Start Up Mutual Funds?, Where do i begin?

**snafu** · 08-21-2015, 09:50 AM

Kudos to you for reading the Wealthy Barber and/or anything about finance and future planning. I wish it were required reading for every 18-21 y/o. Are you working/earning? Where will your supply of money to invest come from? Are you in the USA or Canada?

When you sign up for a plan to automatically transfer a set sum to buy a Mutual Fund, it's called Dollar Cost Averaging [DCA}. You will be buying a different number of units each time, based on the valuation of holdings {NAV] on the day of purchase. It means on days like today when the stock market is falling you would buy more units than on an up day. As you can imagine over a really long time like 20 years, you will own a great many units. Some Mutual Fund organizations are better than others, you must check costs, fees, Management Expense Ratio [MER] that magically, silently moves money from your holdings to their pocket whether value is increasing or decreasing.

**Atretes1** · 08-28-2015, 02:10 PM

I wish I started as young as you are. Its never to late to start is what I say but compounding starting at your age can produce crazy good numbers. If your working I would start with work sponsored retirement plans, if there is a match, if not, start a ROTH IRA. First an foremost I would stay away from debt except for a home purchase. I use Vanguard for my investing.

**mergertech** · 10-08-2015, 03:18 AM

Start Up Mutual Funds?, Where do i begin?

Mutual funds usually invest in a range of securities that include government bonds as well as equity within companies. Each mutual fund has its own time frame as well as return rate. Mutual Funds are cost-effective and easy investment process. Furthermore by making an investment all the cash in a Mutual Fund, investors can buy stocks or bonds at lower trading expenses. Another benefits is diversification. Diversification appears for diffusing cash across various different categories of investments. This is beneficial in decreasing risks as there is every probability that when one investment is down, the other can be up. Another benefits of mutual funds is that when you become a shareholder you instantly advantage from professional management of your assets.

**feh** · 10-08-2015, 04:57 AM

Originally posted by victornorman View Post

I just don't know where to begin.

Start here: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogl...g_start-up_kit

As you have questions, ask them here.

**Eagle** · 10-08-2015, 05:53 AM

Originally posted by victornorman View Post

Hey guys, i read the book 'The Wealthy Barber' and i'm seriously considering buying mutual funds monthly. Im 18 years old, and desperately want to open the door for investing young. I just don't know where to begin. Where/How do I buy mutual funds, and in your opinion is it good to purchase the funds monthly, because there suppose to compound/stack? The book says that if you buy mutual funds monthly for about 15-20 years, you'll be very well off. any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated,
thank you!

@Victornorman
I'd look into Vanguard or Fidelity if you are just starting out. Do you have a regular, monthly/weekly income?

So wise to start early. You are on the right track and asking good questions.

**JulieAlbright** · 10-08-2015, 06:14 AM

In my experiencing with starting my kids with investing the biggest obstacle they faced were account minimums needed to get started. So what you are going to want to do is search for places that let you start with a low amount of money and add low amounts of money periodically, like every month.

The Wealthy Barber is a great book. I remember reading it myself many years ago and I believe it has been updated. I'm not sure if it covers in there a Mutual Fund alternative called ETF which stands for Exchange Traded Funds. Nearly all of the major brokers have a list of ETFs that you can purchase commission free and I urge you to include those in your research.

I'll let you know that when my son's started out they chose Schwab Brokerage and very simple broad based entire market funds with no trading fees and very low expense ratios. Vanguard and Fidelity are of course other great brokerages and recently they have both added two more brokerages ... Loyal3 and Robinhood accounts for other commission free investing avenues.

Start Up Mutual Funds?, Where do i begin?