Skip to content
FinPins

FinPins

be finlightened

  • Home
    • FREE Personal Finance Course
    • Home
    • Promotions
    • Financial Literacy Quiz With Answers [2023] – Super Easy?
    • About Us
    • Newsletter
  • Invest
    • Invest In Bitcoin?
    • How and Where to Start Investing?
    • Which is the Best Investment App?
    • How To Buy Your First Stock
    • Stock Basics
    • Stock Order Types
    • What is ETF?
    • ETF vs Stock
    • ETF vs Mutual Fund
    • Alternative Investing
    • Fractional Shares
    • Dividends Explained
    • Inflation vs Investing
    • M1: Create Portfolio
    • How To Invest $20?
  • Debt
    • Game of Loans: Is All Debt Bad?
    • Mortgage: Affording, Investing, Paying Off
    • My Loan Payoff Story
    • Is MBA Worth It?
  • Calculators
    • NPV Calculator
    • IRR Calculator
    • Student Loan Payoff Calculator
    • Mortgage Payoff Calculator
    • Amortization Calculator
    • CAGR Calculator
    • Reverse CAGR Calculator
  • BLOG
    • Web Stories
    • Stock Market Today
    • See NEWEST Posts
    • 19 Best Personal Finance Reddit Communities You Should Join
    • How to Build a Budget
    • 27 Best Personal Finance Books To Read
    • What is Metaverse? 18 Good Metaverse Stocks to Buy
    • DiversyFund vs Fundrise: Invest Affordable Amounts (as low as $500) in Real Estate
    • Cash Flow and Budgeting: 1 Easy and Powerful Budgeting Strategy
    • MFAANG – Tech Stocks
    • 9 Powerful Ideas on How To Make Money Online For Beginners
    • Invest In Apple Or Buy iPhone?
    • Retirement Strategy: 401(k) Mistakes to Avoid
    • Roth IRA vs 401(k): How to Choose
  • Stock Options
    • Stock Options: 5-Minute Guide
    • Call vs Put Options
    • Options Trading Levels
    • Options Greeks Cheat Sheet
    • Options Trading Quiz For Beginners
    • Straddle vs Strangle Options
    • Choose Your Options Strategy Wisely
    • Options Trading Cheat Sheet
  • Credit Cards
    • How to Use Credit Card Responsibly
    • How To Read A Credit Card Statement
    • FICO Credit Score Explained
    • Credit Card Mistakes To Avoid
    • 12 Best Credit Cards For Millennials
    • 10 Best Credit Cards For Ad Spend
    • 12 Best Credit Cards For Farmers
    • 11 Best Credit Cards For Digital Nomads
    • 10 Best Credit Repair Books
    • 9 Best Business Credit Cards for Construction Companies
    • 8 Best Credit Cards for Nurses
    • 4 Best Credit Cards For Nannies
    • 9 Best Credit Cards for Wedding Expenses
    • 10 Best Credit Cards For Consultants
    • 6 Best Credit Cards for Traveling Consultants
    • How Do Business Credit Cards Work?
    • 8 Best Credit Cards For Teachers
    • 8 Best Credit Cards For Golf Lovers
  • Tech
    • How To Use ChatGPT
    • ChatGPT Examples
    • How To Make Money With ChatGPT
    • 12 Best AI Story Generators
    • 12 Best AI Video Generators From Text
    • 8 Best AI Video Enhancers And Editors
    • 20 Best AI Art Generators From Text
    • 40 Best AI Writing Tools
    • Digital Tools For Business
  • Toggle search form
HOW TO START INVESTING AS A COLLEGE STUDENT

Invest $20: How to Start Investing As A College Student Even If You Are Broke!

Posted on By

How to start investing as a college student in stocks? With as little as $20 per week? Is it even possible?

Taking the first step to invest in the stock market can seem daunting. You want to invest in Amazon but the stock trades at $3300. You want to buy a Google stock but are intimidated by the $2500 market price. What can you do if you just have a spare $20 or $100 and want to get involved now? The good news is that you can invest in these great companies’ stocks with even a little money now using the fractional share or partial share feature. Fractional share feature is available on Robinhood as well as M1 Finance platforms.

