I have 20k to invest ...

[FatOtt]

I've been reading and posting on the Motley Fool for years. When you talk about Rule Breakers and identify them as "High risk, high reward", well, I'd say you're half right. Rule Breakers was a strategy that basically said, "Own the hot companies, price be damned". That's a strategy that worked pretty damn well in the momentum-driven late 90's.

Now, the Motley Fool offers a number of subscription-based services. I don't subscribe to any of them, but I don't think it would be a bad idea if you wanted to stick your toes in the stock market's waters. Bill Mann is a TMF writer that I respect a lot - if he's involved in one of the newsletters, I'd recommend that one.

I've also heard very good things about "Value Investor Insight", a newsletter (co?)written by Whitney Tilson. Tilson seems like a decent investing writer who follows (or at least claims to follow) the teachings of Warren Buffett. I believe I met him at a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting and he seemed like a nice guy.

By the way (to the OP), no matter how much money you have or how much money you're making or how many years of income you have in front of you, $20k is a lot of money and I would sincerely advise you to not think about it in any way that approximates gambling or a "Hey, I'll try trading and see how it goes" kind of attitude.