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If you're new to investing, it can look complicated. But it doesn't need to be. This is part 4 of 5 parts.

By MSN Money staff

The editors at MSN Money have put together this Beginner's Guide to Investing to help you start putting your money to work:

For a more active approach to starting investing, let a proven expert guide your initial steps (watch the videos on the right for details).

Guru for stocks

Want to buy individual stocks, either to build a portfolio or supplement the funds you own? Jim Jubak writes regularly on MSN Money about the best and worst places to put your money. Jim's main portfolio, launched in May 1997, has more than doubled in that time, and continues to beat the major averages by a wide margin.

Guru for funds, ETFs

Tim Middleton (interviewed in the second video on the right) focuses on low-cost exchange-traded funds. ETFs trade like stocks and are a great way for the small-dollar investor to get started.

Gurus for guidance, but . . .

There are a lot of high profile investing experts on the television and Web giving buy and sell advice. Be careful. No one has the right answer for every investor. Watch the third video on the playlist (or click the link below) to see Mad Money host Jim Cramer's picks put to the test.

Ready to dig deeper?

If you think you're ready to do a little more research on stocks and funds, try using some of our other tools. On our Stock Power Searches page, you can use two types of screens to uncover equities with investment potential. You can also use our Quote Watchlist to track the performance of your investments. In addition, our Mutual Fund Research page helps you find top-performing funds. Once you're done exploring those resources, continue to part 5 of the beginner's guide.

Part 5: Open an account and get started

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Updated Nov. 3, 2009