I have $10,000. How should I invest it?

Anyone who tries to answer this question without any more information
is doing you a disservice. To answer it, we would need to know when
you are going to need the money, if you need a particular amount of
money in return, how risky you are going to be, etc.

Circumstances differ for every person, but one often-followed rule is
to subtract your age from 100 to get the percentage of your
investments that should be in stocks or stock mutual funds. The rest
can go into less-risky investments, such as bonds, bond mutual funds,
CDs or money-market accounts.

For the investment you are making into stocks, you should split it
into different types of stocks so you are not putting all of your eggs
in one basket.

If you are 25 years old and don't need the money right away, you could
do the following:

25% -- bond fund (such as Vanguard Total Bond Fund)
25% -- large-cap value stock fund (big, undervalued companies)
25% -- small-cap growth stock fund (small, new-on-the-scene companies)
25% -- international stock fund (companies outside the U.S.)

You could play with the formula, say by investing in a large-cap
growth and small-cap value fund. If you are averse to risk, you can
put more into safer investments like bonds or big-company stocks. If
you don't mind risking a little more to get a bigger reward, you can
put more into small-caps or invest in "emerging markets" funds that
focus on third-world countries.

I would recommend going to (www.morningstar.com), which has a good
deal of free educational material on investing.

Just a caution: posting a question like this in a public forum is an
invitation to be descended upon by a host of unscrupulous people
proposing all kinds of illegal or fraudulent schemes, who will try to
take your money from you by promising ridiculously large rates of
return.

If you are not able or willing to take the EXTENSIVE time and effort
to learn what you need to know to invest your money successfully
(and there's no crime in that -- if you're not a programmer, would you
try to write your own PC software?),
you would be much better served by contacting a trained, licensed, and
regulated local representative from your bank or a financial
management firm (so as to not mention any names, I'll suggest your
local telephone yellow pages under "Financial Advisors" or
"Investments").

After choosing a representative, set up a face-to-face meeting with
the person and ask them questions about:
 - what their background, training, and experience are
 - what professional licenses and certifications they hold
   (and ask to SEE -- even make a copy of -- their credentials, then
check with:
        the local Better Business Bureau (BBB)
            (http://www.bbb.org and http://www.bbbonline.org),
        your state's Attorney General's Office
            (http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/crh/state.htm),
        and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
            (http://www.sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm) 
    to see if they have had any complaints, reprimands, or
disciplinary actions
    taken against them)
 - what their investment recommendations for you would be;
    [and if they don't first ask you a large number of questions
regarding
    the issues outlined by mwalcoff in his first paragraph (as well as
things
    like when you plan to retire) before making investment
recommendations to
    you, RUN LIKE THE WIND to another professional and don't look
back!]
 - Ask for names and phone numbers of some of their long-term clients,
then
   follow up by calling those people and asking for detailed
references)
 - If for any reason you don't feel comfortable with the person, feel
that you
   are being unduly pressured, or are being given "pie in the sky"
promises,
   thank them kindly for their time and find another professional.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. But remember that failing to
take these steps could mean losing every cent of your money. Also
remember the very old -- and very true -- adage that
IF SOMEONE PROMISES SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT
PROBABLY IS. People who let their desire for more money triumph over
their common sense frequently lose all the money they started with.

That said, take a deep breath and go to it! Good Luck!