Step Zero
I want to know how to invest my money. I have some, now, that I could sanely lock up for five or ten years. Not a lot, but it occurs to me that it's probably possible to invest relatively small quantities of money. So, I wanna do that.
There is no shortage of places that purport to tell me how to do this properly. They all tell me that the younger you start, the better (which is why I want to begin now instead of waiting until I save up a little more). I think I'm also convinced that index funds are the best damn thing in the world of finance, but I don't know where I actually get them. Do they cost set amounts of money? Do I go and buy one unit of index fund at $49.95 a pop, or is it more like buying my lentils in bulk - do I fill up the bag with little granules of index fund and they weigh it and tell me how much it's going to cost me? For that matter, where do I even go to do this? Is this something I do through my bank, and if so, how? Is there an official website that sells these things and will let me use Paypal? Do I walk into a brick and mortar office somewhere and buy a certificate (suitable for framing) that tells me "Bearer has invested X dollars into index fund Y"? Do I have to hire a guy to help me if I just want your run of the mill index fund?
I know some people who read this thing have some kind of investment going on. Clear up my confusion. I am dead serious about this. I am really this bewildered. (I emphasize this because the fact that I haven't found the information anywhere indicates that it's one of those things everyone mysteriously knows.)
There is no shortage of places that purport to tell me how to do this properly. They all tell me that the younger you start, the better (which is why I want to begin now instead of waiting until I save up a little more). I think I'm also convinced that index funds are the best damn thing in the world of finance, but I don't know where I actually get them. Do they cost set amounts of money? Do I go and buy one unit of index fund at $49.95 a pop, or is it more like buying my lentils in bulk - do I fill up the bag with little granules of index fund and they weigh it and tell me how much it's going to cost me? For that matter, where do I even go to do this? Is this something I do through my bank, and if so, how? Is there an official website that sells these things and will let me use Paypal? Do I walk into a brick and mortar office somewhere and buy a certificate (suitable for framing) that tells me "Bearer has invested X dollars into index fund Y"? Do I have to hire a guy to help me if I just want your run of the mill index fund?
I know some people who read this thing have some kind of investment going on. Clear up my confusion. I am dead serious about this. I am really this bewildered. (I emphasize this because the fact that I haven't found the information anywhere indicates that it's one of those things everyone mysteriously knows.)