Long-Term Investment Tips for Beginners

I was in high school when my aunt died in 2003, leaving me some money in a Roth IRA. At the time, my mom helped me invest the money, since I had no idea what I was doing.

My parents had always told us about the importance of saving over spending, so I figured this money would be put away until some time in the future when I would need it — either for buying a home or for funding retirement. I nearly forgot I had it, and it grew to about $11,000 by 2008.

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My Mistakes

As the stock market was crashing, I looked at the amount in my account dropping rapidly. While it took me a few days to sell, I ended up losing about $6,000 by the time the dust settled. As a college student making no money, that felt like a major loss.

Prior to my experience, I assumed that if you invest, you earn. I had no idea that you could lose money in the stock market.

After this loss, I was wary of reinvesting. Why would I want to run the risk of losing money?

Would it be better to keep my money in cash? If I wasn’t earning anything, at least I wasn’t losing anything, either, right?

Because I knew very little about investing, I decided to keep the amount mostly in cash.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally decided to dive back in and learn more about how to invest in stocks. I met with a few financial advisers, trying to figure out how investing worked.

Had I stayed in the stock market, with an annual average return of six percent, the Investor.gov Compound Interest Calculator estimates that I would be only about $500 ahead of where I am now.

To be fair, that may not be entirely accurate because no one can truly know. But at least I feel better about my current portfolio.

And while I still have a long way to go, I feel that I’ve learned a few long-term investment tips that will help me become smarter about it.

My Top Long-Term Investment Tips

Now that I know better, there are a few pieces of advice that I follow to help me stay calm and play the long game.

1. Hands Off!

Long-term investments will fluctuate, and it’s important to remember that. I check my accounts once every quarter to keep track of what’s going on, but for the most part, I leave them alone. This has significantly reduced my anxiety about investing.

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While I pay attention to the market, I know that some months I’ll lose money, while others I’ll earn money.

2. Short-Term vs. Long-Term Needs

I’m also not dependent upon my investments for the next five years. This helps me keep calm, too. If I needed cash for a down payment or to send my kid to college, I’d use a different strategy.

3. Diversification

One of the top tips for long-term investments is to diversify. This is vital for your financial health. Most of my investments are in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This helps prevent the major losses that might happen if I invest in only one company.

If you’re investing with one company and its stock goes down or it folds, you’re out of your investment. But with mutual funds and ETFs, you’re somewhat protected from that type of major loss due to mutual funds and ETFs being more diversified, says Sam Rad, CFP at Affluencer Financial, a financial advisory firm.

4. Re-Evaluating One’s Strategy and Needs

Now I know that even if there’s another crash, I should consider waiting it out— especially if I don’t need the money right away.

Being secure in my investment strategy is important, and it’s good to re-evaluate it on a regular basis.

My immediate financial needs this year may not be the same as they’ll be 15 years from now, but my long-term investment goals will likely stay the same for quite some time.

Additional Investment Tips for Beginners

Rad gives us his top seven long-term investment tips to get you started.

1. Write down your goals. Be clear on what you would like to achieve — grow your money, preserve it, or generate income?
2. Open a brokerage account. The major ones are Charles Schwab, E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, and Vanguard. And don’t forget robo-advisers like Stash and Robinhood for the more digitally inclined of you.
3. Elect your beneficiaries. These are people who would receive your money if you passed away.
4. Add some money to your account. Most mutual funds require a minimum of $2,000.
5. Start basic. Some of the most commonly used mutual funds and ETFs are the S&P 500 Index, Dow Jones Index, and NASDAQ Index funds.
6. Add money slowly. Then watch it grow (or shrink).
7. Adjust your investments as you see fit. Make changes as you go by adding stock mutual funds for more risk, and adding bond mutual funds for more safety.

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Additional reporting by Kelly Meehan Brown.