Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

Most investors buy stocks by simply putting in a market order and hoping for the best. That means they'll pay whatever the offer (or ask) price is for the stock. There are a couple of things wrong with this approach. There's a much better way to buy stocks that saves money and makes more money when a stock heads higher.

Here's the problem with buying at the market: you're paying a price set by someone else, and you may not buy all your stock at the same price. Furthermore, if you're looking to buy 1000 shares and buy it all at once, you're betting a stock is at its low, that it will go up from your entry point. Most likely, that's not the case.

Let's start with the price of the stock. If you've done your homework, you should determine what you're willing to pay for a stock. Whether that's from fundamental or technical analysis or both, you determine what's a fair price. Once you know that, and are comfortable with your price, put that price in as a bid. Most likely, it's not where the stock is trading when you decide to enter your order. So put in your order below the market and wait for the stock to come to you.