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Investing Now

How and why to start investing money right now

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Investing Now
I am not a professional or trying to push any apps on you guys. Just my experiences!

You're never too young or old to start investing. There will always be stock futures (pun intended) ahead of you. Our world revolves around money: money to earn, money to save, and money to spend, but investing does all of these things in one.

A common misconception of the stock market is that you are saving money, when rather it is the opposite. You are giving someone a piece of your income here and there to grow their business. In fact, you are spending money by buying a piece of the market. The money you put into the stock market shouldn't be money you are expecting to take out any time soon; invested money is meant to sit for at least two decades. This is why it is vital to know who and what you are giving your money. Once you own a piece of their company, your returns directly correlate to what they do with your money. There is a huge difference between putting your money in a savings account and putting it into investments. When in savings, the interest earned is much more stable than in the market, yet much smaller. The market goes up and down every day. Some stocks go way up while others will plumette. If you are like me and not wanting to throw your money into a risky stock, there are numerous ways to invest safely with low risks. Stable investments are things that are necessary to daily living like energy companies. Also, it is important to diversify the things you invest in. In the stock market, you can choose many different stocks to ensure when one market crashes you at least have the others to fall back on. By choosing a share of an american cell phone company, you should also look at things in other markets, like petroleum or government. Choosing things that are personally interesting to you isn't always the safest bet. Those things should be considered higher risk investments because you are personally tied to your money in the market. Once you invest money, you have to be in the mindset that it is no longer "technically" yours. When the market goes down, you just have to remember it will eventually go up. Likewise, when the market is doing really well, you absolutely must remember it will crash eventually.

For example, in 2017 the market was doing extremely well. It was at the highest its been in almost half a decade. Unfortunately in the beginning of 2018, the market took a hit and I lost the $42 I had gained in the past year and an additional $8 of my own money. The crash was worth about $50 to me, but others with a higher risk portfolio lost hundreds. Although they have a higher risk portfolio and lost hundreds, they probably have made more money than me, too. So it really depends on how you would like to wager your money.

All this being said, there is also the problem with finding the medium through which you will enter the market. For some beginners, I suggest Acorns. Acorns is a downloadable application for cell phones and desktops that guides you through the process of investing spare change and recurring investments of $5-$20. The round-up feature is what made me want to join Acorns in March of 2017. Round-ups are collected every time you buy something. If you buy a coffee for $3.90, then Acorns will round it up to $4 and invest that additional 50 cents. Since then, I have invest $241.48 in spare change alone. Acorns also tells you what to invest in. The only thing you have to do is choose what level of risk you are willing to take. You may start with as little as $10 and eventually work your way into the thousands. I joined a little over a year ago and am more than pleased with how far I have come in knowledge and investments. Other apps like Robinhood and ETrade give you more control over where you put your money.

Don't take my word for it. Start researching the best options for you. My knowledge is minimal for sure, but there are people whose careers are investing. There are numerous websites and mediums to get involved with. Some may seem like a good match, while others are too time consuming or too risky. No matter what your bank account looks like, you never have too little to begin investing now.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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