How much should a beginner investor start with?
Decide how much to invest
“Ideally, you'll invest somewhere around 15%–25% of your post-tax income,” says Mark Henry, founder and CEO at Alloy Wealth Management. “If you need to start smaller and work your way up to that goal, that's fine. The important part is that you actually start.”
Investing as little as $200 a month can, if you do it consistently and invest wisely, turn into more than $150,000 in as soon as 20 years. If you keep contributing the same amount for another 20 years while generating the same average annual return on your investments, you could have more than $1.2 million.
- High-yield savings accounts. This can be one of the simplest ways to boost the return on your money above what you're earning in a typical checking account. ...
- Certificates of deposit (CDs) ...
- 401(k) or another workplace retirement plan. ...
- Mutual funds. ...
- ETFs. ...
- Individual stocks.
Keep in mind, yields vary based on the investment. Calculate the Investment Needed: To earn $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year, at a 3% yield, you'd need to invest a total of about $400,000.
“Even small, consistent investments like $10 can lead to significant growth in the long run, thanks to the magic of compound interest,” said Baruch Silvermann, financial expert and CEO of The Smart Investor.
If you want to bring home an average of $100 per month ($1,200/year) in super safe dividend income, simply invest $13,800 (split equally, three ways) into the following ultra-high-yield stocks, which sport an average yield of 8.71%!
To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.
Investing $100 per month, with an average return rate of 10%, will yield $200,000 after 30 years. Due to compound interest, your investment will yield $535,000 after 40 years. These numbers can grow exponentially with an extra $100.
Investing just $100 a month can actually do a whole lot to help you grow rich over time. In fact, the table below shows how much your $100 monthly investment could turn into over time, assuming you earn a 10% average annual return.
What is the safest investment right now?
- U.S. Treasury Bills, Notes and Bonds. Risk level: Very low. ...
- Series I Savings Bonds. Risk level: Very low. ...
- Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) Risk level: Very low. ...
- Fixed Annuities. ...
- High-Yield Savings Accounts. ...
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs) ...
- Money Market Mutual Funds. ...
- Investment-Grade Corporate Bonds.
Many retirement planners suggest using a more modest annual return of 6% when forecasting the long-term performance of a portfolio. At 6%, after 20 years the $200-a-month portfolio would be worth $93,070. After 40 years earning the same return, your model portfolio would be up to about $398,000.

Experts suggest investing 15% of your income each month, and more if you can afford to. However, if 15% is out of your budget right now, you should still invest what you can afford. Look to reduce your expenses to free up more money and invest more when it's feasible.
- Workplace retirement account. ...
- IRA retirement account. ...
- Purchase fractional shares of stock. ...
- Index funds and ETFs. ...
- Savings bonds. ...
- Certificate of Deposit (CD)
- High-yield savings accounts.
- Certificates of deposit (CDs) and share certificates.
- Money market accounts.
- Treasury securities.
- Series I bonds.
- Municipal bonds.
- Corporate bonds.
- Money market funds.
In a market that generates a 2% annual yield, you would need to invest $600,000 up front in order to reliably generate $12,000 per year (or $1,000 per month) in dividend payments.
If the average dividend yield of your portfolio is 4%, you'd need a substantial investment to generate $3,000 per month. To be precise, you'd need an investment of $900,000. This is calculated as follows: $3,000 X 12 months = $36,000 per year.
There are a couple of reasons that make dividend-paying stocks particularly useful. First, the income they provide can help investors meet liquidity needs. And second, dividend-focused investing has historically demonstrated the ability to help to lower volatility and buffer losses during market drawdowns.
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$10 a week for 10 years
Since there are 520 weeks in a 10-year period, you would eventually have $5,200 to spend. However, if you invest that same $10 per week for 520 weeks, and that investment earns an average return of 7%, your savings will grow to $7,129.
Are penny stocks worth it?
At best, penny stock companies are unproven and small, with dubious long-term prospects for success; at worst, the penny stocks are vehicles that con artists use to take advantage of unsuspecting investors. Many penny stocks are traded so cheaply because the businesses behind them aren't worth much more than that.
$1,000 at 0.01 percent APY will only be $1,001 at the end of 10 years. But $1,000 at 5 percent APY will be $1,629 after 10 years. And if you added just $50 a month, you'd have $9,411 saved up – at 5 percent APY after 10 years.
- Freelance Writing. If you have a knack for writing, freelance writing can be a great side hustle. ...
- Pet Sitting and Dog Walking. ...
- Online Tutoring. ...
- Delivery Services. ...
- Selling Products Online. ...
- Social Media Management. ...
- Photography. ...
- Handyman Services.
In that case, investing $100 a month over 40 years will leave you with an ending balance of around $531,000. Meanwhile, you'll only be contributing a total of $48,000 to get to that point. So all told, you're looking at a $483,000 gain, which is pretty impressive.
For example, if an investment scheme promises an 8% annual compounded rate of return, it will take approximately nine years (72 / 8 = 9) to double the invested money.