How Do I Start Investing?

This article may be redundant in regards to the other investing articles I’ve written in the past. More specifically with Investing Made Simple and 3 Reasons Why You Should Start Investing Now. To differentiate between the article and the other 2 I won’t get into any of the complicated stuff. Getting up and running will be the theme of this article. So, let’s answer the question, how do I start investing?

How do you start?

Your first step is to open up an account. Shocking right? But there is more to it. You have two options the micro-investing route and the traditional route.

The Micro-investing route requires opening up an account with companies like Robinhood, Stash, and Acorn. Then you have the traditional route which includes opening up an account with companies like Merril Edge, TD Ameritrade, and Fidelity. Whatever you start out with depends on where you are at financially. Just get in the game.

So, if you are struggling financially and trying to find a way to squeeze that extra dollar I would go with the micro-investing route. Now if you are making some good money and no debt then I would put aside around $500 and go the traditional route. If you are looking for a good resource for the different stock trading apps check out this resource.

Where do I Begin?

Now that you have the investment account that suits you let’s discuss how to get started in each. I’m not going to insult your intelligence by telling you how to open up each account. But what I will do is give you some tips on how to set yourself up for success.

Where you start will heavily depend on what type of investment account you open up. As I mentioned before, if you open up one of the micro-investment accounts all you have to do is attach your bank account and start buying stuff. These same companies, also assist you with buying fractional shares. Meaning if you see apple shares for $143/share you don’t need the full $143. You can buy the apple shares for a fraction of that amount. This is why these are called Micro-investment accounts.

Now if you open up a traditional brokerage account like Merrill Edge and TD Ameritrade. This will take some savings up. You’ll have to buy the shares of the companies at the regular price. So, having a budget and following through with it is key here. Which we will get to in the next section!

How do I Keep it Going?

How do I keep it going? This is the key to the whole process. It’s a very simple but difficult thing to do for anyone, it’s to be consistent. For me personally, I started out by depositing $500/month for the first year of my professional career and then raised that amount by $500/month every year since then. I invest in relatively sound stocks. Meaning companies that have solid earnings and future progressions. I did this consistently for the last 84 months and it’s done wonders for my wealth.

Consistency is key and you have to make it a point to put this first. Before you spend a dime on anything else you have to deposit the amount into your investment account. That’s literally how simple it is. Getting in the game and staying in it is how you win here.

Takeaways

I hope this was helpful. This article isn’t supposed to teach you how to invest or give you a cheat code. I’m writing this article to show you how easy it is to get started. It’s something that anyone can do. As I’ve said for most of the article the point is to get in the game and stay in it. Hopefully, I was able to answer the question of How Do I Start Investing?