So, how should you invest your money? Well, there's a number of different factors that we need to consider. First of all, we need to know how old you are, because someone who has a longer time frame of investing is going to be more aggressively invested that someone who has a shorter time frame. Also, how comfortable are you with fluctuations in the market, that's another big determination. What are your goals, and how aggressive are those, and are they realistic? And, what are your opportunity costs, meaning, if you have a twenty percent credit card balance it doesn't make sense to invest money and possibly only earn ten percent. So, I would suggest before you even start to invest to make sure all of your high interest credit cards are paid down. Now, once you have a good handle on your debt I would start out small. There are many easy ways, through your bank and through an investment firm, to invest money every month. It just leaves your account and invests in a mutual fund. So, for example, if we take twelve months, and every month you invest, so for example if we take ten months, so for example we take twelve months, every month you invest $100.00 and that $100.00 automatically goes into an investment mix of your choice, you'll be able to capture the highs and lows and invest in an average rate, and at the end of the year you should have more than $1,200.00, if the markets are going up. This is called dollar cost averaging and it's a good way to minimize your risk when you're investing. Now, once we determine how much you can invest each month, make it a consistent plan, make it something that's achievable, that you're able to do without worrying about being over extended. A good reference point in savings is 10% of your earnings, if you can do this, this is a good start. Now, in terms of where to invest your money, stay turned for the next segment and we can discuss that.
money section
