Investing is simple to learn, but it can be very hard to master. I've made my fair share of mistakes, particularly when I was just starting out. Instead of taking a measured approach and trying to focus on the long term, I jumped in with both feet and did a lot of things that weren't good for me financially.

It would have been much better if I had bought a broad-based index fund, like SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY). Here's why I think beginner investors should do this instead of what I did.

When I started investing, there was no such thing as an exchange-traded fund (ETF), though Vanguard had by then popularized the index fund. Still, I wasn't interested in an index fund back then. I wanted to find the trick that would get me rich -- fast! There is no such trick, but it took me a lot of failed attempts to learn that hard truth.

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Source Fool.com