As an average American who works 40-hour weeks just to stay afloat, I sometimes find it hard to imagine investing for my family’s future – much less actually doing it. But even though the situation seems hopeless at times (in the light of things such as high gas prices and the housing bubble) there are indeed ways to invest even when dollars are tight.
- Pay off debt. While not technically “investing”, paying off your debt is probably the best thing you can do. It will allow you to one day get your head above water and actually save money and avoid racking up more debt in the form of interest.
- Put money into savings. Not the best way to sock away funds, but better than nothing. And if done right it can provide you with some liquid assets that might prove useful. In his book A Million By 30, the author used a savings account for which he had no ATM card, and which he automatically had funds deposited into weekly. Thus, he never looked at it and never touched the funds.
- Get a DRIP account. Buy stocks on autopilot. It’s easy with a program such as ShareBuilder that allow you to automatically schedule small amounts of money to invest on a regular basis. The advantage of this is you can buy portions of shares if necessary, and by investing regularly you spread out the risk of the ups-and-downs of the stock market.
Even if you put only an extra dollar a day (or $30 per month) toward debt, savings, or investing – it’s better than doing nothing and it may be the start of something bigger and better!
Tags: a million by 30, atm, debt, dollar, drip, economy, high gas prices, invest, money, saving, sharebuilder, stock
