There are many different views on the cause as you would imagine but the general consensus of opinion is that there was a misplaced belief that high share prices could be sustained indefinitely. The Bull market which had lasted throughout the 1920s had even led one eminent economist, Irving Fisher, to state that "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. 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. The Dutch as leaders in this new field soon began to develop some of the financial instruments that we are all still familiar with today. They introduced things such as traded options, short selling, unit trusts and even debt-equity swaps which were revolutionary at the time. After the early success of those Dutch pioneers other countries soon began to see how they could copy this new trading model. 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. They know that investing in the stock market can be a great way to secure their financial future but they are just a little unsure how to go about it. To answer their question of "what is the first step to investing?" really requires a question in return because it is important to find out the kind of investment they mean. Obviously you don't want to lose it but if you absolutely can't afford to then you should look for something which carries a significantly lower level of risk. Likewise it's important to feel comfortable knowing that you should be investing in the markets for the medium to long term. That's generally regarded as 5 years plus.