4 Low-Cost Ways To Start Investing If You Feel Priced Out of Stocks
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
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Molly Sullivan
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If buying individual stocks feels too expensive or overwhelming, you don’t have to sit out the investing game. There are several low-cost ways to begin growing your wealth — and even stocks themselves may be more within reach than you think.
Robert R. Johnson, PhD, CFA, professor of finance in the Heider College of Business, at Creighton University, recommended some low-cost ways to start investing.
1. Get an Employer Match
The best and possibly simplest way to invest is to fully participate in an employer’s 401(k) plan, especially if they offer an employer match. Not contributing enough to obtain that match “is turning down free money,” Johnson said.
Not only do you get the benefits of investing and compound interest, contributing the max also reduces your tax bill by lowering your taxable income, he explained.
2. Buy Low-Cost Index ETFs
If you’re looking to invest without a lot of money or investing know-how, Johnson said that “hands down, the winner is a low-cost index ETF (exchange-traded fund). You are investing in a diversified portfolio at a low cost.”
An ETF is like a grab bag of investments. Instead of buying one stock at a time (say, Apple or Amazon), you buy a share of an ETF, and that one share gives you tiny pieces of lots of different companies or assets.
“Additionally, picking winners in the stock market is difficult,” Johnson pointed out. An ETF removes this hassle.
3. Start With One Diversified Fund
To get started you don’t need multiple funds, Johnson said.
“You can invest in one fund and be fully diversified. For instance, if one invests in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF (VTI), one is essentially investing in 100% of the investable U.S. stock market,” he explained. You can invest for as little as $1.
4. Use Round-Up Apps
For younger people, Johnson is a fan of “forced savings” through round-up apps, like Acorn. “When tied to a debit or credit card, the app rounds up your purchase to the nearest dollar and invests your spare change in a diversified portfolio,” Johnson explained.
So, if you pay $5.29 for a latte at Starbucks, your card is charged $6 and 71 cents goes to your investment account. It’s a way to build retirement savings as you consume.
Whatever approach you take, Johnson urged, “Simple is better than complex. Dollar-cost averaging into a low cost, broad equity index fund is appropriate for a majority of individuals.”
Dollar-cost averaging means that you invest a consistent amount of money steadily over time.
Invest, Don’t Save
It doesn’t matter if you can only invest a little bit to begin with, or until you get ahead, Johnson said. What matters is that you invest at all, not just save. So however, and at whatever little amount, you can get into the stock market, that is “the surest way to build true long-term wealth,” Johnson said.
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