[AmericanChef]

-The missing link is that a person's got to have some money to invest.-

Indeed - just try investing $500; you'll get virtually nowhere.

[ccmay]

Indeed - just try investing $500; you'll get virtually nowhere.

You can open brokerage accounts with $500, as long as you commit to an automatic-deduction savings plan, which can cost as little as $25 a month. Anyone can do this, even a college student, with minimal sacrifice.

-ccm

[Turbopilot]

Indeed - just try investing $500; you'll get virtually nowhere.

Actually, if you invest it in an index mutual fund that matches the stock market's average rate of return over the past 75 years and let it sit for 40 years, you'll have $29,165.86. Not a lot to retire on, granted, but hardly "virtually nowhere".

Now if you do the really smart thing and keep socking away that $500 every month over those 40 years, you'll have over $3 million. That's a pretty comfortable nest egg for most people to retire on.

[GOP_1900AD]

It's not a one time thing. You need to carve out small biweekly or monthly investments, that you feed over the long haul. Always pay yourself first. Rich Dad 101 ... First step before all this. Write down all money out and money in weekly. Analyze your cash flow. See what you can cut in terms of the outbound piece. If you don't *need* (as opposed to want) it, then don't buy it until after you have paid yourself, and paid your bills. Doing what I have described over many years will, if not make you rich, at least vastly increase your net worth.