Disclaimer
We only endorse products that we truly believe in. Some of the links below may earn us some extra guac at no additional cost to you. Please pass the chips & thank you for feeding our habit.
The Minority Mindset earns commission from Fundrise via the partner links below. All opinions are the author's.
Are you waiting to invest because you think you need a big chunk of money to get started? Well, the wait is over!
The four ways to invest with $500 or less are: Real estate, fractional shares, cryptocurrency, and education. Of course, you're never guaranteed to make money when you invest, but there are always options no matter how much money you have!
With that said, which option is best for you? Let's explore the four ways that you can start investing today for $500 or less.
1. Invest In Fractional Shares
The wonderful thing about investing is that over time, small amounts of money can grow into big piles of money. That's the idea behind Acorns.
Every time you make a purchase, Acorns will round up the transaction to the nearest dollar, deduct that amount from your checking account and invest the change for you.
So, if you buy a coffee for $2.17, Acorns will round up the amount to $3 and invest $0.83. That’s a lot better than losing your spare change in your car’s cup holder – right?
Because Acorns shares the Minority Mindset, they are offering you $5 to get started!
And the best part? You don’t need any investing experience. Acorns invests your change in ETFs for you – just tell Acorns if you want them to be conservative or aggressive with your investments.
Whether you’re struggling to save or growing your nest egg – this is an automated way to get started for just $1 a month.
2. Invest In Real Estate
You’ve probably heard that wealthy people keep their money in real estate. Well, if you thought you had to be a high rolling, accredited investor to invest in real estate, Fundrise would like a word.
Now, you can invest in real estate deals across the United States for as little as $500. Seriously.
Fundrise is crowdfunding for real estate investing. They do the work to find and acquire real estate deals, and then you can invest directly into a portfolio of real estate investments instead of buying a whole property.
You’re paid your portion of rental income, interest, and appreciation profits without doing any of the work. And they’ve been outperforming many traditional investments.
You can see Fundrise’s past returns here.
So if you’ve been wanting to invest in real estate but don’t have access to a ton of capital – this is a simple way to start.
Make sure you read up on how to buy your first rental property beforehand so you know what you're getting into.
3. Invest In Cryptocurrency
If you are even a casual news watcher, you've seen the dramatic highs and lows of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. When Bitcoin was founded in 2009, it was worth nearly $0 and we saw it rise 1300% in 2017 alone.
Although numbers are mouthwatering – remember that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were intended to be used as a currency, not as a speculative investment.
That's not to say you can’t make money. But if you are considering wading into cryptocurrencies, understand the risks.
So how do you do it? You need to use a cryptocurrency exchange.
Featured Partners
4. Invest In Yourself With Education
There is only one investment that always pays off, and that's investing in your mind.
Whether you want to learn more about personal finance, how to start a business, what started World War II or how to be more productive, there is a book for that.
Don’t have the time to sit down and read? We feel you. Audible has a solution for that.
Audible is like the Netflix of audiobooks. You can download and listen to pretty much any book you can think of from your phone so you can turn your down time into growth time.
And right now, Audible has a promotion where you can download your first audiobook for free.
More Ways To Invest in Real Estate Online
We already mentioned Fundrise, one of the hottest ways to get in on the real estate boom today if you don't have the purchasing power to buy a real plot of land.
But if you're wondering how to invest $500 or some other amount that isn't nearly enough to buy you a home, there are other cheap real estate investments that can help you turn that $500 into something more.
While the best way to invest in real estate is to have the capital to make the investment firsthand, these out-of-the-box ideas can get you in the real estate game while you continue to save up for the big leagues.
That's because you'll need thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to even get started in traditional real estate investing, and if you only have a few hundred dollars in your bank account, that's a problem.
Or, at least, it used to be a problem.
Invest In Real Estate Online On eBay
You may be more familiar with eBay as the place to buy and sell used and new consumer goods such as electronics, clothes, collectibles and more.
But that “more” is a pretty big more. Believe it or not, you can actually buy land on eBay for pennies on the dollar.
It's not going to be land in the middle of Manhattan or anything like that, but you can find real land for sale on the platform that may be worth a small fortune someday.
After all, that piece of land may not be worth much today, but if a large company someday wants to build a new superstore atop it, you'll be able to get a lot more out of that parcel than you paid for it way back when on eBay.
To get started, search for terms like “vacant commercial lot” or “vacant residential lot” to track down that next great real estate investment.
Invest in Real Estate Online – Virtually
While we wouldn't fault you if you haven't heard of it, Second Life is a virtual world and computer game that duplicates our real world existence.
In fact, you can have a virtual family and a virtual home, as well as buy virtual goods on the platform.
But by taking real money and leveraging it in the game, you can get an outsized benefit by investing in real estate online, literally.
For Ailin Graef, she turned her Second Life into a real money-making job, flipping real estate on the platform and making a million real dollars doing it.
Basically, she'd take real money and buy virtual property, which she could then monetize by renting it out or selling it at a future date. If you're wondering how to invest $500, virtual real estate isn't a bad idea.
P.S. Did you know that Steve Siebold interviewed 1,200 millionaires and discovered that all of them self-educated by reading?
Invest With $500 Or Less – Final Thoughts
There is a Chinese proverb that says “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
If you want to start investing, then you have to get started.
If you're waiting to invest until you have some arbitrary dollar amount set aside, you’re losing time which is one of the most powerful factors in wealth building.
So stop waiting, take that $500 today and let it be the first investment in your future.
