Dear Mr. Berko: I'm 51, married, earn $37,000 a year and have a decent 401(k) at work. For the past 23 years, my wife raised our five children and last year decided to return to work, making $24,000 with no benefits.

I love reading you column and enjoy reading the financial pages, especially the section showing the stocks that go up the most in one day. I've never bought stocks, and all our savings over the past 26 years of marriage - $32,000 - is in CDs. Now that my wife is working, I'd like to invest $10,000 in stocks selling at $5 a share or lower and hold them for a long time so they will grow quickly. Could you recommend 10 low-selling stocks? I'd like to buy 400 shares of each so I can make some quick money.

I know I should have started buying stocks years ago (the early bird gets the worm), but later is better than never. So please give me 10 good stocks that I can buy for good, quick growth.

D.R., Portland, Ore.

Dear D.R.:

When I was 18, I applied for a summer job as a truck driver at a furniture firm that had 14 delivery trucks. It was a physically demanding job in which we delivered sofas, tables, beds, dressers, etc., to customers, and we would take their old furniture away. It paid $1.25 an hour, which was a good wage in 1956.

I was early for my interview, but another, who was there much earlier than I, got the job. I complained to my Uncle Oscar that it was unfair because I was physically better qualified than the person who was hired. And Uncle Oscar said, "Nephew, the early bird usually gets the worm but remember that the second mouse gets the cheese! Now go back there and ask again."

I did. The dispatcher had just quit and his assistant became chief dispatcher. That day I was hired to be his assistant at $1.35 an hour and no physical labor. And you, too, have the cheese ($32,000), which I doubt you'd have had if you started buying cheap stocks years ago.

Now, if you're 51, married, with a good income and 401(k) and have never bought any stocks, I'd like you to keep it that way. Buying stocks under $10 a share for quick growth is like playing liar's poker. For you, it's high-stakes liar's poker because you don't know a bleeding thing about the market. Remember when Caesar looked up at Brutus, after being stabbed, and asked: "Why, Brutus, why?" Brutus replied: "Julie, you just don't know when to hold 'em and don't know when to fold 'em."

And so it will be with you. You'd have a better chance of success crossing the Los Angeles freeway at rush hour on foot wearing a blindfold than you would buying cheap stocks for fast profits. And I'm not going to be a party to your financial suicide. So, rather than recommending $10 stocks, I'm going to suggest several no-load mutual funds. Buy these funds, hold them for 15 years, reinvest all dividends and capital gains and I promise that your chance for long-term success will be better by orders of magnitude.

Invest $4,000 in each of the following three funds:

Dodge and Cox (DODGX) is rated five stars by Morningstar. It's a large-cap value fund with below-average risk and above-average appreciation potential. Since 1964, DODGX has had 27 up years and eight down years, and in its worst year (1974), it was off 24.6 percent. Its 10-year average annual return is 16.5 percent, and you can ring them at (800) 621-3979.

Now take the second $4,000 and buy Fidelity Growth & Income (FGRIX). This is a large-cap blend fund that should provide you with below-average risk and above-average returns. FGRIX is a four-star fund and since 1986 has had only two down years, the worst of which was minus 6.8 percent. Its 10-year average annual return is 15.1 percent, and you can ring them at (800) 544-8888.

Now invest that last $4,000 with Legg Mason Value (LMVTX), which has a five-star rating. This is a large-cap value fund with average risks and a high return potential. In the last 18 years, LMVTX has had three down years, the worst of which was minus 17 percent, but its 10-year average return is 21.05 percent. Ring LMVTX at (800) 577-8589.

Keep these three funds for the rest of your life and they will keep you.

Malcolm Berko is a registered Investment Advisor based in Boca Raton, FL. You may write to him c/o the Business Record, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, FL 33429.