You want to start investing but you don't know where to start? Here is a beginner’s guide to investing.

How to Start Investing in 2023? Here's What You Need to Know

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It’s completely fine — knowing where to park your money right now isn’t easy. With inflation running rampant and the stock market topsy-turvy, it can be quite hard to make the right call. 

The amount of available investing information can be overwhelming. You might easily find yourself sifting through ill-advised investment picks and market news that’s always full of drama. 

 to help you protect your wealth and financial future.

But before looking at different investment options, let’s first see what could be your 

How to start investing for the first time?

investing doesn’t have to be complicated

 or confusing. On the contrary, investing in your future might be one of the best long-term decisions you will ever make, especially if you’re a few decades from retirement. 

So, if you think you’re ready to start investing in 2023, here are 

Step #1: Make sure you have an emergency fund

Before you start investing, set aside some money in your 

from the money you are planning to invest.

creating your emergency fund to start investing represented by a picture of a cartoon man catching a pink balloon pig

Investing is a long-term venture, and while it may look like it’s easy to get in and earn a lot of money within weeks or even days, it’s not how investing usually works.

Sometimes, when your investment is not doing great, you 

 or sell it at a loss. It can happen that you’ll need money asap and won’t be able to wait through the downturn in your investment. 

That’s why experts recommend that you have 

3 to 6 months worth of expenses put aside

 in your emergency savings account before you start investing seriously in assets like stocks, bonds, precious metals, crypto, etc.

It doesn’t mean, however, that you should stop growing your emergency fund after 6 months. It’s really up to you as you can choose to have up to 1 year of expenses saved up. In the end, your emergency budget is supposed to act as a “safety net” that will protect you if something happens to your primary source of income.

At the same time, you shouldn’t have too much money locked away and not working for you, because, as we learned in one of our previous spotlights, 

inflation slowly but surely reduces the value of money sitting in your savings account

. So, in general 3-6 months of savings should be enough to protect you in emergency situations. 

Now, once you’ve taken care of your emergency fund, it’s time to set up the budget you would like to invest.

Step #2: Consider your budget and investment strategy

After you have enough money set aside in your rainy day fund, review your budget and 

invest as much as you can or feel comfortable doing.

choosing an investment strategy between dollar-cost averaging and lump-sum strategy represented by an image of a cartoon man carrying a pile of gold coins and running on a green graph that shows investment periods

 to invest. Small amounts add up over time, but it's important to be consistent and start investing as soon as you can. 

There are two simple investment strategies you can start using straight away:

But in reality, it’s important to remember that this doesn't have to be an either/or decision. For some investors, a combination of lump-sum investing and dollar-cost averaging might be a good choice.

So, whichever strategy you choose, it should be the one that works best for you and your investment goals.

Before putting all your money in, say, stocks or cryptocurrency, you may want to first know your risk tolerance.

determining your risk tolerance represented by a picture of a cartoon man in a suit balancing on a huge dice

how well you can sleep at night during periods of market volatility.

 (the mix of stocks, bonds, crypto, precious metals etc.) should reflect that risk tolerance.

 is not without risk, but it can be a good way to 

, on the other hand, is good for those who want to reduce risk and

. But with this strategy, the important thing is to really 

, no matter what is happening in the market on a particular day or week.

Now, as we’ve established some of the essential steps you should take to prepare yourself for investing, let’s look at some of the popular investments you could start with. 

In short, you start by knowing your options that very often depend on the country you live in and the amount of money you have available for investment.

choosing an investment that would work for you represented by a picture of a cartoon man juggling stocks, real estate, cash in a savings account and physical gold.

For example, wealthy people have more opportunities to invest in start-ups or young companies, and can therefore make substantially more profit compared to everyday investors who have to wait until the company goes public (or, in other words, starts selling its shares on a public market). 

Therefore, you will probably have to do your own research to see what are the options available to you considering your situation. 

But here's a list of some of the generally available investment options: 

It’s not a secret that stock investing, when done well, can be one of the most effective ways to build long-term wealth.

Investing in stocks represented by an image of cartoon girl balancing on a stack of gold coins and holding cubes with the words “stocks” and “bonds” written on them

There are several ways to invest in the stock market: 

 You can invest in individual stocks but only if you are ready to spend some time thoroughly 

 stocks on a regular basis. But if doing moderate mathematical calculations or reading companies' quarterly earnings doesn’t sound appealing to you, there’s a more passive approach to stock investing.

 these are investment funds that follow a benchmark index, such as the 

. The S&P 500 is one of the major indexes that tracks the performance of the 500 biggest U.S. companies. Investing in an S&P 500 fund means your investments are tied to the performance of

 such as Microsoft Corporation, Apple Inc., or Amazon. The S&P 500 has historically generated nearly a 

 over time for investors. (But remember that future returns are never guaranteed).

 finally, another option is using a robo-advisor, which will invest in a handful of index funds based on your risk tolerance and investing goals, and will 

your portfolio if market conditions change. Moreover, robo-advisors usually have 

So, as you see, there are several options when it comes to investing in stocks. But before you do, make sure you’ve done

 on the stocks you buy or on the company you trust to buy stocks for you. 

Most global stock markets have had a rough 2022, and it seems like 2023 will not be much better as inflation takes hold, recession looms, and global geopolitical turmoil rises.

