Thank you very much for the replies. I really appreciate the honest feedback.
Since you guys have been so detailed with your responses, I want go into a little more detail with my decision making process.
to Iamlindoro's specific example -
What is interesting, is in June of 2012, I did invest into an aggressive mutual fund with a few thousand dollars. I saw a 25% return 14 months later! This experiment was actually what has given me so much interest in the stock market to begin with!
However, because it was a mutual fund - I had a hard time really understanding exactly why it was growing so fast (which companies exactly, dividend payouts from what stock). he only correlation I could find really, was that if the stock market as a whole went up, so did my investment. And if it went down, so did my investment.
Fast forward to a few months ago, and in doing my research, I realized that this was merely an example of a fantastic or "bull" market.
And from what I was reading it seemed like the stock market has a tendency to return to its average over time. A few months ago, the market was near an all time high, which lead me to believe that the market as a whole may decline in the coming year. Thus seeming like an individual stock, being stable to yield more than an index fund in a declining market.
So, thus I began my quest to look for a stable stock that pays dividends, which brings me to my story above I posted. I will caveat that the shares I bought in INTC were a very small percentage of my overall capital - and it has been more of a test run - so that I can really understand the process and dividend payouts, and the taxes that come with in a hands on way.
This is not my only investment, and i am still considering many other options.
I do understand that individual stock is a much higher risk than mutual or index funds, and I suppose I should have phrased my subject better - in saying a safe way to invest in Individual stocks.
For anyone still reading - Am I way off in my logic for the whole process - I can take harsh criticism - so please do be honest!