Like many others, you may feel that you should invest for your future, but you don't know where to start. Or perhaps you've invested a little, but you want to learn more. Investing is an amazing tool that everyone with disposable income should take advantage of. Here are the initial steps to take to begin your investment journey.

Open An Investment Account

When getting started, it's vital to understand that an investment account differs from actual investments. So, if you're putting money into a brokerage account or a retirement account, you must go into those accounts and actually invest the money into stocks. Otherwise, you'll see almost no growth and could miss out on thousands of dollars!

Open an account with an established investment broker like Fidelity or Vanguard, and you can get started investing!

Choose The Best Investments For You

Once you open an account, it's time to choose what you'd like to invest in. Many people choose to invest in individual stocks, but this can actually be risky. There's a way to own a wider variety of stocks for less risk and great reward over time. Investing in groups of stocks, known as ETFs and index funds, is generally safer and an effective move for making money long term.

With advances in technology and medical science, many are choosing to invest in ETFs or index funds that focus on these areas. You may not have time to do all the research into security advances like Microsoft MDR or biomedical advances like CRISPR, but experts do and compile the best of the best into these funds. This way, you get to invest in a myriad of companies at once and make less risky investment choices.

Automate Your Investments

Once you understand the gist of the investment process and decide what you'd like to invest in, you can actually automate your investments so that you invest a set amount each month.

If you aren't sure how much you'd like to invest each month, you can use this investment calculator to see how much your investments could make you over time. The stock market grows 10% on average each year, but you can use 7 or 8% to account for inflation when using the calculator. You can always start with a small amount per month, and increase the amount as you make more money throughout your life.

Remember It's A Process

Once you have your investments all set up and automated, it's tempting to look at your investment accounts all the time and expect growth. However, you must understand that the stock market fluctuates regularly, and seeing your investments lose money is no cause for alarm. If you pull your money out when your numbers go down, then you're losing out on all the future money you could make if you invest for the long term. It's best to leave your investments in the market for over a year, and preferably much longer if you want to see real growth. Many people start investing in their 20s or 30s, and by retirement age, they have tens or hundreds of thousands more than they would have otherwise saved by that age. So, when you see the stock market take a dip, the best thing to do is just sit tight and remember that historically when a dip has occurred, it has eventually gone back up and continued to grow every single time.

Investing as a beginner can be daunting, but don't give up! It's a highly effective way to make relatively passive money over time and to save for future expenses. Follow these steps and read up on investing, but don't wait too long to get started. When it comes to investing, sooner is better so that your money has time to grow.