The short answer: whatever amount you have is good enough to start. My first stock purchase ever was $14. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to start getting comfortable putting my money to work!

So you really don’t need much to at least get started investing in stocks. In fact, most of you have at least some amount of money to invest, however small. However I don’t think the psychological and emotional aspects of investing are addressed enough (fear, risk, doubt, etc.). So there are some things to consider when figuring how much to start out with, such as:

• What kind of investing you wanna do
• Your experience
• Your comfort level with risk

I’ll be explaining all that in this post, so let’s get into it! Watch the video below or keep reading to find out more.

You don’t need much!

There’s a common misconception that you need a lot of money to start investing. Maybe back in the day that was true, but nowadays, technology makes it so easy for regular investors like us to access the stock market. Account minimums, investment minimums, and crazy high trading commissions are all a thing of the past.

Don’t confuse trading with investing

Another reason why people think they need a lot of money to start investing is because they’re confusing stock trading with investing. Stock trading DOES require a lot of money. It’s fast-paced, adrenaline-pumping and it  involves studying price charts to take advantage of short-term moves in stock prices. If you only have $100 you’ll probably get wiped out before you get a chance to realize what happened. So to be trading stocks, you definitely need at least a few thousands dollars – in my opinion. I don’t really recommend stock trading for anyone because it’s so technical and emotionally demanding, and it’s really not appropriate for most people.

But investing in stocks is a totally different story…

Use apps to get started for as little as $5

There are some great investing apps out there that let you get started with as little as $5. Stash and Acorns are two of my favorites. Thanks to a feature they offer called fractional investing, you can get a fully diversified portfolio with any amount of money. Diversification is a great strategy for anyone who doesn’t know how to pick individual stocks and wants to spread out their risk.

If you prefer to invest in individual stocks, almost all the major online brokerages have no account minimums and really low trading commissions. Robinhood is a relatively new app that charges zero commissions – although I haven’t used it myself, I’ve heard good things about it, and if you don’t have a lot of money to invest, it makes sense to avoid paying fees and commissions as much as possible. If you’re buying $100 worth of stock, it’s not cost-effective to pay $4.95 make that trade.

Fractional share investing

Another really cool app that I recently discovered is called Stockpile, which lets you buy fractional shares of any stock you want. So you don’t even need enough money to buy a whole stock! If you want to invest in big stocks like AMZN (which costs around $1670 per share), Google (which costs around $1179 per share), or Chipotle (which costs around $616 per share), you can with whatever amount you have.

The point I’m trying to make is this: If you want to get started investing in stocks, don’t worry about account minimums and investment minimums and things of that nature. Whether you have $5, $50, or $500, there’s really no restrictions on how much you need to get started.

Also consider your comfort level

In fact, rather than asking “How much money do I need to get started?”, I think what you should really be asking yourself is, “How much do I feel comfortable with?” Investing means you’re putting your money at risk, so the #1 consideration should really be your comfort level. If you’re a total beginner, you’re probably a little nervous. Maybe you don’t trust the stock market or you just don’t like seeing the value of your account fluctuate without understanding why. In my opinion, getting comfortable emotionally with the act of investing is the most important hurdle, and for that you can start with any amount of money.

So try starting small with, say, $100. Or maybe for you, it’s more. Just ask yourself, how much am I comfortable with risking? Everyone is different, so it should be an amount that kinda gets you excited but not so much that it stresses you out. The point is to dip your toes into the water, get some skin in the game, and start learning the flow of the market, not to give you indigestion!

You can always start small and add more. I started investing with just a couple hundred dollars, and now, after so many years I’m comfortable seeing my portfolio go up and down every day in the thousands. I actually love it because market volatility also means there’s upside. But it takes a little time to get used to that feeling, so start with an amount you’re comfortable with and then build up from there.

Start with what you have

The bottom line is – there’s REALLY no rules on how much you need to get started investing in stocks. Don’t be one of those people who say, “One day, when I have more money, then I’ll start investing.” Start with what you have, even if it’s just $5!

Whether you invest $5 or $5000, you’ll start to experience firsthand what it means to have money working for you. My first dividend check ever was probably only like $0.50 but it was still really frickin’ cool to see my money working for me, and at a young age, it was a powerful experience.

Now I’d love to hear from you:

Have you started investing in stocks? Why or why not?

Let me know in the comments below because I’d love to know!

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you sooooo much. If you liked this post, please share it with your friends so we can empower as many people with financial literacy.

Always remember to go after your dreams unapologetically and to live life on YOUR terms. Cheers!

To your wealth,

Rose