There are a lot of ways to invest in the stock market. There are also a lot of types of investments such as futures, options, bonds, mutual funds, stocks, securities, etc. Because of online capabilities, most investors use an online broker instead of the people broker. Of course, there are various types of brokers that have their own specialty such as a futures broker, option broker, commodities or just a regular stock broker.

As far as futures, there are commodity futures such as gasoline, oil, corn, rice and even real estate futures. I am not sure how the real estate future since real estate is so down right now that it might not be a good investment.