hello folks. I have been buying shares on and off for about 6...

hello folks. I have been buying shares on and off for about 6 years now and I am trying to get more heavily involved (looming unemployment!!). Some questions:

I have a very basic understanding of charting courtesy of incredible charts. If I part with my cash and buy something such as metastock (I notice Paritech have some reasonable offers at the moment), is this something which can be self taught or is a course advisable.
Secondly, what kind of time do you devote to planning what to do and when to do it?

If I am going to be unemployed I might as well try and make this period profitable. I would love to trade full time but I am not really geared up for it at the moment.

Cheers