Getting started with investing is simple, though perhaps not easy. Many young people, graduate students included, are intimidated by investing. They may even be unaware that you can buy investments yourself; you don’t have to go through a broker or financial advisor.

 

1) Ask yourself if you are prepared to start investing.

Do you have a lump sum of money that you want to invest and/or do you have an ongoing savings rate that you would like to invest? Have you met your other financial priorities, such as saving an emergency fund? Are you emotionally steeled to stomach the volatility that is likely to come with a long-term investment?

2) Determine the timeline for your investment.

Are you investing for retirement, many decades away? Or are you investing for a mid-term goal? The timeline on your investment will influence how much risk you should take.

Further reading: How to Invest Differently for Short, Medium, and Long-Term Goals

3) Research the type(s) of investments that you want to buy and develop an (initial) investing philosophy.

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This is the most daunting step for someone who wants to start investing, but there is plenty of material available to help you do your research. While you should make a few determinations about your personal investing philosophy, you do not necessarily need a fully worked-out plan to start investing, especially if you keep it simple at the start. The important part is to get started, even if you don’t have the perfect, complete plan from the beginning.

Some questions to ask yourself are:

• What is my risk tolerance?
• Do I want active or passive management?
• How important is fee minimization?
• What are my ethical considerations for my investments?

Great resource: The Bogleheads

Further reading: How to Keep Investment Costs Low (and Returns High)

4) Choose the brokerage firm you want to invest through.

There are many brokerage firms to choose from online for the DIY investor and also many firms that will manage your investments for you through financial advisors. Your investing plan will help you decide which firm to use.

How much money you have to invest may influence your choice of firm. Most firms have some kind of minimum investment necessary to open an account, which may be a lump sum or a recurring transaction.

If you plan to buy mutual funds or ETFs, you must verify that the funds you want to buy are offered through the firm you are considering. Look at the expense ratios of the funds that you plan to buy to compare between firms. (Generally speaking, Vanguard is the industry leader in minimizing expense ratios.)

If you plan to buy single stocks, look at the firm’s trading fee structure (both on the buy and sell) to find the best price for your anticipated volume of trades.

Further reading: Where to Start Investing When You’re Broke; Stocks – Part X: What if Vanguard Gets Nuked?

5) Open your account and buy your investments.

Once you have decided on the brokerage firm you want to use and the investments you want to buy, open an account with the firm. You can choose to open an IRA (only if you have taxable compensation) or a taxable investment account. Once you have your banking information linked to your brokerage account, you can transfer money and buy your desired fund(s). Consider setting up an auto-draft of a regular savings amount from your checking account each month.

Further reading: Stocks – Part XV: Target Retirement Funds, the Simplest Path to Wealth of All, Stocks – Part XVI: Index Funds Are Really Just for Lazy People, Right?

6) Monitor and maintain.

While you don’t have to look at the balance every day, it is a good idea to periodically check up on your investments to make sure they are behaving as you expected (against the relevant benchmarks, etc.). If you are doing your own rebalancing, make sure you stick to your investment plan in terms of how often to check and execute the rebalancing.

7) Refine your philosophy.

As you learn more about investing and through the process of buying and monitoring your first set of investments, you will likely evolve your investing philosophy. Once you have the next iteration of your philosophy well thought-through, you should change your investments to reflect it. In the process, minimize turnover to the extent possible to avoid incurring new fees and taxes. And don’t halt your learning process! Your philosophy and certainly your implementation will probably change many times throughout your life.