How to Start Investing with Almost No Money

Lots of people would love to dump oodles of money into investments that would benefit them in the future, but they just don't have it! If you're one of those people you may have been lead to believe that you need a ton of money to start investing. Not so, you can start with a few dollars - Right now.

Now, it's common knowledge that most young people don't know the first thing about investing. Which is only half correct, because older people don't either. They have stock brokers that tell them everything. It's no wonder that young people don't know anything about money since their parents are no better.

You may have been lead to believe that there's no hope for you investing, because you have no money. The truth is you can invest with as little as you need to. That's how an investment works - It grows into something big. It started out as something very small though!

The best way I've found to do this is to automatically set aside a portion of my check every month before I even get my grubby little hands on it! Lots of banks - especially online ones will allow you to have a scheduled recurring deposit every month.

I have a high yield savings account with Capital One, and I do just this. Let's say you can afford to set aside $150 for investments, and savings every month. In six months that means you'll have $900, and in 12 months you'll have $1800. Even if it doesn't seem like much it will if put into a good investment.

Let's say you want to buy some stocks with it. My brokerage firm is Share Builder (Owned by INGDirect), and I've been very happy with them. One of the interesting services they have is that they are very friendly to those who do not have much money.

You can elect to invest as little as you want for as low as $4 per trade with their automatic investment plan. I use this often to get cheaper investments, but you can only do it on Tuesday. So if you want to grab the best stock price it may be better for you to pay the standard $9.99 rate, and purchase those shares now.

I choose to wait until I have at least $500 towards an investment to make the most of the flat transaction fee. You can of course invest less, but you will lose some money on the fees that way.

If individual stocks are not your cup of tea then they also offer an attractive index fund plan. I've not tried it yet because I prefer to choose my own, but they look promising.

The minimum investment for these plans is $1000, but you can issue a recurring investment for just $100 a month until you have met that goal. Which is great for people who can't yet afford mutual funds - If you've wanted some this could be a good opportunity for you.

The only good thing about the economy right now is that stocks are cheap. A savy, young investor could pick up a lot of quality companies for cheap while others are running scared. As long as you diversify you'll do well, but if you put all your eggs in one basket the consequences could be dire.