So I’ve noticed that there are thousands of articles that tell you about investing in stocks and retirement accounts, but they don’t tell you the actual first steps to pull the trigger and get started investing. Either they assume everyone knows (which is rude don’t you think?) or they just completely forgot this part. This particular post is not to lecture you on why you should invest or what to invest in. Everyone else is already doing that. Here are the action steps that aren’t usually spelled out so you can get started investing.
- If your job offers a 401k that is a great way to save for your retirement, but do you know exactly how much money you are contributing each paycheck and what exactly you are investing in? Many employer’s either don’t activate your 401k without you first setting it up, or automatically contribute a default percentage to a default fund. If your employer offers a match, you may have to increase your contribution percentage to take full advantage of this. Visit your HR department and make sure you know exactly how much you are investing and what you are investing in.
- If you are self-employed or your job does not offer 401K, you can still save for retirement with an Individual Retirement Account or IRA. You find plenty of information about how these work but the articles often don’t mention how you open one. You can open an IRA in 10 minutes or less. Vanguard, Etrade, and Fidelity all offer this. Go to the website find IRA under products or retirement tabs and open an account.
- So you want to trade actively trade the stock market and buy individual stocks like Amazon and Tesla, or S&P 500 index funds? You understand the risk and your about that life? You can do this with a brokerage account. My favorite for beginners is Robbin Hood because it is user friendly. The app uses plain language to help navigate through your investing options.
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