It doesn\'t take too much $$ to initiate a brokerage account.
I was actually thinking of starting an investment thread - to discuss industries, companies, and REIT localities of interest. Now that my car payments have ended, I\'m planning on adding the amount I\'m accustomed to paying each month to a trading account.
Seriously, if most of the blue collar people would re-allocate their weekly lotto money to a basic mutual fund or IRA (even if they just park it in a life cycle fund that automatically adjusts it\'s allocation strategy overtime to reflect the advent of retirement), they wouldn\'t be nearly as screwed.