playin' the stocks game
cturner:     Being a complete beginner, what resources would you
    recommend to help lay the basic foundation? 

I tried this about four years ago. I started by playing the ASX simulated game to get a feel for it and confirmed that I was rubbish at picking day by day. Then I picked some long-term patterns I was confident with, mentally wrote off my starting money, and started playing with that. Sometimes I feel pulled towards stress by developments but then remind myself that I acknowledged it was gambling to start with and wrote off the money. Despite the downwards trend of the markets, I've only done somewhat badly and if I liquidated now would have still three quarters of the amount I started with. Experience aside, I would have been far better off keeping the money in cash and investing the time in my career. (On the other hand, the significant part of my position is anticipation of the world seeing significant uncertainty in paper currency and this has acted as a hedge against a career with a finance focus.)The major thing I've learnt is the value of cash in terms of its flexibility. I now think about cash as being analogous to having a flexible option, whereas if you're locked into a self-imposed rule where you only sell on certain sorts of gain (e.g. purchase price plus 20%) then you lose flexibility that is valuable. Definitely on the bright side - at the time my family and accountant were advising me to buy a house and a get a huge mortgage. I'm in a far strong position than I would have been if I'd done that. I think that it is a poor decision for young, unattached people to buy houses to live in on mortgage because it limits their options to follow career opportunities and locks them into significant debt.