Understanding the wide world of investments is the first step toward making confident financial decisions.
Whether you're planning for retirement, exploring automated strategies with robo-advisors, or learning how to choose a financial advisor, a solid grasp of the basics empowers smarter investing. Explore some of our more popular guides to help you on your investing journey.
Investing basics—guides and where to start investing
Investors who start early might be more likely to catch that proverbial "early bird worm", and grow their earnings enough to lead a comfortable lifestyle. If you’re ready to invest, the good news is that getting started is simpler and less expensive than ever. And with the right guidance, you could be well on your way to catching that worm.
Our top pick for beginner investing: Acorns
For many of us, investing can seem overly complicated and somewhat intimidating if you don’t know the ins and outs. Acorns intend to simplify and demystify this process through a revolutionary mobile app. The Acorns app was created to remove any mental roadblocks or anxiety about becoming a regular investor. Using Modern Portfolio Theory, it recommends optimized portfolios and keeps them on track with automatic rebalancing and dividend reinvestment. Here's our Acorns review.
Robo-Advisors—guides and where to start investing
Robo-advisors are specialized platforms that rely on technology and algorithms to help automate your investments. They’re generally a cheaper option than an actively-managed, full-service portfolio. Certain platforms even charge no management fees. But with that low cost comes little to no human interaction. Those seeking personalized service and investing advice from a person might not find what they’re looking for with a robo-advisor.
Our top pick for robo-advisor: Betterment
Betterment is often seen as a pioneer in the robo-advising space. And it is one of the most helpful for retirees due to its range of portfolio options. All you have to do is outline your investing goals and risk tolerance, and Betterment invests in various portfolios of equity-focused ETFs, crypto ETFs, or bonds to match those goals. It has some of the greatest portfolio variety out of all robo-advisors, and it supports IRAs as well.
Financial Advisors—guides and where to start investing
Our top pick for financial advisor: Domain Money
Domain Money empowers tech-savvy millennials to take control of their finances with short-term guidance from a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Clients pay a flat fee to work with one of Domain Money’s experts for one year, and they can choose between Essential, Strategic, or Comprehensive depending on how much support they want. A few features offered in all of these plans include a plan delivery meeting to go over your strategy and questions plus dedicated email support. At the end of this one year engagement, you can choose to renew for another year for a flat fee or cancel your subscription. Rather than providing ongoing support like a traditional advisor, Domain Money focuses on providing users with the key tools they need to kickstart financial success.
Alternative investments—guides and where to start investing
Looking to diversify your portfolio beyond traditional stocks and bonds? Alternative investments offer unique opportunities that can add depth and resilience to your financial strategy. From more conservative options like gold or REITs to more exotic offerings like fine wine or art, these assets could help broaden your horizons and balance risk. With the right insights, you’ll be better prepared to explore the world of alternatives.
Discover our comprehensive guides to help you navigate the diverse landscape of alternative investing.
Our top pick for investing in alternative investments: Fundrise
Fundrise was the first alternative investment platform that harnessed the Internet’s democratizing power through private real estate deals for average investors. Since that successful start, this company continues to offer diversified and professionally-managed portfolios via private real estate funds and other alternative strategies. Although real estate is the most famous offering on Fundrise, this site continues to expand its products with options like private credit and venture capital. With a 2012 founding, low minimums, and a competitive fee schedule, Fundrise remains one of the most attractive options for those just getting started with alternatives.
REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)—guides and where to start investing
REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) allow individuals to invest in income-generating real estate without buying property directly, offering the potential for steady dividends and long-term capital appreciation.
Wise Insight—public vs private REITs
Shares of public REITS may be available on stock exchanges, or you could opt to invest in a REIT mutual fund or ETF. Private REITs are also available, but you may need to be an accredited investor or meet certain requirements to invest in one.
Our top pick for investing in REITs: Arrived
Arrived, formerly called Arrived Homes, is a real estate crowdfunding company that lets you invest in shares of rental properties. The company began in 2019 and is quickly making a name for itself as a serious, up-and-coming investment platform. And unlike many companies that focus on commercial real estate, Arrived provides access to residential real estate properties and vacation rentals. According to Arrived founder Ryan Frazier, the company's goal is to “make the wealth building potential of owning rental homes more accessible. We believe we can do that by simplifying the process, and lowering the cost to get started.”
Gold—guides and where to start investing
Gold is a precious metal known for its enduring value, often used by investors as a hedge against inflation and market volatility.
Wise Insight—there are many ways to invest in gold
You can invest in gold bars or—invest in gold through ETFs, funds, mining stocks, futures contracts, or royalty companies for diverse and flexible options.
Our top pick for investing in gold: Thor Metals Group
You can take advantage of the long-term market potential of this precious metal by starting a Precious Metals IRA with help from Thor Metals. Enabling investors to include gold or silver in their portfolio, a Precious Metals IRA can be a secure and stable investment option, enhancing diversification and safeguarding your cash value against economic uncertainties.
Wine and art—guides and where to start investing
Investing in art and wine allows individuals to diversify their portfolios with tangible assets that have the potential for significant appreciation over time. Fine art and collectible wines are considered alternative investments, often holding intrinsic value and serving as a hedge against market volatility.
Our top pick for investing in art: Masterworks
Masterworks is an investment platform where you can buy fractional shares of artworks by world-renowned artists like Andy Warhol and Claude Monet. The company offers a straightforward investment product that’s easy to understand, significantly improving accessibility to the once closed-off world of fine art investing. According to Masterworks, contemporary art has outpaced the S&P 500 over the last 25 years, suggesting its potential as a strong portfolio diversifier.
