What Should I Know As A Beginning Investor?

It feels like you can’t go a minute without hearing someone mention the stock market, saving and investing for retirement, or preparing for a financially secure future. You’re constantly hearing about investment hype, doomsday forecasts, or the latest get-rich-quick-scheme.

So, what are you to make of all this? You want to build wealth and think investing may be the way to do it. But — you also want to protect what you have and avoid becoming worse off.

Don’t worry; we’ve got you. While investing can be overwhelming and complex, it doesn’t have to be. Let’s go over some of the basics to help you begin investing sooner than later.

Why You Should Invest

First and foremost, if you have the financial means to do so, you should absolutely invest. Parking your cash in a checking or savings account (even a high-yield version) means that it will hardly grow. That’s because those accounts typically pay minimal amounts of interest, often not even keeping pace with inflation.

But, when you put some of those funds into an investment account, you have the opportunity to make some actual money due to the power of compound interest.

Food for thought: though there will be unavoidable short-term volatility in the stock market, investors should…