l have some spare cash and would like to take advantage of the market. With whom should l invest? l would like to buy Apple shares. Is this a good idea? If not then what should l buy? l am in for the long haul. 10 years or so.

If u want to ''take advantage'' then do not buy apple. Look for a reputable mutual fund, & invest ur money there. l personally like ''American Funds''. Little advertised, big company, been in business a really long time. Like l said though, they do not waste money on advertising, so a lot of people have never of them. Right now, pretty much all their share prices r down, which is a good time to ''take advantage.'' l have money with them, & l invest in them every month.
https://americanfunds.com/custom-home.htm

It takes a lot of knowledge, researching & mathematics to decide what to invest in. Do not take anyone is opinion here, because u will be throwing ur money at something (in a blind way) hoping to earn money.

Here r some steps: Research these & then conduct them

1. Yield - Find the yield of a company in dividends. e.g.
$0.10 (dividend per share) / $4.150 (share price of a day)
= 0.024% * 100
= 2.4%
When comparing the companies make sure u use a share price, say at the start of February. Make sure to stick to that plan.

2. P/E Ratio (Share Price / Earnings Per Share) - This basically sums up how many years it will take to regain ur money back via dividends. The higher it is, the worse it is. Go for lower ratios.

3. The Share Price - The Share Price reflects the company is strength.

4. How choppy is the market? Do the prices fluctuate alot? Look at the volume of shares. Do people trade alot of them per day? Is the market in a long downtrend? How long do u think it will go on for? If not for long, could it start up soon & is it a good bargain? Or Is it starting to ascend? If its ascending,will it keep on doing so, or fall? Usually as a long-term investor, u should ignore the prospects of fluctuations in the market. Share Prices tend to rise over the years anyway. AND make sure it is a good investment that is AHEAD of the Inflation rate.

5. How reliable is the board? Is the CEO/Chairman, for example, an intelligent man who will lead his company well? Does he have considerable experience?


l wish u luck.

if you want to invest and not speculate your best bet would be stock index funds, probably starting with the s&p 500, later maybe nasdaq100. if you have enough funds you should average in (buy equal dollar amounts on a regular basis) since there is no way of knowing if the market is at or near a bottom. However in 10 years some people will have made substantial gains and about half of those will know very little about the stock market.