This post is part of our series 7 Weeks to Your Best Finances.
This series is meant to serve as a 7-week path to improving your finances. It will cover all the important topics like starting a budget, saving money, making money, investing, and more.
To find out more and see all the tips and ideas for improving your finances check out the dedicated 7 Weeks to Your Best Finances page.
Investing can be an intimidating thing to start. With so many options, how do you know what is right for you?
Not only are there so many different kinds of investing, but there are so many ways to do so.
Whether you’re looking to invest in retirement accounts, stocks, money markets, real estate, or even small businesses, there is an overwhelming amount of good (and bad) information.
Luckily, there are websites and apps that not only are excellent resources to teach you the ins and outs of investing, but that are actually tools to get you started.
Here are 21 websites that will help you start investing today, split up into the various investing categories.
How to Start Investing for Beginners
Investing is overwhelming, and there is no shame in admitting that! If you’re just starting to consider investing, but aren’t sure what your options are, here are a few resources that provide a general overview of investing.
- LifeHacker. This post shows you how to create a “set it and forget it” investment account.
- Young Adult Money. Okay, okay, you knew we had to include ourselves in here somewhere, but here is a detailed overview of the exact steps you need to take to start investing in your 20’s.
- Forbes. Have $1,000 to invest? Forbes tells you how to get started.
Retirement Account Investing
Investing for your retirement is a huge investment in your future. While it might be tempting to skip over saving for retirement when you are young, the best time to start saving is right now.
Starting an employer sponsored 401k or an IRA are both great options to insure your future. These websites are excellent resources to help you better understand how to invest for retirement.
- AARP. Clearly when you are looking ahead for retirement, AARP is a great resource. They have articles, calculators, and videos full of information on how to best plan for your retirement.
- Financial Ducks in a Row. This blog includes a plethora of information regarding retirement and is an solid starting point for someone who isn’t quite sure about where to start saving for the future.
- AssetBuilder. AssetBuilder is another blog that includes a ton of solid information regarding retirement.
- Your Broker’s Website. Typically, websites where you might have your retirement accounts are chock full of information. Simply login to your retirement account, whether it is TradeKing, Fidelity, AmeriTrade or other.
Personal Investing
Personal investment accounts give you the power to make the most of your extra savings. If you’re looking to invest in electronic transfer of funds, mutual funds, or any individual stocks, consider setting up a brokerage account with any of the following companies:
- Motif: You can start investing for only $4.95 per stock, or $9.95 per “motif,” which is 30 stocks. Though there is no account limit, you do need at least $250 to invest in a motif. If you sign up here, you’ll also get a $150 deposit bonus.
- TradeKing: At TradeKing, you can begin investing for as little as $4.95 per stock, and there is no minimum.
- Scottrade: To open account, you need $2,500, but stocks are only $7 to trade if they are more than $1.
- Personal Capital. To manage all of your brokerage accounts (and to utilize it as an awesome budget and net worth app), sign up for Personal Capital.
Health Savings Accounts
A health savings account, or HSA, is perhaps the most underrated form of investment. Contributing the max to your HSA is an investment in your health. In 2017, the maximum contributions to a health savings account are $3,400 for individuals and $6,750 for families.
The best part about a health savings account versus a traditional FSA is that the entire amount rolls over year after year, meaning it is a tax-free investment on your health.
- Young Adult Money. We are pretty obsessed with HSAs at Young Adult Money. This article explains why it’s the absolute best retirement account out there.
- Vanguard. If you’re new to a health savings account, this website gives an impressive overview of everything you need to know.
- Fidelity. If you have an HSA, this website gives you advice on how to make the most of your investment and some tips and tricks for getting the most for your money.
Peer-to-Peer Lending
Peer-to-Peer lending, or P2P lending is a somewhat new type of investing. People apply for loans and individual investors, or peers, buy a stake in their loan.
The loan’s interest rate depends on the credit score of the person applying for the loan, so anyone with a lower credit score will be require to pay a higher interest rate.
- Lending Club. Lending Club grades their loans from A to G, with A being the least riskiest loans and G being the riskiest. As a loaner, you can anticipate earning between 5-7% on your loan.
- Prosper – Prosper investors can expect to earn, on average, 6.84% on their loans. Prosper also does a grading system, so you can choose the right investment for you.
Real Estate
Real estate might not be the type of investment that comes to mind, but don’t write it off completely. Real estate can be an excellent investment for those willing to educate themselves and put in the time and effort.
- Young Adult Money. Here are 15 useful tips for breaking into real estate investment.
- Bigger Pockets. BiggerPockets is a website dedicated to helping people create income streams through real estate investing. They put together a beginners guide for those looking to learn more about real estate investing for income.
- Real Estate In Your 20’s. This article, and this entire blog, provides incredibly useful information for anyone who merely has an interest in investing in real estate, or for the real estate expert.
In order to be a successful investor, you need to educate yourself. Luckily, there are so many resources available to teach yourself every detail you need to know about how to invest and make your money work for you.
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4 Quick and Easy Ways to Start Investing in the Stock Market
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Solid list Rachel! I love that there are so many resources available to help people start investing today and much of it is for free. There’s really not many excuses you can use not to invest something, in my opinion.
Thanks, John! You are right. There are SO many free resources available for investing and for every other area of personal finance. There really is no excuse not to educate yourself!
Thanks for including BiggerPockets on your list, Rachel! We appreciate it.
This was a very helpful and detailed list! Thanks for sharing it with us! :)
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed!
I’m in the process of researching and transferring my wife’s Roth IRA from a broker-managed account to a self-directed brokerage where we don’t have to pay an annual fee plus trading commissions.
She had no clue how to invest & a broker-guided account was the best option to at least give her market exposure. This list helps give plenty of resources to help you successfully “go it alone.” Even if you use a guided service like Motif, it’s still way cheaper than having a full-service broker that might have an identical investment strategy.
That’s the perfect example. Investing can be intimidating to begin, so these websites are perfect for either teaching or guiding individuals (like me!) who are just getting started investing.
Nice list here Rach and great way to round out your 7 week series!
Love that you included YAM (it’s definitely on my favourites list) although what’s missing is something for Aussies although perhaps we aren’t big enough haha :)
Thanks for sharing though and keep up the great work YAM team!
Thanks, Jef! I’ll have to look into what’s available for Aussies and let you know!
Great round up!!! I definitely enjoyed playing around on Motif Investing although it still frustrates me that they haven’t incorporated a DRIP.
Thank you!
Thank you very much for your list!
It’s incredible how many resources exist about investing. I’m sure there are much more, but 21 websites should be enough to begin.
I can also recommend reading some books about investing, because it’s all about education :)