES (AND SMART PEOPLE TOO!)

Picking the right stocks is a challenge for any level of investor. It is almost made more difficult by the abundance of "professional analysts" that freely give their opinions on radio, television, the Internet, and magazine. Anywhere you look, you can find free stock tips and suggestions which make the stock market for dummies a difficult place to navigate.

So, where does one go for stock picks they can trust? There are two places and they are both free. The first is Morningstar and you can sign up for a free membership or a free 14 day trial to their premium membership. Obviously, you will be getting more with the Premium membership, but you don't have to sign up for that and can go with just the totally free one if you like. Either way, you will be getting stock news, stock analysis, and stock picks all for free.

Morningstar has been around since 1984 and they have put together one of the most comprehensive stock market sites on the Internet. They have more than 6 million registered users and they are often ranked with the best investing sites on the web. I like them because they have Pat Dorsey who makes stock recommendations that are always conservative in nature. He makes suggestions and analysis that I know has been well thought out and can be trusted based on his past record.

The second stock picking for dummies resource is Jubak Picks. Jim Jubak has just gone out on his own after writing for 12 years for MSN Money and his new site is much of the same but just more of it. He is another conservative stock picker who has consistently beaten the market year after year and his site is totally free. All his buys and sell are well explained for investors of any level and his picks are documented for anyone to see.

Learning the stock market is hard, especially if you have little time to keep up with the market and individual stocks. These two investment websites will at least give you a starting point and some interesting stock tips to learn. There are so many stocks out there that one has to have some sort of sifter that identifies companies that might be worth a look. The fact that both of these sites are free makes them that much better.