I've made several great investments, including one that is currently paying out over $6,000/mo. However, these payments are made to someone else, because I alwa

I've made several great investments, including one that is currently paying out over $6,000/mo. However, these payments are made to someone else, because I always, always sell early. The markets are a painful place to come to know oneself. I do have one tried and true piece of advice: invest in index mutual funds over managed ones. Their "average" return routinely outperforms most actively managed mutual funds. Worst case, you haven't paid a lot of management fees to the person who has lost money for you. (This is less true than in the past because traders now arbitrage against index funds. Nimble traders exploit the fact that index funds are mandated to buy certain positions.) Don't use stockbrokers. If they really knew what they claim to know then they'd be fabulously wealthy without your help. Burton Malkiel's Random Walk Down Wall Street is a good read.