I'm in debt, but how do I invest in the stock market?

Q: I am drowning in debt. I would like to invest in the stock market. However, I do not know how to go about doing it. I would like to start investing with $100. I have never done it before. How do I start? Also what are "shares?"

A: You can't get ahead, until you get even. That is, you can't start investing until you stop paying credit card interest at 18 percent or more. You're just digging a deep hole. So please call Consumer Credit Counseling Services at 800-388-2227 -- and make an appointment, even on the phone, to talk with them first about a plan to get out of debt./p>

Terry Savage is a registered investment advisor and the author of the newly published The Savage Number: How Much Money Do You Need To Retire? (256 pages, Wiley, $24.95).