Originally Posted by Chuck33079

Exactly. If you're not comfortable with the idea of losing every bit of your money, stay away from penny stocks. You can have plenty of short term investments that aren't penny stocks. Figure out how much of your money you're comfortable with losing. That's going to determine what kinds of stock to buy. If you're ok with the possiblility of losing a lot of it in exchange for the potential of higher returns, buy small and mid cap growth stocks. If you don't feel comfortable with a big loss and are ok with lower returns than the more aggressive stocks, buy large cap stocks with a healthy dividend.