Invest early and often to become rich

The single most crucial thing you can do to ensure your financial future is investing — and the sooner you start, the easier it is to get rich.

This isn’t BS. There’s more than 100 years of evidence in the stock market that suggests this.

Still don’t believe me? Let’s look at a real world example of how to become rich by investing.

Say you’re 25 years old and you decide to invest $500/month in a low-cost, diversified index fund. If you do that until you’re 60, how much money do you think you’d have?
![pasted-image-0.png]That’s right. You’d be a millionaire after only investing a few thousand dollars per year.

Notice, I’m not talking about the Hollywood type of investing where hot-shot stockbrokers make huge multi-million dollar trades while yelling “SELL” into a phone for some reason.() Pictured: Some dude trading stocks and losing money. Not pictured: You investing in low-cost index funds and getting on with your life.

I said you should invest in low-cost, diversified index funds over time. That’s because smart investments are about consistency more than anything else — not chasing hot stocks. Or other weird investments:
The two essential ways to invest your money are straightforward:

401k: Be sure to take advantage of your employer’s 401k plan by putting at least enough money to collect the employer match into it. This basically means that for every dollar you contribute, your company will match that (pre-tax!). This ensures you’re taking full advantage of what is essentially free money from your employer. That match is POWERFUL and can double your money over the course of your working life:Roth IRA: Like your 401k, you’re going to want to max it out as much as possible. The amount you are allowed to contribute goes up occasionally. Currently you can contribute up to $5,500 each year.
Note: If $500/month sounds like a lot, read all the ways you can free up that money with just a few phone calls.