save your money in cash. once you have 10k or so saved then consider putting /some/ additional income into an index fund every month. probably a better use is

save your money in cash. once you have 10k or so saved then consider putting /some/ additional income into an index fund every month. probably a better use is reinvesting into yourself and increasing your skills. i would stay away from forex and options and buying individual stocks. i would recommend learning accounting and finance, perhaps taking a class at a junior college. apply the knowledge to reading financial statements of companies and deriving knowledge about their operations. i do it as a hobby. i occasionally invest in individual stocks in this manner. but i wouldnt race into putting my handful of dollars into the markets. cash is king in this environment.