You can invest little amounts, say $20, every week and use the dollar cost average (see the section below) method to mitigate the short-term volatility. Here, in this article, we will demo investing $20 in M1 finance to buy partial shares.

Page Contents

  • How to Start Investing As A College Student in Amazon or Apple?
    • M1 Feature 1: Ability to Create Multiple Customized Pies on M1
    • M1 Feature 2: Ability to Mimic an ETF on M1 Finance
    • M1 Feature 3: Ability to Buy Fractional Shares on M1 Finance
  • Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: MFAANG
  • Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: Cashless Revolution
  • Other options to Start Investing With $20
  • When to Buy a Stock?
  • What is Dollar Cost Average?

Read also: How to buy a fractional share on Robinhood

How to Start Investing As A College Student in Amazon or Apple?

We love M1 finance for multiple reasons. Here are three mentioned below:

M1 Feature 1: Ability to Create Multiple Customized Pies on M1

M1 Finance has the ability to create customized investment pies, such as one pie for FAANG stocks only. You can choose the weights of each stock according to your wish. If you believe more in Netflix than Amazon, you can give it a higher weight so your money gets invested accordingly.

Read: How to Create Pie and Portfolio on M1 Finance

M1 Feature 2: Ability to Mimic an ETF on M1 Finance

Do you really like an ETF but don’t want to pay the ETF fees? Just create your own pie and put the stocks and desired weights held by the ETF! There is also an option to rebalance your pie in case you desire that.

M1 Feature 3: Ability to Buy Fractional Shares on M1 Finance

There are so many amazing stocks out there and you want to invest in ten of them this month. Let’s say you want to buy FAANG stocks. If you buy 1 stock each of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, it will cost you well over $5000 [prices as of March 11, 2022].

Sometimes companies do stock splits to increase the number of available shares and reduce the price of stock per share proportionately. For example, Amazon has announced a stock split in the near future.

But what to do if you just have $100 to invest this month? With M1 finance you can buy partial shares. For example,

  • Create a FAANG pie, with stock weights of your choice. Let’s assume 20% each for simplicity.
  • Invest $100 in the FAANG pie you created.
  • Effectively you’re investing $20 each in Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google stocks.

Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: MFAANG

In this M1 MFAANG pie, I have added the 6 stocks – Microsoft (20%), Facebook (15%), Apple (15%), Amazon(20%), Netflix (15%), and Google <Alphabet> (15%).

As the stock prices fluctuate, the assigned percentages change. As you can see in the picture, Amazon has grown to 21.1% of the pie because the AMZN stock price climbed at a faster rate. There is a rebalance feature in M1, but bear in mind, rebalancing too often might trigger multiple buys and sell transactions, and result in fees.

mfaang
With just about $500, I invested in 5 popular tech stocks. Unlike ETFs that choose weights according to market cap or share price, I can choose my own weight factors in the pie. As you can see in the image, at the time of creating the pie, I had picked weights of 20% for Amazon, 20% for Microsoft, and 15% each for Facebook, Netflix, Google, and Apple.

Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: Cashless Revolution

Cashless Revolution
how to make pie on m1
This is one customized pie I had created for stocks that I believe will benefit from the world going cashless in the future. I put stocks of Square, Mastercard, Paypal, Axos, and Visa in my pie and assigned some weights to each stock. In total, I invested less than $250 in the pie but could buy partial shares of all five stocks.

Open FREE account with M1 Finance here and get up to FREE $20* to start investing.

*Please read offer details on the M1 finance site for more information on the promotion terms and validity.

Other options to Start Investing With $20

Robinhood recently introduced the feature that allows you to buy partial shares. If you’ve got a favorite stock or just want to invest in ETFs without creating customized pies, you can read how to buy fractional shares on Robinhood here.

Apart from Robinhood, Stash and Acorns are the other two apps where you can invest in small amounts.

When to Buy a Stock?

Investors with a longer time horizon (that’s my preferred style of investing) should aim to buy stocks regularly, once a week, once a month, or any frequency that suits them. Regardless of the short-term volatility, average investors gain in the longer term from disciplined periodic investing. It is very difficult for an average investor to speculate and time the market to buy low and sell high in short periods of time.

