I had an investing class nearly 20 years ago.

Invest in "real" stuff.

If you buy stocks, buy GE, Proctor and Gamble, and so forth. They may dip and rise with the economy but since they're making tangible stuff they'll always have some value. People will always want washing machines. Who knows if people will want more/less oil, more/less electricity, etc.?

Bonds - municiple bonds, state bonds - never gonna get you the return you'll get on biomed stocks that jump around like crickets, but again you'll probably rarely *lose* money.

Pay attention to "traditional" valuation measurements. Check out some investing books from your library that date from the 1980's. Check out and read books written in the 90's and blacklist anything, everything, and anyone who said to buy any company/person/organization that said/invested/advised investing in the Internet market boom of 1997-2000.