Stocks - I'm a Little Scared

I opened up an eTrade account yesterday, and I really don't know where to start. I've been boggled down at work for a couple of weeks, so I really haven't dived into stocks the way that I had planned. I've always been interested in stocks, but now is the first time that I've really attempted to do it. And now that I have a legitimate vehicle of transferring money into the stock market, I'm a little nervous about offering my savings. I have been so stiff on the subject of saving, that my savings have become extremely precious to me. So much so, that I've crafted a budgeting plan, in lue of touching my savings. Like my savings, I will be transferring a small amount of funds every other week from my paycheck into my eTrade account.

I think that it is a little dangerous to be scared either way. One of the things that I have realized about making money, is you cannot be attached to the money that you decide to invest. Purchasing real estate, you can't be emotionally attached to your investment properties, and I think that with stocks, you can't be emotionally attached to the money that you choose to put in. I think that it is dangerous in the long run. Suppose you lost all that you put in the first time you ever invested; being emotionally attached to that investment, you may never put money into stocks again.

So, one of the first things that I've noticed about my initial step into stock investments was that fear. Hopefully, after a couple of months (or maybe years) that fear will subside. Now all I have to do is figure out where I'm going to invest. The stock market hasn't exactly looked like a good place to be as of late.