From Dan Ferris in the S&A Digest:

"I am a new subscriber but I have a bad problem. I have no money to speak of. I have nothing in savings and nothing to work with. I live paycheck to paycheck and still cannot make ends meet. I want to join the private wealth alliance but cant because I have no money. I do love read the S&A Digest and Penny Stock and the Growth Stock Wire but have no way of getting in on the big deals. Any advise or help?" – Paid-up subscriber BM

Ferris comment: If I were you, I wouldn't worry about the Private Wealth Alliance just yet. It'll be there when you're ready for it. Right now, you need to learn to live within your means and start saving money. And you need to start right this minute.

The biggest mistake people make with savings is thinking they won't be able to save enough to mean anything. That's not the point of it at all. The real point is to establish the habit and discipline of setting aside some of what you make. In the beginning, it really doesn't matter how much. If it's only $25 a month, that's fine. Just put $25 a month into a regular savings account and don't touch it.

Don't let people tell you it's wrong or that you'll lose it all to inflation. You're not at that stage yet. Just keep saving that money. As soon as you can, increase it by any amount, even $1. Maybe each month you add $1 or $5 to the amount you save.

Take a step back and think about this for a minute. If you can't save a small amount of money... how on earth could you ever expect to make thousands of dollars quickly investing in complicated publicly traded companies? It doesn't make sense. You don't get a Ph.D. your first day at school. And you can't be an investor living paycheck to paycheck. You must have savings. You must accumulate capital.

Your first goal should be to save 10% of your income every year. If you bring home $1,000 a week, put $100 away as soon as you get paid. Then, focus on living on less than $900 a week.

That's a huge goal. It will take a while to hit it. But if you can do it, you'll have far less trouble getting rich as an investor than if you can't save any money. The first step to growing wealth as an investor is to accumulate capital. Without investment capital, you can't be an investor.

The next step is to learn every thing you can about dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs). They're the cheapest and best way for investors with limited capital to participate in the stock market.

You also need to read a lot about investing. Read incessantly. Keep a dictionary nearby and look up every word you don't know. This is as important as saving money. Go to your local library and see if they have the following:

The Intelligent Investor, by Ben Graham (Chapter 20 is the essential bit). I re-read this once a month. It's that important.

The Little Book That Still Beats The Market, by Joel Greenblatt. Read this one over and over until you understand it well.

Start there. You're on an odyssey... one of the most important journeys you'll ever make in your life. It could mean the difference between comfort and misery somewhere down the road, so take it seriously. But don't forget to have fun with it every day, too. Life is barely worth living (if at all) without sufficient amounts of fun.

Crux Note: If you were born before 1955, there's one additional resource Dan recommends. It's a little-known website that could help you collect hundreds of dollars of extra income each week. Click here to learn more.

More on saving money and investing:

Doug Casey: What to do with your money now

Two super simple steps to long-term financial security

The seven big differences between the "smart money" and the "dumb money"