And with limited capital you are in between the rock and the hard place. You have to look for something that will go up over days, weeks or months to turn you a profit after commissions etcs. In this market I think that is more risky as time keeps going on and with the millions (may be billions?) in the market that is on margin and the way the feds have been playing with all of their printing presses I don't think it is a good time to look for investments that will rise over the next three years. I have about 4 stock our of some 25 or 30 to go that I had 5 years ago and I will be out of the market completely after hours. Us that are able to day trade is really a good way to go as we are able to get in and out maybe several times a day. So what does the beginner do?
Look for the good companies. They are out there Coke, Microsoft, IBM and many more. Be prepaird to loose some money as none of us are able to get all of them right. Be able to cut loose when things head in the wrong direction and don't give up.