Another benefit of buying stocks regularly is the ‘dollar cost average’.

What is Dollar Cost Average?

Suppose a stock has a market price of $100 in January 2020, $110 in February, $90 in March, $85 in April, $95 in May, $102 in June, $110 in July, $115 in August, $118 in September, and $120 in October. A disciplined investor who allocates and invests a fixed amount every month in the stock, using the partial stock feature, here is how his or her transaction history would look like.

Total money invested over 10 months: $5000, total shares purchased: 48.45, the average price paid per share: $103.21. This is how dollar cost averaging works. Dollar Cost Average method enables the investor to take advantage of the market volatility by buying more when the price is low and less when the price is high.

MonthStock
Price
InvestedShares
purchased
Jan-20 $                100.00 $  5005
Feb-20 $                110.00 $   5004.54
Mar-20 $                  90.00 $  5005.55
Apr-20 $                  85.00 $   5005.88
May-20 $                  95.00 $   5005.26
Jun-20 $                102.00 $   5004.90
Jul-20 $                110.00 $   5004.54
Aug-20 $                115.00 $   5004.34
Sep-20 $                118.00 $   5004.23
Oct-20 $                120.00 $   5004.16
 $             103.21 $  5,00048.44
Dollar
Cost
Average
 Total InvestedTotal Shares
bought
dollar cost average
MonthStock Price Invested Shares bought
20-Jan $100.00 $500 5.000
20-Feb $110.00 $500 4.545
20-Mar $90.00 $500 5.556
20-Apr $85.00 $500 5.882
20-May $95.00 $500 5.263
20-Jun $102.00 $500 4.902
20-Jul $110.00 $500 4.545
20-Aug $115.00 $500 4.348
20-Sep $118.00 $500 4.237
20-Oct $120.00 $500 4.167
$104.50 $5,000 48.446
Dollar Cost Average Total Invested Total Shares bought

Happy investing!


sumeet sinha as seen on washington post us news yahoo finance

More from the Blog

Hedge Fund vs Private Equity: 5 Key Differences
General

Hedge Fund vs Private Equity: 5 Key Differences

CAGR vs IRR: Comparison of 2 Important Metrics For Return on Investment
Cash Flow Invest

CAGR vs IRR: Comparison of 2 Important Metrics For Return on Investment

How Meta (or Facebook) makes Money: 20+ Revenue Streams
General

How Meta (or Facebook) makes Money: 20+ Revenue Streams

8 Best Credit Cards For Golf Lovers [2023]
Credit Cards

8 Best Credit Cards For Golf Lovers [2023]

6 Best Credit Cards for Traveling Consultants [2023]
Credit Cards

6 Best Credit Cards for Traveling Consultants [2023]

Bear Put Spread vs Bull Put Spread: Easy 5 Point Comparison
Stock Options

Bear Put Spread vs Bull Put Spread: Easy 5 Point Comparison

7 Smart Tips On Buying A New Or Used Car Amid Inflation
General

7 Smart Tips On Buying A New Or Used Car Amid Inflation

11 Best Private Jet Insurance Companies
Risk Management

11 Best Private Jet Insurance Companies

Fractional Shares: Robinhood
Invest

Fractional Shares: Robinhood

What Must An Entrepreneur Assume When Starting A Business: 10 Useful Tips
General

What Must An Entrepreneur Assume When Starting A Business: 10 Useful Tips

How to Decide – 401(k), Roth IRA, or Traditional IRA
Invest

How to Decide – 401(k), Roth IRA, or Traditional IRA

How To Buy Land In The METAVERSE In 5 Easy Steps
General

How To Buy Land In The METAVERSE In 5 Easy Steps

13 Best HYSA in the US: High Yield Savings Accounts
Invest

13 Best HYSA in the US: High Yield Savings Accounts

9 Best Business Credit Cards for Construction Companies [2023]
Credit Cards

9 Best Business Credit Cards for Construction Companies [2023]

Stock Performance Review: 11 Stocks in Year 2021
Invest

Stock Performance Review: 11 Stocks in Year 2021

GameStonk – A Short Story on GameStop | Reddit Takes On 2 Powerful Hedge Funds
Invest

