Friday, 8 March 2013

Investing On A Budget: Important Advice

By Jerome Wallace


How can you be successful if you only have a small amount of money to invest? You can always wait to save up more money, but it's actually possible to be successful even with a small budget. These 5 tips can help you on your way:

1. Before you start buying stocks or precious metals, you should make sure that you have an "emergency fund" set up. This savings should be enough to pay for at least 6 months of your rent, bills, and other living expenses in case an unexpected emergency happens like an injury or illness. This can also help if you lose your job or have a major home repair.

2. Before you make an investment plan, you need to find out what the minimum amount is that you are required to invest. Some of the requirements might surprise you. While some options may only require $500-1,000 to start, others could ask for up to $100,000! Knowing which investments are the best fit with your budget will help you to decide where your money can be the most effective.

3. Compare all of your choices and pay attention to the load fees. Load fees are essentially the commissions charged by a broker for helping you choose where to invest your money. This is something most people can do on their own, so be wary of these fees.

4. No matter your budget, it is possible to diversify your portfolio. There are some mutual funds that will even offer a share in a portfolio with a wide range of holdings. With this option, you'd get a diverse instant portfolio and you'd only have to invest whatever the minimum is that is required by the fund. If you'd rather build up your preferred assets, though, you could start with a small amount of gold or silver and few solid but affordable stocks. Try to cover as many areas as possible with the amount you have to invest.

5. Remember to pay yourself first each month and to start your investing activities as soon as possible. The earlier you start, the better the results will typically be over time. If you do not pay yourself first then you will never get paid. Take $10-$25 a week at least and set it aside in order to use as capital so that you can continue to invest on a regular basis and add to the current holdings.




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