• Find an easy way to invest in the stock market.nachrichten image by Angelika Bentin from Fotolia.com
  
  If you want to buy stocks, it is easy to open up an online brokerage account, send in some money and buy some stocks. The challenge is to find an easy path to owning stocks that will grow in value and increase your wealth. For investors who want to get stock market exposure without all the research, there are other avenues to set up a regular stock market investment plan that do not require an advanced degree in finance.
  
  

Employer Payroll Stock Plan

• If your employer is a publicly traded company, they probably offer a program to purchase company stock through a payroll deduction. The typical plan accumulates the payroll deduction amount for three or six months, then buys the stock at the lowest price during that period. There may be an additional discount on the purchase price of the stock. Payroll stock purchase plans usually allow you to accumulate company stock at a significant discount. If you are confident about the company's future prospects, this is an easy method to profit from your employer's growth.
  
  

Stock Mutual Funds

• Mutual funds have professional money manager who select the stocks for the fund. Mutual fund investments are easy to set up and many funds have an initial investment of $1,000 or less. You can set up regular, automatic monthly investments into your mutual fund to purchase more shares. Mutual fund investors allow the fund manager to select the stocks that meet the fund's and investors' investment goals. If you are uncomfortable analyzing and selecting mutual funds, have an investment adviser help you select appropriate funds for your situation.
  
  

Invest in ETFs

• Exchange Traded Funds are investment companies that hold the same stocks as a specific stock index. ETF investing give your broad stock market exposure without the risk of selecting a single, bad stock. ETF shares are usually relatively low in cost. Fund shares are purchased on the stock exchange and held in a regular brokerage account. ETF investing works if you have a larger sum to invest and want to participate in the overall returns of the stock market. Example stock ETFs include the SPDR S&P 500 (symbol SPY) for large-company stocks; iShares Russell 2000 (symbol IWN) for small- and medium-sized U.S. companies; and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (symbol EEM) for emerging-market funds.