Catch of the Day

Interested in stock purchase to round out your investments but don't know how to get started? More of a buy and hold type who doesn't want to put down gobs of cash to get into the stock market? Check out Sharebuilder.com, my Catch of the Day. How it works: you buy stock in dollar amounts, not shares, (and the amounts can be like $10) for a reasonable per-transaction fee or a subscription rate. You can schedule a certain amount to be taken directly out of your checking account each month or schedule a one-time purchase. You can do research about the companies right on the web site.

Note: This is not primarily a service for "day traders," although you can make real-time trades; the fees are more reasonable for scheduled purchases - and the idea is buy-and-hold. For the steady wealthbuilder, this makes sense.