To the outsider the stock market appears to be a world of easy money and get rich quick schemes. Perhaps you have heard about those days where people who own stocks making a fair amount of money in one day when the stocks raise 5 points. Then you find yourself thinking. If only I had gotten into the game yesterday, or last week, then I would have made enough money to take that trip. But that's just the point the stock market is a world where you can make a lot of money, but it's all about the ‘ifs'.

Even the experienced investor has the ‘what if' conversations with themselves. So you are not alone. But the difference between an experienced investor and a wannabe what is the knowledge that it's not fast and it's not easy!

Making money on the stock market requires experience, practice, patience, education and skills. You need to start with some basic research and the more time you put in to it, the more you will know and the more you will make. You need to learn the basics to get to that point. You can't start with large investments, because everybody makes mistakes and you don't want to start making mistakes with a lot of money.

If you do however take the time to learn the basics you will slowly build up your knowledge. This knowledge will be built up from mistakes and successes, so if you take your time you won't be out too much.

The very first place to start is choosing how you are going to trade. Once you have decided if you are going to day trade, swing trade or buy and hold, you will know which areas you need to research in.

So which area are you interested in? Well it's probably best to know what the areas are first…

Day trading: day trading involves buying large amounts of stock and waiting for a raise and selling. Day traders do not keep their stock overnight.

Swing trading: Swing trading involving buying stock and waiting for the price to move. Swing traders don't hold on to their stock for long, but generally keep it for longer than day traders.

Scalping: Much like the idea of ticket scalping, stock scalping involving a large quantity of stocks and selling once the price has moved a little bit.

Buy and Hold Trading: Buy and Hold Trading involves buying well-priced stock with the intention of holding on to it for a long time. Over time this stock will slowly raise in value. Buy and hold traders buy stock in companies that they believe will grow overtime. Such as those that invested in computers early on.

The next step is learning about analysis.

Fundamental analysis: relies on the same principles that supply and demand theory does. Fundamental analysis involves reading financial reports of the companies you invest in and it may take a while to learn the lingo.

Technical analysis: Technical analysis involves watching time and price. It involves looking at certain charts and if you are an expert seeing these charts will give you an insight into how the company will move over time.

Your next point of call is to devise your plan. There are many articles about planning on various websites. You need to have a plan to ensure that you don't step out of your own boundaries.

Make sure that you are well researched before you start playing around with real money. Never spend what you don't have. Expect mistakes and learn from them. If you take your time, you will acquire the skills, patience and practice you will need to achieve success.