The next decision is whether you want to select your own portfolio or get a professional to do it for you. Both of course have benefits but by getting advice from a pro and asking them why they choose the investments they did will help you gain a free insight at the same time. If you decide on using a professional advisor be sure to do some checking to make certain they have a proven track record of success. This applies whichever type of broker and whatever method is used for that very first investment. Many new investors wrongly assume that all their money will go directly into buying the investment they have chosen and forget that there are different prices for buying and selling stocks. This can be quite a surprise to some but they should remember that even mutual funds have annual charges. If you are doing that, there are certain things you must look for. One of the first things that you have to remember is that the bank where you have your regular account is not necessarily the bank with the best saving accounts too. With a saving account, the stakes are higher because banks have to pay you interest on the deposits that you make. The next point we need to look at is whether you will be making your own decisions on where to invest or getting a professional in to do the job for you. If you are planning to invest in the stock market you will need some serious knowledge of how to select stocks before jumping in. However if you choose to use a financial professional then you just need to make some enquiries to ascertain their track record. Or alternatively you have made yourself dizzy flicking backwards and forwards in one of the older style ones! So do you really need to have a stock market dictionary? No but once you have got yourself a good one to help you fathom out the impenetrable terminology you will find that your investing life becomes so much easier than before. But before picking up the phone it's a good idea to make sure you are going to present your application in the best possible way. Begin by listing every item of outstanding credit you have. This will ensure you don't forget anything and have to go back to the bank later. Secondly if you have any past due payments on your credit record make certain that you have a good explanation as to why it happened.