How to start investing: tips for beginners

How to Start Investing? A guide for beginners

If you have some to invest but you haven’t because you don’t know how, not only you are missing an opportunity, you’re most likely losing money too. Cash loses value over time due to inflation, so a few hundred dollars earning no interest in a checking account today won’t have the same purchasing power in ten years.

On the flip side, money that’s invested has the potential to grow exponentially because you can earn returns on the amount you invest and on the returns themselves when reinvested. Over time, this compounding effect can multiply your wealth, and the earlier you start, the more dramatic the compounding effect can be.

Where should a beginner start investing?

The best place for you to begin investing will depend on your goals. If you are looking to frequently buy and sell investments to make short-term profits, which is known as trading, you’ll want to find a trading platform with low fees and minimums, good guidance for beginners, and the chance to simulate trades before starting to lay out real cash.

If, on the other hand, your goal is to build wealth over the medium- or long-term, a key place to start is by opening an Individual Savings Account (ISA), Individual Retirement Account (IRA), or similar account with gains that are sheltered from taxes. Many online brokers offer a wide range of investment options within this type of account.

Your choice of investment vehicles within your investment account will depend on your risk tolerance. Stocks (also called equities) generally have the potential for higher returns, but also carry higher risk. Bonds are usually lower risk but historically have not provided average returns as high as those of stocks. Mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (EFTs) allow you to invest in a broader portfolio without having to buy individual stocks and bonds, letting you diversify and adjust your portfolio to the level of risk that’s right for you.

How to start investing in stocks

To invest in stocks, you’ll first need to open a brokerage account and put money in it. You’ll also need to choose your approach: if you want to actively pick individual stocks, you’ll need an account that allows this do-it-yourself tactic. If you want more guidance, you can open a robo-advisor account or actively managed account that will help you choose your investments based on your risk tolerance and goals. Then you can learn about different products and start buying and selling individual stocks or stock mutual funds.

Can I start investing with little money?

If you’re wondering how much you need to start investing in stocks, you first need to decide what exactly you want to invest in. If you’re buying individual stocks, the minimum amount you’ll need is the price of one share, which could be anywhere from a couple of pounds to a couple thousand pounds.

To invest in a mutual fund with a range of stocks, bonds, or other securities, most funds have a minimum of around one thousand pounds, although the exact amount varies from one brokerage to another.

Another alternative is to buy exchange-traded funds, which are similar to mutual funds in that they involve a collection of stocks or other securities, but they are traded like single stocks and their prices are usually much lower than the minimums for investing in mutual funds.

When should I start investing?

It’s never too soon to start investing. If you can start investing at 17, for example, you’ll have a major head start because you’ll have more time to earn returns on your investment, reinvest those returns, earn returns on the returns, and so on. This exponential effect is called compounding, and it can lead to staggering gains over time. Since inflation can erode the value of cash, investing early is a strategic way to preserve the value of your assets.

An additional advantage to investing early for a goal with a long time horizon is that you can afford to invest in higher-risk products that could give a higher return. Since the investment does not need to be cashed in on short notice, you can ride out drops in value and avoid them leading to actual realized losses.