In today’s video, I will help you figure out how much money you need to start investing in the stock market.

You can literally start with one dollar, or you can carve out a lot more If you’ve got the budget for it. In today’s video, I will give you 3 strategies to help you come up with an actual dollar amount that works for you.

If you’re ready to start investing, here are 3 different strategies to consider:

One strategy to consider, goals-based investing.  With this method, you’ll first define your goals then use financial calculators to help you see how much you need to invest in order to hit your goals. After reviewing this info, you see how realistic those numbers are and make adjustments. I share my screen with you in the video so you can see how I do this process. 

A second way to do this is to invest what’s left over after your expenses are paid for. This is a simple process that doesn’t take much into account except knowing you’re putting the money you don’t need away for something in the future. The benefit of this is it’s easy, but the major problem with this is you may spend everything and end up not investing. If you’re worried about this, then I would use one of the other two strategies. If you’re someone who rarely spends everything you bring in and already have a good chunk of money saved up, then this could be a good approach for you.

A third way is to commit to a percentage from every paycheck and invest that. This method allows you to stay consistent with investing. You will invest more when you make more and less when you make less. This is a great approach for someone that has a fluctuating income. If you make a lot some months and nothing or little other months, the percentage strategy will help you stick to investing regardless of your income. This method also goes along with the idea of paying yourself first. If you review your budget and decide on 10% then you can set an automatic transfer in place so that money moves right when you get paid. I used to do this when I was bartending and serving. I would save 10% of my tips every shift and then deposit them at the end of a couple of weeks. So for every $100 I made, $10 went into my savings account. I didn’t know how to invest back then, so I was just saving, but the same principles apply.

The best approach I’ve found for deciding how much you need to start investing is a combination of the first and third methods. It’s great to know what you are even saving and investing up for. This allows you to stick to your investment plan once in place regardless of what the market is doing unless it impacts the timeframe of your goals. If you need help creating a portfolio, once you decide how much to invest, take a look at this video for help.

And remember, the key to investing success is consistency over a long timeframe in a strategy that lines up with your goals. Finding a balanced approach that allows you to enjoy your money now while also saving up for the future will help you remain consistent.