Last year Marcelino graduated from high school and received several thousand dollars from an uncle as a graduation gift. Marcelino, now in his first year of college, just heard of a guy in his dorm that invested in an oil exploration company and made a huge profit in a few months. Marcelino likes the idea of making some money fast and is considering investing his graduation gift money in a similar stock. Marcelino roommate, Luc, just finished a personal finance course and is concerned that Marcelino may be getting himself into trouble. Luc knows that Marcelino likes to shop online, has run up a fairly large credit card bill, and has trouble balancing his budget on a monthly basis. In addition, Marcelino really doesn't know much about investing or how people actually "make money investing." Luc has asked you to help him work through the following questions so that he can talk to Marcelino about his investment plans.
Before investing any money, what five things should Marcelino do first?