Our top pick for investing in wine: Vinovest
If you’re looking to diversify your portfolio by investing in wine without spending a fortune, Vinovest offers a compelling option. The platform is an excellent choice for those who want to invest in alternative assets like wine but don't want to deal with the hassle of researching, purchasing, storing, and insuring it themselves. It only takes a few minutes for investors to sign up for Vinovest’s website and start investing in fine wine and spirits. For convenience, the platform uses its proprietary algorithm to create a tailored portfolio with specific bottles and barrels for the best chance of price growth over years.
Cryptocurrency—guides and where to start investing
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that use a new type of peer-to-peer (P2P) technology called “blockchain.” Instead of relying on financial institutions verifying transactions, blockchains take care of confirming crypto transfers using advanced algorithms and a decentralized design, so people can exchange their coins without middlemen. Although the original cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) reached a historic $100,000 in 2024, this asset class is still considered “high-risk” due to its novelty, volatility, and regulatory uncertainty.
Wise Insight—Know before you invest in crypto
The crypto market is also volatile and investors face regulatory uncertainties and security concerns. There was also the notable recent bankruptcy of a major cryptocurrency company, FTX. It’s best to do your research before you invest.
Our pick for investing in crypto: eToro
If you want to manage all your stock, ETF, and crypto in one place, eToro is your best choice. This online broker has always been a popular choice for stock trading, but it now supports crypto trading for more than 100 popular coins. What's nice is that eToro has a simple crypto trading interface for beginners and unique features like social trading that lets users read opinions for other traders and ask questions. You can also create a virtual portfolio to test your crypto trading skills before investing real money.
Retirement—guides and where to start investing
Retirement plans aren’t a type of investment; instead, they’re a popular vehicle for investing money for the long-term. Retirement investing involves allocating funds into various financial instruments like stocks and bonds within tax-advantaged retirement accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs. These investments offer the potential for long-term growth plus compound interest to help individuals achieve financial security in their later years.
Our pick for IRAs: Robinhood
Robinhood offers two types of retirement accounts: Traditional IRA and Roth IRA. You can open one of each, even if you already have an IRA at another financial institution or participate in a workplace retirement plan like a 401(k). With zero commission fees and no minimum investment requirements, Robinhood makes it easy to start investing for retirement. But this brokerage’s main selling point is a 1% match on every user’s yearly contributions (or a 3% boost for Robinhood Gold subscribers).
Managing Money—guides and where to start investing
Our pick for net worth trackers: Empower
The free Empower Personal Dashboard will give you a complete view of your net worth. Simply link everything to this platform, including credit cards, mortgage, loans, retirement accounts, bank accounts, and even cryptocurrencies. Empower's Net Worth Tracker will take care of the rest. This tool allows you to consolidate all of your accounts in one place so you can measure your progress over time. Seeing firsthand how your accounts look — whether on your desktop or mobile device — can help you pivot your budget to focus on your goals to improve your financial health.
How do investments work?
Investing your money involves purchasing a particular asset in the hopes that the value of that asset will increase over time. If an asset’s value increases and the investor opts to sell that asset, the resulting gain is called a capital gain.
But assets don’t always increase in value; sometimes they decrease too. Increases and decreases can depend on market conditions at the time you invest or sell an asset, company performance, and other factors. In general, investments that are considered higher risk offer the potential for higher returns, while lower risk investments typically provide lower returns.
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Test your investment knowledge
What's the average annual return of the S&P 500, over the last century?
Know the risks
No matter what you choose to invest in, your invested money is subject to risk. And certain investments, like cryptocurrency, may be riskier than others. Market ebbs and flows are normal.
In a bear market, the stock market decreases 20% or more from recent highs. In this environment, your stocks might make less profit and that may lead to more caution with other buys.
During a bull market, when the stock market is rising, your picks will likely be more profitable and you may be more eager to select new ones.
While you could mitigate some of your risks by diversifying your portfolio, you’ll never be able to eliminate risk completely, unless you put your money in a savings account instead. Despite the risks, investing remains one of the best ways to grow your wealth.
What basic investment terms should I know?
Part of learning about investing involves understanding key investment terms. Common terms include:
- Ask. The price that someone looking to sell stock wants to fetch.
- Bid. The price that someone is willing to pay for stock.
- Buy. To acquire shares and thereby take a position in a company.
- Sell. To get rid of shares whether because you’ve reached your goal or to prevent losses.
- Bull market. Market conditions in which investors expect prices to rise.
- Bear market. Market conditions in which investors expect prices to fall.
- Dividend. A portion of a company’s earnings paid to shareholders.
- Blue-chip stocks. Shares of large and well-recognized companies that have a long history of solid financial performance.
- Hedge fund: A hedge fund is composed of multiple investors' money, which is invested in different commodities in the hopes of making a profit. Hedge funds require relatively high minimums, so the investors are typically institutions or wealthy individuals.
- Earning per share. A company’s net profit divided by the number of outstanding common shares.
- Mutual fund. A collection of investments — stocks, bonds, commodities, and more — bundled together and held in common by a group of investors.
For more, see our full list of investing terms everyone should know.
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Jess Ullrich
Contributor
Jess is a financial writer who's been creating digital content since 2009. Before transitioning to full-time freelance writing, she was an editor at Investopedia and The Balance. Her work has been published on NextAdvisor by Time, Bankrate, Investopedia, and more. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, spending time with family, and exploring the outdoors.
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