10 Ways to Start Investing Without Knowing Anything: Are you one of those people who would love to start investing, but don’t know where to begin? If so, fear not – you aren’t alone! In this guide on how to start investing, we’ll cover all the basics that any investor needs to know about.
10 Ways to Start Investing Without Knowing Anything
What stocks are, how mutual funds work, and even how to choose the best broker for your needs and interests.
1) Etrade
Open an account with Etrade and you’ll be able to invest in thousands of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and more. Once you’re registered, you can use their paperMoney® system—paperMoney lets you practice your trading without risking real money. And once you feel comfortable enough with paperMoney®, you can try trading for real by depositing a minimum of $500.
If you’re interested in investing but don’t have time to watch every tick on your portfolio or if real-time quotes overwhelm you, consider using paperMoney® first. Learn more about paper money at Etrade’s website. It’s worth noting that there are many options out there for people who want to start investing—Etrade is just one example.
It’s also worth mentioning that most brokerage firms will let you open an account with as little as $100. Just make sure you understand how much each trade costs before you dive in headfirst! Most brokerages charge between $5 and $20 per trade, depending on what kind of plan (or lack thereof) they offer. And make sure that you know how long it takes for a trade to settle—some trades can take three days to settle which means if something goes wrong (like fraud), your money could be tied up until then!
2) Sharebuilder
Open an account with Sharebuilder and your first investment is FREE. You can open an account for as little as $50! With Sharebuilder, you can buy fractional shares, making it a great starting point for beginning investors. The platform offers loads of opportunities to diversify your portfolio as well. A great option for beginners is buying ETFs or Mutual Funds from companies like Fidelity, Vanguard, and T. Rowe Price.
These funds are managed by professionals who have done all of the research for you. By investing in these funds, you’re essentially purchasing a stake in a professionally managed company without having to do any research yourself. If you’re looking to invest but don’t know where to start, consider opening an account with Sharebuilder today!
3) Stash
Stash is an online investment platform that’s made it easy for beginners to start investing. It doesn’t require a minimum balance, and you can open an account with $5. You’ll then have instant access to motifs, or curated bundles of stocks—as little as three stocks or as many as 30.
The Motif approach helps diversify your portfolio automatically, saving you time and money while letting you still control what companies you want to invest in. In addition to its intuitive interface, Stash also offers help 24/7 from its customer service team. If you’re looking for a great way to get started investing without knowing anything about finance, check out Stash today.
4) Betterment
At Betterment, we’re building a smarter way for you to invest. Our goal is simple: make investing as easy and painless as possible. We’re looking for passionate people who can help us build technology that allows anyone—regardless of their financial knowledge or background—to be in control of their own financial future. At Betterment, everyone plays an important role in our efforts towards improving people’s lives through better investing. Join us!
5) Acorns
Trading stocks can be daunting for those who are not financially literate. Robinhood is a smartphone app that makes trading simple and fun by removing many of the barriers to entry, such as high fees or minimum account balances. It’s also easy for investors with less than $5,000 in their account; they’re charged a $0 commission fee on all trades.
While Robinhood has been around since 2013, it gained popularity when it expanded from traditional stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into cryptocurrency trading earlier in 2018. This allowed even more people to dip their toes into investing in ways that were previously unavailable to them. However, its growth hasn’t come without controversy. In December 2017, an anonymous blogger released information about an alleged security flaw within Robinhood’s API that could allow hackers to see private user data like emails and phone numbers.
Since then, users have filed lawsuits against Robinhood regarding its potential lack of transparency regarding its risk management strategies in regard to cryptocurrencies and other highly volatile investments. The company announced recently that it would offer free Bitcoin Cash withdrawals following a massive spike in value but didn’t specify when exactly users would be able to withdraw their money from Coinbase accounts linked through Robinhood Crypto.
6) Stockpile
For new investors, purchasing just one stock may seem like a challenge, but Stockpile makes it easy. The mobile app allows users to buy fractional shares of different stocks and hold them in a single brokerage account. With minimum purchases as low as $5, anyone can build a diversified portfolio without breaking the bank.
There are also no investment minimums or annual fees with Stockpile, which is unusual for any type of broker—much less one aimed at novice investors. [1] If you’re looking to get started investing, consider downloading Stockpile today.
7) Robinhood
Robinhood’s mobile-only trading platform is intuitive and easy to use. If you’re new to investing, Robinhood is a good option because it doesn’t require you to have a large initial investment – just enough money for a few stock or ETF trades. Plus, if you’re already using your phone for other financial services.
Robinhood makes it easy to get started with its portfolio management feature that provides users with real-time market data and information on pre-selected portfolios. They also have helpful educational resources like in-app videos and virtual trading floors that can make learning how stocks work easier. (See also: Robinhood vs Fidelity)
8) Vanguard
There are three basic types of brokerage firms: full-service, discount, and online. Each offers different services, costs money in different ways, and allows investors to buy stocks in various ways. Some brokerages charge per trade; others will charge a flat fee for unlimited trades.
If you’re just starting out investing, choose an online brokerage firm that lets you trade free of charge or with a low flat fee per trade. Check out E*TRADE or TD Ameritrade. Both have solid reputations and offer commission-free trading on hundreds of ETFs.
9) Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a free online wealth management tool that helps people see all their financial accounts in one place and get historical data. You can link up your bank accounts, investment accounts, etc. and Personal Capital will automatically categorize your transactions from your linked accounts so you can track your net worth over time. It also provides tips on how to save money.
If you need help optimizing for long-term growth or minimizing taxes due to retirement account distributions or rental property income, Personal Capital’s portfolio feature might be able to help out (note: it costs $20 per month). They also have advice articles with more specific topics like How to Retire Early With $2 Million and Should I Buy Rental Property With a 401(k)?
Another nice thing about Personal Capital is that they have a lot of information about investing on their site if you’re just getting started. They’ve written tons of educational content to help investors learn how to invest better, even if they don’t use Personal Capital as their primary investing platform.
10) Open an account at a brokerage firm that lets you invest without fees.
There are two kinds of brokerage firms: ones that charge you a commission for buying and selling stocks, and those that don’t. The first kind will make you pay $5 or more every time you buy or sell stock. If that isn’t an issue for you, then, by all means, go ahead and open up an account with one of these companies. But if it is—and especially if you plan on opening an IRA—then look into brokerage firms like Vanguard and Sharebuilder which charge no commission fees.
Research three low-cost index funds.: Index funds are mutual funds that track a particular market index (the S&P 500, say) and invest in all of its component companies. This diversification reduces risk because when one company goes under, another may be doing well. You can invest in index funds without paying any fee at all; many brokerages have them available as no-transaction-fee investments. You can also find index funds at places like Vanguard and Fidelity without paying any fee at all.
Also Read: 10 Financial Mistakes That Will Cost You Big
Conclusion
Everyone can benefit from investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. With so many options out there, it can be tough to figure out how exactly to start putting your money toward these investments. This is especially true if you have limited knowledge about where or how you should be investing.
However, there are a lot of ways for beginners to get their feet wet and eventually reap profits from various types of investment vehicles. In fact, you don’t need a lot of experience or extra cash—you just need some time, patience, and dedication.
To help prepare you for that next big step into investing on your own, we’ve put together 10 ways for beginners to get started on their own with no previous experience needed!