 2022 was even the worst year since 2008 for the major U.S. indexes.

In 2022, US stocks posted their worst year since 2008 amid fears over rising interest rates, looming recession, geopolitical tensions, and slowing corporate earnings.

And, in general, it looks like the stock market is off for a choppy year, with 

geopolitical worries, inflation, and interest rates already spurring some wild swings on Wall Street

Bonds are a way for an organization (for example, a company, a municipality, or a local government) to raise money. 

Let’s say your local government asks you to 

 to fund a public project, such as the construction of a highway or school. 

that investment, plus interest, over a particular period of time, which could be 1 year, 10 years, 30 years or even 100 years! Then, as time elapses, the government will pay back the initial amount it borrowed at the agreed date. 

If a 30-year bond has an interest of 5%, and you invest $1,000 in that bond, this means that every year the government will pay you $50. And in 30 years, it will pay back the $1,000 you invested initially.

Bonds are generally considered a safe and conservative investment since they’re 

, and pay you a fixed amount of interest several times a year.

 for lengthy periods of time. Moreover, because bonds are a long-term investment, you’re facing 

For instance, if you buy a 30-year bond paying 3% interest and a month later, that same company issues bonds at 4% interest, your 

And that’s something worth keeping in mind if you’re considering bonds as one of your investment options. 

Real estate has been a popular investment over the last 50 years or so. It can bring an investor regular income if rented out, thus generating 

investing in real estate represented by a picture of a cartoon man carrying a house with a dollar tag

Here are some of the ways to invest in real estate: 

Invest in a real estate crowdfunding platform that pools money from different real estate investors to invest in rental properties or property developers. 

Buy a badly maintained house, fix it up and sell it for a higher price.

Over the past years, real estate prices have been on the rise. But we might soon 

 as the Fed and other central banks around the world are planning to increase interest rates to fight runaway inflation.

Higher rates could mean less people and businesses will be able to qualify for loans, and this could effectively reduce demand for housing and therefore push real estate prices lower.

, with Bitcoin being the world’s first modern digital money that combines blockchain technology, decentralized control, and user anonymity.

investing in cryptocurrency represented by an image of a cartoon man in a suit standing next to a giant gold bitcoin coin

For quite a few years now, crypto fans have been arguing that bitcoin is set to replace gold as a store of value one day.

But this argument is still under debate, since, as you’ve probably noticed, crypto 

, unlike more conventional investments like stocks or safe-haven assets such as precious metals.

So, if you’re planning to get on the crypto rollercoaster any time soon, make sure you’re 

 for the potential risks ahead by going through this simple checklist:

Remember to avoid buying or selling out of fear or FOMO.

Make sure you store your crypto holdings in a secure place or exchange.

Protect yourself from volatility by also investing in more stable assets such as gold.

investing in gold and precious metals showed in an image of a pyramid made of gold bars

In general, investors looking to start investing in precious metals have two main choices: 

Buying shares of a mutual fund or an ETF 

) that tracks the price of gold, or trade futures and options in the commodities market. 

 way to hold precious metals. It might come as a surprise to beginner investors, but 

paper gold assets aren’t always backed by the physical precious metal

. Paper gold, such as ETFs and gold futures, usually only exist in digital form.

 Imagine you buy paper gold for $1,000, but the company you bought it from only has $500 worth of physical gold in their vaults to back the value of your paper gold. So if 

 arise, and everybody wants to cash out at once, this company (known as counterparty) 

So although paper gold assets have several important advantages (the absence of shipping and storage fees, and the fact that they can be converted into cash quite easily through a broker), keep in mind that they can carry considerable 

This means that a company or a broker in charge of your ETFs could go bankrupt or fail to live up to their obligations, misrepresenting the true state of their portfolio.

With physical gold, on the other hand, you don’t rely on any third-party individual or company to hold and own your wealth for you.

several risks associated with investing in physical gold

 (for example, the costs and risks associated with storing and insuring your gold products), you can easily avoid them by choosing 

We’ve established that, before you start investing, it’s important to nail down a few things. 

, think about your budget and emergency savings. Experts recommend that you have around 

 in your emergency fund put aside before you start investing seriously in assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, crypto, etc. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to wait until you get a full emergency fund to start investing. Your emergency fund is more like a “safety net” to keep you protected if the market goes down and you start losing on your investment.

 consider your budget and the amount of money you are willing (or able) to invest. Once you’ve done that, you can choose an 

investment strategy that works best for you

Out of many strategies you could stick to, the most common ones are the 

The former entails depositing money in investment accounts in large amounts at one time, while the latter calls for spreading out deposits over time. Both approaches have pros and cons, but the lump sum strategy can be more risky and nerve-wracking.

 (emergency savings, budget, and investment strategy) - congratulations - you’re ready to kick start your investing adventure! 

The investment world is quite vast, but out of hundreds of choices available out there, we’ve picked 5 generally available investment options: 

Now it’s up to you to make your choice and see which mix of assets could work best for you. 

Oh, just one little thing: make sure your investment portfolio is always well-diversified with a good mix of riskier and safe-haven assets for a perfect balance and protection from any potential market downturns.

own physical precious metals price forecast

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