Many online investment sites and investment firms have a minimum initial investment amount. Additionally they may require that you maintain that amount as your minimum balance or they will close your account. Most investment firms have an initial investment of $5,000.00, while online firms have a minimum investment amount of $1,000.00 If you are ready to begin investing (meaning you are debt free besides your home), you may not have enough for the initial minimum investment amount. It is an exciting step to begin investing for the first time. Investing is one of the first steps in wealth building. There are several options available to you.
First you can just save up until you hit the minimum payment amount. Transfer the money that you are going to invest into a savings account, until you have the minimum payment amount. It may take you a few months to save up for the initial investment amount. It is still good practice to set that money aside. It is also a good chance to see if you are really disciplined enough to continue investing.
Second you can check to see if there is an exception if you open an IRA account with a monthly automatic transfer into the account. Many companies allow you to begin investing in an IRA account with a lower initial investment if you will sign up for the automatic transfer. This is a nice option, because it makes investing automatic. You just set where you want the money to go when you first set up the account.
Before you make these investments you need to understand where you are putting your money, and what the investment will do for you. Unless you have taken classes or taken time to study the stock market on your own then the safest and easiest thing to invest in is mutual funds. Even then you need to carefully consider things such as the earning history of the fund, the types of stock that it buys, and the fees for buying, selling and administrative costs.
If you are unsure about what to do, you should speak to a financial advisor. She should be able to explain each type of investment and the reasons she recommends those types of stocks to you. If she cannot then you need to find another advisor. The key to building wealth is to put your money in and to leave it there. If you are constantly pulling it out at the whim of the market, you will not build wealth.
