You can invest in most mutual funds either through an account you set up at a brokerage or through the mutual fund's parent company. Some funds have small minimum initial investment requirements (such as $1,000), and others have high minimums ($10,000 or more). A good place to look up mutual fund track records, fees and phone numbers is www.morningstar.com . Remember that for many investors, index funds such as ones that track the S&P 500 are the best mutual fund choice. Learn more at www.indexfunds.com and www.fool.com/school/mutualfunds/mutualfunds.htm .

To open a brokerage account, first read up on a variety of brokerages and see which one best fits your needs (compare minimum investment amounts, fees, the range of mutual funds offered, etc.). Then fill out an application and mail it in with a check. Through a brokerage account, which can often be opened with as little as $500 (and sometimes less), you can buy and sell shares of stocks, mutual funds and more. For guidance on finding a good brokerage, visit www.broker.fool.com .

I Bonds feature returns that keep up with inflation. Their interest rates have two components. There's a fixed rate that lasts for 30 years and an inflation rate that changes every May 1 and Nov. 1.

My dumbest investment was taking a cold call from a broker. I just blindly followed the advice of the broker and eventually lost all the money I put in. (The one smart thing I did in the midst of this stupidity was that I sent in money that I had earmarked only for speculative purposes.) I deserved to lose that money. Some time after this, I began taking classes for my master's in business and became considerably more knowledgeable concerning investing and business in general.

The next time I got a cold call, I said: “Send me the latest 10-Q and 10-K reports and the annual report. If I like what I see, we'll talk.” Needless to say, I never heard from the guy again.

The Fool Replies: Good for you. If someone has to make aggressive phone calls to try and sell an investment, it probably isn't a good one. Click over to www.sec.gov /investor/pubs/coldcall.htm to learn what rules cold callers must follow, how to get them to stop calling you, and how to report violators.

Do you have an embarrassing lesson learned the hard way? Boil it down to 100 words (or less) and send it to The Motley Fool c/o My Dumbest Investment. Got one that worked? Submit to My Smartest Investment. If we print yours, you'll win a Fool's cap!

Iconix Brand Group (Nasdaq: ICON) is buying fashion firm Mossimo (Nasdaq: MOSS) for around $119 million. The deal offers some lessons on the risk and reward of investing in companies where most of the value resides in the brand name.

Mossimo used to be sort of middle-class chic, sold mainly through department stores. Its merchandise, generally priced between $20 and $100 or more, was seen as something of a peer to the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Nautica.

Now Mossimo sells its goods through a licensing agreement with Target. What's more, looking at Target's Web site, it's clear that the price points have fallen considerably. In fact, the agreement with Target essentially rescued the company from the brink of near-bankruptcy.

What happened here is not that unusual. The company once had a fresh approach that people liked. But it tried to make the most of the popularity — and in so doing, it diluted the value of the brand and ultimately sealed its own fate. Once it felt like everybody did (or could) have Mossimo, nobody wanted it.

So what's the lesson? You certainly can build a lasting business with brands people aspire to own (such as Tiffany or Coach), but it's tough. It often seems to require a very firm hand at the top — one that's willing to forgo sales today to maintain the brand's cachet and prestige tomorrow.

To the uninformed, penny stocks (stocks that trade for less than $5 per share) can be darn appealing. Imagine you have $2,000 to invest. You could buy about 30 shares of a $65 stock, 110 shares of an $18 stock or 15,000 shares of a 13-cent stock. Doesn't having 15,000 shares sound much better than owning 30 or 110 shares? It shouldn't.

Penny stocks are often tied to small, unproven companies with no track record of solid financial performance. Worse, these stocks are among the easiest to manipulate and are often manipulated by scam artists. Many quickly plunge in value.

There was, recently, a spirited conversation about penny stocks on our Investing Beginners discussion board. (Check out the board at http://boards.fool.com , under “Learning to Invest” in the left column.) A newcomer, Rob, said, “I just want to have a little fun with (penny stocks),” and he received some excellent advice.

Another person offered a good idea: “Do it on paper instead of with cash.” He then suggested that the money that would likely have been lost on the penny stocks be donated to charity.

Consider steering clear of penny stocks yourself. Remember that you can get rich with well-known, proven companies instead. If you own a piece of Dell, for example, you own the world's top computer seller, one that takes in more than $55 billion in revenues each year and sports a net profit margin of 6.4 percent. Invest in Wal-Mart or General Electric, and you'll own chunks of the world's largest companies, not shaky manipulation targets.

Based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, I'm more than 150 years old and am one of the world's largest financial services companies. My 115,000 employees in more than 50 nations offer banking, insuring and asset managing services to more than 60 million individuals, families, small businesses, large corporations, institutions and governments. In the United States, I'm a top-five provider of retirement services and life insurance. In Canada, I'm the top property and casualty insurer. My favorite color is orange. Look up information on gerunds, and you'll see my name. Who am I?

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