Investing On The Cheap

Today's most of us are working just to cover our basic bills and debts. For some of us investing is not on our minds. We think that investing is for people who have money to spare, which right now a lot of us don’t. We also feel that investing in things like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds is a game with money that we can not afford to lose.

Some of us don’t even have enough saved for an emergency fund or for our kids college educations. We live pay check to paycheck with every penny in that paycheck accounted for. But what if you can pay all your bills have an emergency fund and still invest while living paycheck to paycheck. You say how is that possible right? I will tell you.

Once you are ready to invest;

Check with your employer and see if they offer a plan where they will match what you put in to the company’s 401k plans. If they match say 50 cents to every dollar you put it then why not invest a small amount of money to get the free money your company is offering. Looking into what investment retirement plans your company offers before you go outside the company to invest.

You can also look into once you're ready to invest, check out low-cost online brokers like Sharebuilder.com. This company offers automatic investing plans, individual one-time stock trades and a money market account with competitive rates. Best of all, Share builder has no minimum investment, allows you to invest any amount and does not charge fees for inactivity.  On a personal note I also deal with this company now it’s called capital one. I have purchased fractional share in companies that I was interested in like Vegas hotels and dessert companies for a little bit of money.

You can also look into Dividend Reinvestment Plans ( Drips) Drips are companies that let a shareholders buy stocks of that company directly from the company itself. You don't need a large amount of money to start. Usually owning one share is all that is required to enroll in a DRP. Most companies allow investors to purchase additional shares through a Dividend Reinvestment Plan for nominal fees -- or often no fee at all. These stock purchase provisions, sometimes called Stock Purchase Plans (SPPs) or Optional Cash Purchase Plans (OCPs), allow an investor to send in as little as $10 to $50 at a time to purchase additional stock. I have purchased many companies thought drip plans.

 I started buying shares Kellogg’s a couple of months. It cost me $65 to get started t and $25 going forward when I get enough coins collected to make $25 dollars I purchase more shares. Easy right? 

You can also check with your banks investment department to see if they offer mutual funds or bonds funds that you can start that are inexpensive and offer a good return on your money.

Please remember when you invest there is no guarantee that you will not lose your principal investment but if you start out investing with a little bit of money, and you know that you will not touch that money for a while you have a better chance of gaining more interest with your money in investments then you would if your money was sitting in a cd account.    Have A Great Cheap Cheetah Day!