While in college funds may be tight but the self discipline of providing for yourself in the future will be great way to learn the skills that you will also need in building your career. In fact investing money while in college has so many benefits that it should probably be included on the curriculum. While investing in stocks and shares will always carry a certain amount of risk especially over the short term it is possible to minimize that risk. Safe investing is really just a matter of following some common sense guidelines when it comes to that risk. Some of the best known and most successful investors of all time such as Ben Graham, Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch are all known for looking for straight forward opportunities to put their money into. Just stop and think of a plan of action. Before you do anything else at all, contact the companies you owe the money too. Explain the situation you've found yourself in and ask what they can do to help. Some, not all, but some companies will freeze the interest, especially if you've always had a triple A credit rating in the past. Very simply the market is driven by supply and demand. That means that if there is only a very limited number of shares in a particular company available the demand for them will be far greater than if the market place is awash with them. So you can see that just like an auction where there are a lot of people who want what is on offer the price will increase to reflect that demand. Investing like anything else is a skill which has to be learned and the good news is that there are plenty of opportunities to learn it. To begin with it's a good idea to have a plan. Your plan should cover exactly what it is you are investing for. Ok you know you want to invest for the future but exactly when in the future? Learning About The Stock Market If you are thinking of investing in stocks and shares learning about the stock market is essential. That's not to say that you can't invest without learning about the stock market but it will be a far riskier proposition. You don't need to know every last detail about how the markets operate but knowing the basics will enable you to spot potential problems far more easily.