YNAB You Need A Budget

[lala]

Hi I want to begin investing online but I am having difficulty deciding on an online broker to use. I currently dont have much money to invest. I have about 100 a month with no big deposit available. Does anyone have any advice?

[princessschreffler]

Start saving your $100 a month until you reach the minimum investment level for whatever company you are interested in going with? It is generally advised NOT to invest until you have some amount of savings in a regular savings account anyway, because investment is more risky than savings. The money may not be available when your hot water heater breaks, your car breaks down, etc.

The Vanguard STAR fund has a minimum initial investment of $1000. Other funds over there are generally at a minimum initial investment of $3000. $100/month is their minimum additional investment (unless you have it taken out automatically every month)

[bastida]

Hi lala, check http://www.zecco.com

Regards,
Bastida.

[lala]

Thank you for the advice! I will save until I have enough to spare for the minimum investment.

[WairereRose]

I don't know what is available over there, but here we have Southern Cross Building Society which will do term deposits that are about what my DH has on the mortgage at the moment with a minimum deposit of $100 for 6 months. You could check Building societies to maximise your interest while you are saving toward the minimum. Just be careful to check their history though, as here they are not governed by the same guarantee systems as banks, so it is riskier.

[princessschreffler]

Not sure where you are pretty rose, but we have Credit Unions here that generally give better rates than banks.

[WairereRose]

Down in New Zealand. I did look at credit unions too. The rates are pretty good there too, not quite up to the building society. But I had just moved house and couldn't produce any bills in my name to the new address (everything in my new husband's name, and he still has it that way ) so the performance of opening an account was just unbelievable. I flagged it. Even now I don't think I could open one because I have nothing in my name to the house here - my mail all goes to a post office box. We live down a long driveway and the letterbox isn't secure. I just use it to make sure I get the free local paper to keep up with events in town and specials at the supermarket.

[tallison]

Hi I want to begin investing online but I am having difficulty deciding on an online broker to use. I currently dont have much money to invest. I have about 100 a month with no big deposit available. Does anyone have any advice?

Scottrade will start for a lot less. Even zero if you have regular deposits following. They do a nice job with bank linking and transfers. I used mine for a few years but eventually dropped it for other reasons. I was never unhappy with their product.

[bookman413]

I recommend Schwab. You can invest, no fee, in their ETF funds that track the broad indexes, and you can invest as little or as much as you have per month. If you buy the Broad Market Index ETF at, say , $33 per share, you will be able to afford 3 shares in the month if what you have is $100 per month.

However, before doing this, I would make sure I had about $10,000 sitting in cash in a bank account. It doesn't feel good to invest and be at the whim of the market when you don't have adequate liquid cash available for emergencies and whatnot. Believe me, I've tried it and it just didn't work for me.