GameStonk – A Short Story on GameStop | Reddit Takes On 2 Powerful Hedge Funds

5 Best Gold IRA Providers in the USA
Invest

5 Best Gold IRA Providers in the USA

10 Best Credit Cards For Consultants [2023]
Credit Cards

10 Best Credit Cards For Consultants [2023]

Personal Finance Flowchart: 3 Helpful Ones For Beginners and Advanced Levels
General

Personal Finance Flowchart: 3 Helpful Ones For Beginners and Advanced Levels

Stock Options Trading For Beginners: Easy 5-Minute Guide
Stock Options

Stock Options Trading For Beginners: Easy 5-Minute Guide

1 2 3 … 8 Next »

Read more:

Stocks, ETFs, Mutual Funds, Bitcoins
Alternative Investing, Dividends, Stock Options, Credit Cards

Home | BLOG | WebStories

Useful Tools:

Student Loan Payoff Calculator | Mortgage Payoff Calculator

CAGR Calculator | Reverse CAGR Calculator | NPV Calculator | IRR Calculator

Our Financial Calculator Apps

download loan early payoff calculator and simulator
download loan early payoff calculator app on ios
download loan early payoff calculator app on android
download cagr calculator app
download cagr calculator app on ios
download cagr calculator app on android
download reverse cagr calculator app
download reverse cagr calculator app on ios
download reverse cagr calculator app on android
download irr calculator app
download npv calculator app on ios
download npv calculator app
download npv calculator app on ios


HOW TO START INVESTING AS A COLLEGE STUDENT

Page Contents

  • How to Start Investing As A College Student in Amazon or Apple?
    • M1 Feature 1: Ability to Create Multiple Customized Pies on M1
    • M1 Feature 2: Ability to Mimic an ETF on M1 Finance
    • M1 Feature 3: Ability to Buy Fractional Shares on M1 Finance
  • Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: MFAANG
  • Start Investing in Custom Pie on M1 Finance: Cashless Revolution
  • Other options to Start Investing With $20
  • When to Buy a Stock?
  • What is Dollar Cost Average?
  • More from the Blog
  • 4 Best Credit Cards For Nannies [2023]
  • Best New Year Resolutions for 2022
  • 10 Best AI Tools for Business
  • Options Greeks Cheat Sheet: 4 Greeks – Delta, Gamma, Theta, Vega
  • 12 Best AI Story Generators: Write Stories, Blogs, and Novels With AI
  • Write Product Descriptions on Amazon Like A Pro: 10 Useful Tips
  • Hobby Drone Insurance: 8 Best Drone Insurance Companies for Hobby Drones
  • Best New Year Resolutions for Investors in 2021
  • What Must An Entrepreneur Assume When Starting A Business: 10 Useful Tips
  • ChatGPT Examples: 25 Interesting Questions Answered By ChatGPT
  • Dividends: Learn Easily About 2 Types of Dividends, and The Complicated Dividend Qualifying Period
  • 10 Best Jobs In Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
  • Fin Chat with my Financial Savvy Cat
  • 8 Best Golf Cart Rental Insurance Companies
  • Student Loan Payoff: How I Successfully Paid Off HUGE $100K Loan in 26 Months
  • Bear Put Spread vs Bull Put Spread: Easy 5 Point Comparison
  • Opening a Sports Bar Business? Here are 11 Things to Consider For Success
  • 4 Best Books On Personal Finance For Kids [2023]
  • 10 Best Credit Repair Books For DIY Credit Repair [2023]
  • What is ETF? 15 Powerful ETFs for Index and Niche Investing
  • Our Financial Calculator Apps
Invest Tags:FinPins, invest $20, investing for beginners, start investing small, start investing with $20

Post navigation

Previous Post: Fin Chat with my Financial Savvy Cat
Next Post: Invest in Apple? Or buy iPhone?

