Start Investing – 4 Questions

Four Questions to Answer Before Investing

You have been saving money and now you want to take the next step and start investing, but are not sure where to start. Investing helps you build your wealth faster then savings because you receive higher returns. The higher returns are the result of the increased risk that comes with investing. Meaning you could lose some of your investments. One of the first things you need to decide when you start investing is how comfortable are you with risk.  You also need to decide what your goals are, and what is your timeframe for each goal. Are your goals timeframe five years or twenty or more? The more time you have the more money you can earn and the less you have to event.

Answering the following questions will help you decide what type of investments you should purchase.

  1. What is your level of risk tolerance?
  2. What are your goals?
  3. What are your timeframes?
  4. What level of help do you want?

The reason you should start with determining your level of risk because it will help you narrow down the types of investments you should consider investing in. Investing is a long term activity and you may own different investments between five to 60 years. This means that the value of the investments go up and down. You need to be honest with yourself about how comfortable seeing your investments lose money.

Your goals help you determine how much money you need. It will also help you determine how much time you have before you need the money and how much you need to put into the investment. This in turn helps you figure out what return you need. The longer your timeframe the lower all these amounts will be. This is because the value of investments grows over time and the more time you have the more, they grow.

Finally, you need to decide on what type of help you need investing. If you want more guidance you can sign up with an investment advisor at a full-service brokerage, but if you want to do it on your own you can sign up with a direct investment service or with an online broker.  The fees for the brokerage will depend on the level of service they provide.

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