How do I start investing?

I love learning new ways to make and save money. I want to look into investing but I don’t know where to even start

@Haley - have you checked out the saverlife articles on investing? https://www.saverlife.org/category/investing

I like this plan:

Agree with @Cat B I think that is a great introduction to investing. Probably would also look into resources from the Motley Fool.

The Motley Fool has been a help to kick start my knowledge in investing. @Mickey H. Although I'm certain there is still much more to understand from multiple "trusted " resources. That one of the reasons why I ended up here as well.

Just like with anything you do in life; you have to do your research. If you want to start investing start by read books on how to invest, sign up for some of the webinars(there some that are free) that are online, talk with an financial planner, talk with people who are into invest (to get pointers of the do's & don't), & lastly do your research on the company(s) that you are looking to invest in.

I would like to know how to invest. Any suggestions?

I have no idea where to start. How do you know if it's a trustworthy investment

I think the first thing to consider when ready to begin investing is how old are you – how many years to retirement and what is you risk tolerance. Then you will know what types of instruments to invest in. The closer to retirement age and/or the less of a risk taker you are, the smaller the potential profit and/or losses you will realize. If you are young and comfortable risking your investment capital, the larger the potential profit you could realize. This will tell you want types of things to invest in. Also, you may want to learn some things by "playing" a bit in the market. If you are a learn-by-doing type person like me, you can start with something where very little money is needed to start, however the risk of loss is high. I started with penny stocks. I bought three cannabis industry stocks, but have lost the majority of my investment. But I will continue to hold them long term in the hopes that they will turn around as more and more states legalize cannabis. Next I looked at angel investing and bought a crowd funding note through Microventures. Again, high risk, long-term investment that may show a profit if the start-up goes public or is acquired. Right now I am experimenting with options trading. All of these have involved very little of my money. As I learn, and if I find something with overall profitability, I will increase the amount I invest. Before this, the only investing I did was by self-directed selection of which mutual funds my 401K funds were invested in. I consistently did better than average in my returns just by using the 5-year charts for research to decide which funds to choose. Always, always, do your research and learn, learn, learn.

My husband and I dabble in stock investing. However, we only deal with penny stocks, hoping to ride the wave when a company hits big.

Does anyone have any tips on which stocks are good investments. I've been hearing cancer meds but there are so many choices.

Per @ Lawana D.

My husband and I dabble in stock investing. However, we only deal with penny stocks, hoping to ride the wave when a company hits big.

I think in another forum I mentioned this. It is mathematically true that it is easier to double a smaller share amount vs a larger one. However, it is best to look at other measures such as market cap or other statistics to determine growth.

For example:
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/e-commerce-sales-retail-sales-ten-year-review/

Most of us wouldn't realize it, but we would think that total sales (physical retail vs online retail) that the percentage of online would be significant. Yet… it was only 16% of the total in 2019. It's no wonder that Amazon as a stock continues to rise even when it's already expensive.

So it is better to use other metrics for growth to ride the wave. If the company also has better finances to not go out of business even better. That is the one disadvantage of penny stocks, their finances tend to not be strong and they end up going out of business though they have a good product as they couldn't stay in market till there was enough traction.

Just my 2 cents.

Developing passive income is the best way to invest that way you can use unearned dollars to build wealth

Cash app hss penny stocks

I was not aware that CashApp has Penny Stock. I'll have to look into that. Great information!

I would look at investing in index funds for a start.

Cash app also does fractional shares. Meaning you can get a part of an Amazon share instead of being required to buy the whole thing which can be expensive.

What are the companies that are doing good business and also treating their workers well? I don't want to invest in Amazon and many corporations that only care about their profits but hurt people…

Per @ An D.

What are the companies that are doing good business and also treating their workers well? I don't want to invest in Amazon and many corporations that only care about their profits but hurt people…

I think one way to find companies is to research the companies on glassdoor.com and see the reviews on the company.

The second way is by investing in certified B corporations.
https://bcorporation.net/directory

Last way I can think of is your trading platform itself. :
I know Fidelity has an actual ESG score.

My preferred investment are investing in Mutual Funds. I would go to Fidelity Investment to purchase them or to the website of the fund I want to purchase. I would study the funds performance in the past and predict how it will do in the next 3, 5, or 10 years. When I was a college student I invested in the Magellan Mutual Fund managed by Peter Lynch and was able to save a substantial amount for the down payment of my first condo in Boston.

get a barrons subscription

Any opinions on best '
fractional shares' investment apps?

Try the new apps like Albert

To answer @ Elizabeth W question:

Any opinions on best '
fractional shares' investment apps?

Honestly that's a difficult question to answer.

I usually recommend Square if you've already got a Square account as their Cash App allows you to trade.

However, it doesn't nearly has as much functionality as other platforms. If we are talking about that probably an account with TD Ameritrade is probably the most positively reviewed.
They provide education and have access to most shares currently they don't have fractional shares.

You have M1Finance that has a great portfolio balancing feature and fractional shares

Fidelity also provides fractional shares and will give you early access to certain stocks.

So there is a lot of different apps with different advantages.

I don't think opening the perfect account from the outset is important. More is to begin investing. So I think I would pick a platform I might already have an account in.

Use the stash app it basically walks you through investing your money and you don’t have to use large amounts of money to start investing you can start as little as $5