Investment firms are businesses which specialize in investment vehicles to help you earn more money. Investors that have been investing for 30-40 years have trouble making money, so most investors need help to earn money for their retirements, to buy a house, or to make a major purchase. I have a friend Joe, that was in his fifties, and needed to make investments to build up his nest egg to retire, and he didn't do it alone, he started to invest in muutal funds at major mutual fund companies at $200-300 at a time. He put most of his money in stock mutual funds, and just kept investing regularly, and he was working for the long term 15-20 years. It was a time that the stock market was going strong, and the economy was booming, and many new companies were starting, and technology was going strong as well. Joe just kept investing in his 40l(k) plan at work, and keep feeding his mutual funds to help them grow, and grow they did, until his money doubled and doubled, and doubled. Doubling your money in the investing game means getting at leasy 6% returns over a l2 year period,(6X12=72) and this is called the multiplier effect: So that is you had $50,000 6 years ago, it would now be double or $l00,0000. This is the major investing secret, most beginning investor are unaware of in the investing business. Steady investing over the long haul, not expecting the money to grow right away, it take time and with added time, your money will grow to a height you never dreamed would come about, if you tried to do it without the major investing mutual fund company. How did my friend Joe do with his investment? Well, he built his investment earnings to multip thousand of dollars, so he could finally retire, and do his writing, and spend time with his wife, and root for the Boston Red Sox. So can you do it. Start small, use an investing company which offers you excellent mutual funds, and stay at it until you succeed.