Investing is a huge decision for most people. It’s fraught with emotions like fear of losing money, shame around not having started investing already or not having ‘enough’ money to start investing (hint: you don’t need as much money as you might think).
Simply getting started is often the biggest hurdle you’ll face when it comes to building an investment portfolio. We know it’s easy to put off investing. Wait to get that raise… Or wait until you have more time… Or when you feel more confident that you know more about it (another hint: you don’t need to know as much as you might think! )
But it’s not the right advice for you if you simply don’t have the money to invest just yet. If that’s true for you, check out our guide on what to do before you start investing.
If you ARE ready to start investing, here’s our quick ‘5 step investing checklist‘ based on the top 5 questions I get asked by people like you every day:
- How much do I need to start investing?
- When should I start investing?
- What should I invest in?
- How do I get started?
- How much should I pay in fees?
1. How much do I need to get started?
You don’t need to save up a huge lump sum to start investing. You can start investing with as little as $2,000 with Stockspot. That way, you can add to your investment regularly (ie a little bit each payday) as you become more confident.
Investing gradually over time is a great way to get started as it means that you purchase some investments at higher prices when markets are up, and at a lower price when markets are down. The aim is to ‘average’ out the purchase price for your investments over a set period and calm your nerves along the way.
2. When should I start investing?
The best time to start is …. today! Every day you wait to save up a lump sum you risk missing out on the benefits of compound returns. Not only that, you could also be more impacted by short-term stock market movements once you do start investing.
3. What should I invest in?
The best investment portfolio includes a broad mix of different investments like Australian shares, international shares and government bonds. Investing using exchange traded funds (ETFs) is the easiest way to do this. Stockspot uses ETFs because they are low cost, give you excellent diversification and are easy to invest in.
Diversification is basically a fancy way of saying don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. That way if one of your investments isn’t doing so well, the other investments will cushion the impact. ETFs give you diversification instantly.
What is an ETF?
ETFs are a popular type of investment listed on the ASX. They are low cost and lower risk than buying shares in individual companies.
ETFs act like a basket of shares. They invest small amounts in all the companies listed on different index, for example ASX’s top 300 companies or the US share market.
It means your money is spread across hundreds of different companies at a fraction of the cost of trying to do this yourself.
4. How do I get started?
When you invest with an online investment service like Stockspot you get a portfolio of diversified investments. If you invest with us, you’ll get a portfolio that is created based on your goals, how long you want to invest for and capacity to take risk.
Plus we review your investment profile every year and update your investment mix if your situation or needs change over time. Think of it like ‘investing on auto-pilot’.
5. How much should I pay?
Last but not least is our golden rule of investing: keep your fees low. Never pay more than 1% of your investment in fees. Paying 1% or more in fees for your investments may not sound like a lot, but over the years it really adds up. The less you pay in fees each year, the more your investments can grow – meaning more money for you.
Stockspot fees range from 0.396% a year to 0.66% a year depending on how much you invest. Apart from that you won’t pay us anything else. Ever. The ETFs that we invest in have their own fees of around 0.25% per year.
Ready to get started?
These days, you can start investing without all the hassle of picking stocks or researching the market. Online investment companies (like Stockspot) help you with the difficult decisions above like: ‘what should I invest in?’
Our technology also helps automate a lot of the tasks that used to cost a lot of money (and time) like creating a diversified investment portfolio and reviewing it each year.
Find out how Stockspot makes it easy to start investing today.
