$100 is enough to start, because fractional shares let you buy a slice of anything. What matters isn't the amount — it's starting and adding consistently. Educational only, not financial advice.
Most major brokerages offer fractional shares, so $100 buys a piece of a fund that costs more per share. There's no minimum wealth required to begin — only to begin well.
Before investing, keep a small emergency buffer and knock out high-interest debt — a card at 24% beats almost any investment return. Budgeting and debt payoff come before the brokerage.
Open a brokerage, or better a Roth IRA for tax-free growth. Rather than pick stocks, most beginners start with a broad, low-fee index fund — one purchase spreads your $100 across hundreds of companies. Watch the expense ratio; lower is better.
For a first $100, a broad index fund or ETF beats picking single stocks. An index fund (or its exchange-traded cousin, an ETF) holds hundreds of companies at once, so one bad company can't wipe you out — you own the whole market's average. ETFs trade like a stock and often have no minimum with fractional shares; index mutual funds sometimes have a small minimum. Single stocks are fine to dabble with later, but as a beginner's core, diversification does more for you than any hot pick.
The account you invest through matters as much as what you buy. A regular taxable brokerage is flexible — withdraw anytime — but you owe tax on gains. A Roth IRA lets your money grow and be withdrawn tax-free in retirement, which is enormously valuable over decades, at the cost of locking it up until then. If this money is truly long-term, a Roth IRA is usually the better home for it; if you might need it soon, keep it in a plain brokerage or high-yield savings.
Set an automatic monthly contribution, even $50–$100, and buy through ups and downs. At a ~7% average return, $100/month is roughly $17,000 in 10 years and over $120,000 in 30 — most of it growth, not deposits. Starting early beats starting big.
Small percentages compound against you too. A fund charging 1% a year versus 0.05% can cost you tens of thousands over a lifetime — always check the expense ratio and favor the cheap, broad options. Avoid frequent trading, which racks up taxes and tempts bad timing. The boring combination of low fees, tax-advantaged accounts, and rarely touching it is what quietly builds wealth.
The usual traps: waiting until you have "enough" to start (you never feel ready); panic-selling when the market drops instead of buying through it; chasing meme stocks or crypto tips with money you can't afford to lose; and paying high fees without noticing. None of these require sophistication to avoid — they require a plan and the discipline to leave it alone.
If you want the whole thing as a sequence, here it is: