Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?

Question

I am young, just started my career, and looking to begin investing so I can make my money work for me. I'm still living like I did in college (occasional purchase on myself, but most of it goes into savings) and I would like to take the extra money and invest it. What would you suggest are the best options for me to begin? I was considering getting a personal investor [a financial advisor] for perhaps a year or so, but I've heard that they really are not worth the money. I wanted to get the input of the great minds here.

Answer 1

I would see if the company you work for has any retirement plan option you can put your income towards. These are usually a bit safer and they might even match some of your contributions. If that doesn't seem to be an option, I would take a look at a either opening up a CD (decent growth, but money is essentially unusable during the time period you set it for) account with a local bank if you have at least a couple thousand $ you know you won't need for a few years. Lastly, I would take reach out to an investment firm (example: fidelity) and look into opening up a mutual fund account (slow growth, but low risk). I personally avoid stocks (potentially fast growth, but high risk), because it can very easily take a bad turn and can be time consuming to follow the trends.