How to begin investing?

By the title I am pretty new with investing and I have only invested about $50 in stocks on this app called Public. But the amount ive invested hasn't changed much, so what should I do? I got an email sent from merrill lynch saying that they are giving away about $600 to invest but I don't know if I should do it or not? I've been keeping a close eye on how the stock have changed and if my money has been growing or not. But my money has grown it's now at about $64 which is pretty good I guess. I'm not sure. Any insight helps! 

 
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If you want to invest, start by buying Index Funds (Vanguard, for example) instead of individual stocks. Picking individual stocks for investments is usually done only when you have a good understanding of how certain events will affect the market (read: opportunities), but until then try to educate yourself as much as possible. Some good sources to educate yourself: Khan Academy (Finance and Capital Markets); Investopedia; YouTube (Nate O'Brien for example).

Also, the stock market "wealth" is done only when you invest with higher digits. For example, a 4% increase on a stock will be different for someone who has USD$1mln. on that stock and for someone who has USD$10.000. Therefore, my advice would be to increase your primary source of income and to allocate monthly as much as possible from your income into an Index Fund. I personally try to allocate a minimum of 50% of my monthly income into Vanguard.

 

I think if you have some money better invest them onto something interesting and profitable. For me it was solar energy. Concentrating solar power is the third way that the sun's energy can be harnessed and also relies on solar thermal energy. With this method, mirrors reflect and concentrate solar energy to be stored and used later. This is done at concentrating solar power plants. More info about cons of solar energy read too. 

 

This is the best approach since investing in yourself likely will yield the best returns as you're in control of your actions vs what happens in the stock market. Networking, higher education, getting certs are all good things to help increase your earning potential and can oftentimes lead to intangible dividends (making more friends, finding investment/work opportunities, etc.).

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

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