Over the past 10 years the Internet has changed everything, from how we communicate, to how we live work, play, and even invest. Just a few years ago many of the tools that are freely available today were only available to large multi-million dollar hedge funds . However today these tools are readily available at no charge to retail investors at sites like Investopedia, MarketWatch and MSN. Below are some ideas on how to get the most from these sites.

Technical Tools

Maketwatch.com has some great Java charting capabilities, with some of the most common technical indicators, such as stochastics, bollinger bands, and MACD. The site also provides the latest news and a terrific alert service that lets allows you to create a portfolio of stocks that will e-mail you when a stock has broken above or below a certain price, or when there is news about a stock that you own.

You can also find a virtual stock exchange that allows you to trade stocks without risking a penny of real money.

Fundamental Research

MSN.com also has some technical charting capabilities, but it's forte lies in its fundamental analysis. It provides a proprietary system that rates a stock from 1-10. You just plug in the ticker symbol and it does the work for you.

Simulators

Investopedia.com- Is a thorough educational website that includes a simulator. This simulator is especially useful for teachers, classes or investment groups as it allows you to create private competitions and shows the everyone's rankings.

CBOE.com â€" Is the Chicago Board of Options website, which in addition to having some free educational material on options has a free options simulator.