Hi everyone! My name is Anine Sus, and I am the assistant editor at the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). Like you, I haven’t started investing yet. Even after over four years of working at AAII, I am still intimidated by investing and the stock market. All I have is my checking and savings accounts, and my 403(b) account, which is the equivalent of a 401(k). More to come on what those numbers and letters mean because I have no idea. All I know is that to survive in this world, money is the means to just about any end.
What I’ve gleaned through my years at AAII is that long-term investing could be a good choice for a lot of people. Your way of investing must be as inimitable as you are. It has to fit your lifestyle, your needs, what you want for your future and how you want the world to be in that future. It’s a tall order, but I’d like to figure out how to invest in better natural energy sources and learn how to invest for an early retirement so that I can follow my parents’ example and pursue other passions. (My dad sees a goat cheese farm in my future, but I think he just wants free cheese!)
Maybe you’ve been putting off investing because you don’t think you have any money to spare? Being alive is expensive as hell. Let’s figure out how you can start investing with $5. Are you in debt from pursuing an education that is essentially required for you to be employable? You can still invest while you pay the government back for the next 20 years. Do you want to own property even though having that amount of wealth seems impossible? Let’s work through that one together.
If you’ve struggled to figure out where to start with your finances, come along with me as I teach myself using AAII’s tools and its 40+ years of investing education as a guide. There’s way too much financial advice out there, really too much to bear at this point. It’s also hard to know what and who you can trust. But AAII provides what you need to be an investor in your own right, and that could include hiring a financial adviser if that’s what fits your needs. We’re going to start off much smaller than that, because honestly between working and being an adult, I don’t have time for much else!
Comment down below what questions you have about investing!