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As a college or even a high school scholar, you face various challenges as you move away from your home, have new friends, and study new subjects and courses. However, what most of the students don’t realize is that it is a great time to start investing.
With the economy going down due to the current pandemic, it is essential that you set some cash aside so that you don’t find yourself in a monetary rut down the road. Some people consider it risky to invest thinking that it is similar to gambling.
However, this is just because they don’t differentiate between get-rich schemes and proper monetary strategy. For instance, if you bet on a horse with odds of 100-1, it will be great if you win, but it is very likely that you end up losing your hard-earned money and mutual funds.
College is an excellent time to begin investing. We know that it is hard to find extra cash to meet your needs, let alone aside some more that can be invested, but it will be better for you in the long run. There are various low-cost options available in the traditional market, and you can get started with even $50.
Let’s take a look at a number of ways with the help of which you can make money as a freshman and live in a content manner.
Starting with Cash Deposits
The easiest plan for investing as a college scholar is to get a certificate of deposit. If you get a CD, not only will your cash be safe, but you will also get a fixed rate of interest. If you have some cash to spare, you should put your money in your local bank for a particular time frame. For instance, if you have saved some money to pay the tuition fee for next year, you can acquire a certificate of deposit and begin investing, without worrying about the fluctuating market.
If you want an excellent rate of return as well as an excellent level of safety, but also want to have the flexibility of making withdrawals whenever you want, you used to go with a savings account instead. If you invest, it will help you get rid of your student loan debt.
Use a Low-Cost or Free Broker
If you want to get on with investing and are looking for a low-cost to do so, you should get in touch with a low-cost brokerage account. There are various online investing brokerages that provide free stock & ETF trades.
They also give you various educational tools & research tools to help you get on. The benefit of going with commission-free brokers is that you will be able to add little amounts of money every month without worrying about big fees and charges.
The investing brokers working for you will keep a check on the dow jones industrial average for you, and you won’t have to worry about the large stock market rates, losses, or when to sell or trade a particular share.
Purchase an Index Fund
The easiest way to kick off learning and investing as a scholar is to acquire an index fund. The index will hold the shares of all the stocks within the index. If you acquire an S&P 500, it will contain shares of hundreds of companies.
“This will ensure that your initial investment is less volatile and relatively risk-free as compared to owning stocks. Think of investing as a safety net for your future, – recommends Michael Lowes online business consultant at papersowl.com and founder of a start-up. This means that if you kick off investing today, you will have a better tomorrow and will be secure for years to come.”
Get in Touch with a Robo-advisor
If you don’t want to go with an index or even individual stocks, students should sign up for investing in Robo-advisors who will charge a very small percentage of your personal funds and assets. A robo-advisor is an investor who will create a whole portfolio for you automatically focusing on two things – how aggressive you want to be and the time horizon you have.
You can get started with investments as little as $20 and then keep adding money incrementally to your investments without paying any extra transactional costs.
Get Help from an Investment App
Want to simplify the investments and money management process even further? You can do so by using a mobile app platform such as Stash, Wealthfront, Acorns, Fidelity, etc. The apps will charge you a minute fee as low as $1 for their services monthly or annually and you can buy stocks or ETFs.
Read the Washington Post and New York Times to keep an eye on information about various investors.
Open up an IRA
Even though you are still in college, you can think about an IRA as it can be a nice opportunity to have a lot of future savings, especially if you are earning money from a part-time job. It will allow you to defer the taxes on any dividends or profits and will save you money when it comes to taxes.
Moreover, the earlier you can figure out how to use a tax-advantaged account, the better your assets will be since you will be harnessing the power of compound interest for your advantage. It will help you pay off your debt, and you will be able to enjoy a full life in the real world.
How a Student can Learn to Invest – Bottom Line
As young college students looking to invest, the most important investment advice that we can give is to go ahead with it right now. The earlier you get on, the sooner you can start reaping the benefits of your smart thinking.
Another main thing is to get in contact with people who work in finance via email. You can take their address card and give them a visit as well to get all the general info you need about investing your capital based on your minimum income.
You can simply pick an offer made for you by financial advisors with years of experience. Trust us, getting professional help will be worth it as it offers security and betterment with no risk.
Even with a modest amount, you can go places – all you require is good advice and smart thinking!
