One anonymous stranger's thoughts follow. These ideas have worked for me.
if you are lucky, you might try to beat the market by throwing darts at the quote pages. There must be a better way for the rest of us. Let's explore that.
Do not suppose you can beat the market, until you do.
If you do, then, next time, be equally, or more, careful.
Beating the market is choosing to put your money in things that do better.
Some people rely on a fund manager or broker to make decisions for them. That may be best if you don't want to make decisions. On the other hand, when fund managers are losing money, or getting bail-outs, you may prefer to make your own decisions. You might consider buying and selling individual stocks and funds, and manage that yourself.
Be aware that day trading, and short-term trading, require meticulous knowledge and continuous attention, which most people don't, and won't, have. This write up does not treat day trading or short term trading.
Instead, you might try buying good stocks and funds, at the right time, intending to hold them and make profit (they're good?), and check out how they're doing, as time permits.
If you want to buy stocks, pick good stocks.
How might someone pick and buy good stocks?
Here are my thoughts.
First, where do you want to invest? Some countries are doing better than others. Find them.
Second, what companies in those countries are worth a look?
Third, pay attention to your gut, instinct, or intuition-- ask yourself, does this make sense?
Picking the right markets, the strong emerging markets that are growing, is pretty easy to do. You might look at Globaledge, Market Potential Index for Emerging Markets for a take on that.
Find stocks, in those places, that are traded on your local stock exchanges, something your broker can do. For example, India's TATA Motors trades on NYSE as TTM, Poland's big drink distributor trades as CEDC.
Having found a region that's growing, and some stocks that you can easily trade, it's important to examine, and rate, the P/E, ROI, ROIC (Return On Invested Capital), and cash flow, over time. If these ideas are new, take a look at Financial Ratios. Compare any company to other companies in the same industry. Rate and rank. Be aware that some numbers will be fudge, even with listed companies. Do the research.
Some basic stats and charts are available free at Yahoo finance.
Find good companies that have good (low) P/E, good (high) ROI and ROIC, positive cash flow, and growth over time. Compare them to their competition.
Ask yourself, is this something you think you know about, or have any intuition about?
Time your buy(s). Pay attention to overall market trends, don't fight them. A great stock can, and probably will, rise or fall with the trend. In a general market downtrend, cash or bonds/funds can do better. There are funds that deal in specific countries' government bonds (if you want something managed, consider MERKX for a portion of "near cash" holdings). If you plan to buy more than a few hundred shares of anything you might spread the buying a little, and buy on the dips.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket, and be willing to have some patience. Re-examine your decisions and ask yourself which ones still hold water.
There is an emotional content to buying and selling, taking profits or losses. One guy told me taking a huge trade profit was adrenaline better than sex. Keep your head. Be willing to take losses, and profits. If you are feeling really pumped because your investment did really, really well, that may be a sign it's time to sell some or all of that. If you feel lousy because something went down, do your re-analysis and soul searching. If you think it's less likely to go up than when you bought it, then sell.
Your mileage may vary, as you make your own decisions.