Investing is the gateway to long-term savings. Do you feel like you have to be a special kind of person to invest? Think it’s too complicated for the average Joe or Jill? Maybe you feel you should have a certain amount of money before you can even start. Or you need a professional’s help and you definitely can’t afford that.

Investing is not as complicated as you think. Two things you need are time and money. You’re reading this so you have time. Now, where do you find the money?

The simplest way is if you have a retirement plan with your place of employment. That way the money comes out before you’ve even thought of spending it. Please, please, please….at minimum contribute enough to get your company match. It’s FREE money! If you don’t get a match, just start at a percentage you’re comfortable with and keep increasing it until you reach either your limit or the government’s limit.

Just for terminology’s sake, a contribution is the amount put into your retirement account. If you put in the amount, you’re contributing to your retirement account. When your job puts money in your account, it’s called an employer contribution.

Your job doesn’t have a retirement account available. Now what?

Well, that’s unfortunate but hope is not lost. You can mimic a similar process on your own. You can open a brokerage account and open an IRA (individual retirement account). Most big banks now have them so you can open one with them. Don’t even have to create a new log-in. It’s the little things, you know. Make it so your contributions come out the same day as your paycheck so by the time you wake up, that money is where it belongs. It takes you out of the process so you don’t touch your savings.

Once you’ve decided to add money to your retirement account, the next step is to choose WHAT you want to invest it. Most job-related retirement accounts have a specific set of mutual funds for you to choose from. If you REALLY want to keep it SUPER simple, choose a target-date retirement fund that correlates to when you expect to retire. You can also do this with your IRA. Choosing a target-date retirement fund SHOULD provide the proper balance between stocks and bonds appropriate for where you are in life.

If you want to make it a smidge more interesting, pick two or three funds to invest in. The difference is that as you get closer to retirement, you’ll want to re-balance your portfolio to decrease the risk.

How much can you invest?

Fortunately, there are ways to start as small or as large as you want. You have to look at your circumstances. The money you invest should be money you don’t expect to need for at least ten years. You’re playing the long game here. If today, all you can spare is $5, invest $5. If you can do a couple hundred, do a couple hundred. The sooner you start, the more you’ll make PERIOD. In a downturn like we’re experiencing with this COVID crisis, you may be hesitant to start. Don’t be. It’s actually an opportunity to invest at sale prices. Who doesn’t love a good sale?

To-Do List

• First! Decide how much you can invest.
• If your job has a retirement account available to you, find out the company match and start contributing.
• If your job doesn’t have one, create your own. See if you can open an IRA with your bank. If not, there are tons of options out there. Most major banks have them and there are apps like Stash that make it simple. I use and love Stash. If you don’t have an account yet, get started today and get $20 free when you use the referral link.
• As much as it is within your power, stick to your investment plan. Don’t forget this is the long game.

Do you have a retirement account available at your job? If not, which bank have you considered starting an IRA with? Let us know in the comments.