You do not need to be a broker to be good at the market. Long before I had connections, a lot of my university expenses I paid with my equity from short term investment and a couple blue-chip dividends. All common stock too, I never touched bonds or A's.
There are a million virtual stock games that you can play online to learn and test theories you might have. There is an audio book I listened to along time ago called "Getting Started in Stocks." (Wiley Audio) It is a three hour lecture introducing the market to you.
If you do your research it is not hard to see who has a very good chance of long-term growth. Short-term is far more risky but if you stick to it you will quickly develop a sense of what to do -- just keep reading and practicing.
Before you move on to real stocks however you will want a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. This will help you to see where the bulls and bears are and will help you immensely with investing in general.
