To make your dollars grow that you save they must be safely put to work.
There are lots of great ways to begin investing your savings. Some of them require lots of time and research (real estate) and others are as simple as opening up a brokerage account. A few of those ideas are discussed in this video.
Just Like The Thrifty Rich concept, There is No Quick Path
The best investments are ones that are stable and grow over time. The most simple to start is a basic investment in an index fund such as SPY (the index fund for the S&P 500). The best approach and one that often beats most other methods are consistent contributions over time. Many brokers like Schwab, TD Ameritrade or others offer automatic investment rules.
For example, build your rule to buy $50 of SPY each week. Once this is done, your investment is on autopilot.
Branch out, but cautiously
Most beginning investors are looking for the home run and move investments all around. This a quick way to lose your money. Start small and with one safe investment, as you build funds start to diversify (bonds, large caps,
We all want that home run, but the chances of hitting it are about as good as hitting a home run in Vegas. With that said, however, if you choose to chase them limit your funds to use to a very small amount of your overall portfolio. If I had $10,000 saved in an index fund, I would not use more than $500 to place on a high reward high-risk investment.
Consistency wins every time
No matter what study you look at, consistency always wins over the long run. Dollar Cost Averaging will grow your portfolio.
Here is one example:
A monthly investment of $200 started in 2000 would now be worth $108,000 invested in the S&P 500.
Can you find $200 a month to invest for the next 20 years?
