(MONEY Magazine) – LUCKY YOU. YOU'VE FINALLY SCRAPED TOgether an extra $1,000 and you're ready to put it to work in a long-term investment. Unlucky you. Just as you got ready to join the profit party on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve took away the punch bowl. Hiking short-term interest rates four times starting in February, the Fed abruptly ended the remarkable five-year period of steadily falling interest rates that had powered robust bull markets in stocks and bonds. From Feb. 2 to April 4, in fact, in the first significant setback since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, stocks as measured by the S&P 500-stock index dropped nearly 9%; the Lehman Bros. composite bond index, meanwhile, fell 5.5%. We don't blame you for wishing that you'd invested your spare grand in a front-row seat for a Barbra Streisand concert. Okay, so you need a little pep talk? Well, here goes. A few rocky weeks on Wall Street don't change this fundamental fact: If you want to make serious money -- retirement money, college tuition money -- you have to put cash into the stock market and keep putting in more every chance you get. That's what the Coltons, pictured on the preceding two pages, are doing (for more on their investments, see page 76). And yes, that means you must keep investing in the face of some harsh downdrafts. But historically, those who have hung in have prospered. In fact, if you are ready to hold on for five years or more, it almost doesn't matter how inauspicious a moment you choose to begin stock market investing. How come? Simple: Because time and the market's long-term upward trend are your friends. An American Funds Group study shows that if you invested $1,000 each year for the past 20 years, always choosing the day the stock market hit its absolute peak for the year, you would still have had $91,047 by the end of 1993, vs. only $46,623 if you had invested identical amounts in ultrasafe short-term Treasury bills. Moreover, only the gloomiest forecasters espy another claws-out bear market looming. Here's MONEY's current outlook: With short-term interest rates drifting as high as 4.5% from their recent 4.2% as investors fret over inflation, the Dow could sink to 3200 before the end of the year. But once rates stabilize, moderate inflation of 4% to 5% a year coupled with steady economic growth of 3% or so will help stocks resume their upward trek. Fueled by a competitive U.S. economy and a gusher of investor dollars, the Dow is likely to top 5000 before the end of the decade, as MONEY's June cover story explained. To help you discover the best ways to start your investment portfolio or to expand an already flourishing one, MONEY asked more than 40 financial advisers, money managers and securities analysts for their best mutual fund and stock picks, with an emphasis on securities that will hold up well in what could be a jittery few months. We present the cream of the pros' recommendations below, grouped by their suitability for three groups of investors: funds for beginners with $1,000 to put away; funds for more experienced types who need to diversify a growing portfolio with $10,000 to $25,000; and funds and stocks for seasoned stock market hands with $25,000 or more to deploy.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: Sources: Morningstar Inc.; fund companies; Value Line; analysts CAPTION: 24 great funds and stocks to buy now Here's a powerful array of potential moneymakers for investors at all levels, ranging from reliable USAA Income Stock, up a solid 11.2% in the past five years, to a rebounding General Motors, with a projected 18-month return of 58.3%. The recommendations are listed in the order they appear in the story.