Related Posts

  • DIVERSYFUND VS FUNDRISE
    DiversyFund vs Fundrise: Invest Affordable Amounts (as low as $500) in Real Estate Invest
  • STARBUCKS CONSUMER VS INVESTOR
    Starbucks Consumer vs Investor: $4 Per Day In 5 Years Invest
  • GAMESTONK A SHORT STORY ON GAMESTOP
    GameStonk – A Short Story on GameStop | Reddit Takes On 2 Powerful Hedge Funds Invest
  • Fractional Shares
    Fractional Shares: Robinhood Invest
  • Starting late may be difficult but it isn’t a lost cause as there are enough means and ways to still save up for an easy retirement
    7 Great Retirement Planning Strategies for Late Starters Invest
  • 401k vs roth ira vs traditional ira
    How to Decide – 401(k), Roth IRA, or Traditional IRA Invest

Recent Posts

  • CAGR vs IRR: Comparison of 2 Important Metrics For Return on Investment
  • NPV vs IRR – Comparison of 2 Important Financial Metrics
  • 10 Best AI Tools for Business
  • AI In Finance 101: Pros, Cons, and Caveats Of The Powerful Tech
  • 10 Best AI Apps for Android
  • 10 Best AI Apps for iPhone
  • 10 Best Project Management Software For Solopreneurs and Small Teams
  • 5 Best Gold IRA Providers in the USA
  • 6 Best POS System Providers in the USA
  • 13 Best HYSA in the US: High Yield Savings Accounts
  • GAMESTONK A SHORT STORY ON GAMESTOP
    GameStonk – A Short Story on GameStop | Reddit Takes On 2 Powerful Hedge Funds Invest
  • TIPS FOR FINANCIAL SUCCESS
    19 Practical Tips For Financial Success [2023] General
  • BEST AI VIDEO ENHANCERS
    8 Best AI Video Enhancers And Editors: Upscale With AI General
  • REDDIT PERSONAL FINANCE TIPS
    19 Best Reddit Personal Finance Tips on r/PersonalFinance Threads General
  • SPAC INVESTING, WHAT IS SPAC
    What is a SPAC? New Investment Opportunity Explained Simply in 10 Minutes Invest
  • COMMON CREDIT CARD MISTAKES TO AVOID FOR BEGINNERS
    8 Common Credit Card Mistakes To Avoid For Beginners Credit Cards
  • FACTS ON PERSONAL FINANCE
    Are Americans Good at Personal Finance? 5 Facts on Personal Finance Invest
  • best digital tools for your business
    Digital Tools For Business: Top 4 Essential Tools You Need in 2023 General
  • MOTORCYCLE RENTAL INSURANCE
    10 Best Motorcycle Rental Insurance Companies Risk Management
  • HOW TESLA MAKES MONEY
    How Tesla Makes Money: Top 3 Revenue Streams General

Reach Out To Us

contact@finlightened.com

With ❤️ From Luxembourg

Sumeet Sinha

Disclosure & Disclaimer

We participate in Affiliate Programs (Amazon and others). We may earn a commission if you use links to open an account or make an investment or purchase.


All content on the website is for information purposes only, not investment advice. Please do your own research and analysis before investing.

Sitemap

Recent Posts

  • CAGR vs IRR: Comparison of 2 Important Metrics For Return on Investment
  • NPV vs IRR – Comparison of 2 Important Financial Metrics
  • 10 Best AI Tools for Business
  • AI In Finance 101: Pros, Cons, and Caveats Of The Powerful Tech
  • 10 Best Project Management Software For Solopreneurs and Small Teams
  • 5 Best Gold IRA Providers in the USA
  • 6 Best POS System Providers in the USA
  • 13 Best HYSA in the US: High Yield Savings Accounts
  • 11 Best Private Jet Insurance Companies
  • Write Product Descriptions on Amazon Like A Pro: 10 Useful Tips
  • 10 Best Mortgage Impairment Insurance Companies
  • 10 Best Motorcycle Rental Insurance Companies
  • 10 Best Classic Boat Insurance Companies
  • 10 Best Scaffolding Insurance Companies
  • 9 Best Party Rental Insurance Companies

Navigation

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Data
  • User Login
  • User Dashboard
  • Support
  • Calculators
  • BLOG
  • Financial Literacy Quiz
  • Web Stories

Categories

  • Cash Flow
  • Credit Cards
  • Debt Management
  • General
  • Invest
  • Mini Blogs
  • Risk Management
  • Stock Market Today
  • Stock Options
  • Tech

Copyright © 2023 FinPins.com |

Powered by PressBook News Dark theme