How I Turned $500 into $29,000 with This DIY Investing Strategy

DIY investing might seem scary. Wild claims like an investing strategy that turns $500 into $29,000 might even sound outrageous. A DIY investing strategy that really works? You’re probably thinking, there has to be a scam somewhere.

There’s no scam but there is a catch. You’ve got to start with something and you’ve got to be willing to let your money grow (or invest more money if you haven’t got as much time.)

Before I show you how it all works, I want you to envision what you could do with $29,000 in cold hard cash. What are the possibilities?

• Paying for your child’s first year of college
• Having a down payment on an investment property
• Buying your children a car, free and clear
• Taking a trip around the world, debt-free

Related resources:

Get $5 to Open a Stash Account to Start Investing

Watch Me Invest $5,000- Free Tutorial

You can invest your own money without the help of an advisor. It’s true. This DIY investing strategy can work for anyone willing to take the time and energy to log into their trading account and purchase investments- just like you would a pair of jeans online.

Ready to see how this all works?

First, we’ll go to this investing calculator:

 https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/free-financial-planning-tools/compound-interest-calculator

Then we’ll punch in the numbers:

You’ll take your first $500 and put that in as your initial investment. Then, you’ll commit to investing at least $150 per month. We’ll choose a pretty conservative range in terms of return at 4.5% on the low end and 5.5% on the high end.

Here’s how it all looks:

Now, it get’s easy. Click the “calculate” button and you’ll see exactly what $500 down plus $150 in investing each month will yield:

So you can see for yourself that the time value of money can produce really great returns. On the low end, you could end up with around $22,000. On the high end, you could have up to $29,000 after an initial $500 investment followed by adding just $150 each month to your investing account!

The key is to start investing and commit to adding money to your account each month. Finally, you’ll want to make sure the money you invest won’t be needed for at least 3-5 years. You’ll want to give it time to grow. The fun of passive income is that the money does the work for you.

Related Reading:

DIY Investing for Beginners Stocks vs. ETFs

One thing you might be wondering is, “What do I invest in?” I’ve got a great interview with Mabelle of Girls on the Money regarding investing in individual stocks.

Personally, I only invest a small amount of money into individual stocks and build most of our portfolio with exchange traded funds (ETFs.) I like low-cost funds that are tied to indexes like the Dow, S&P 500 and so forth. This allows you to diversify your holdings (not depend one stock) and “set it and forget it.”  The ETF does all the work and unlike a mutual fund which, many times, requires a minimum of $500, $1,000 or more to start, you can buy small amounts at a time.

Here are some examples of ETFs I like:

Related reading:

How to Invest in Individual Stocks

Related Reading:

5 Reasons to Invest Outside of Your 401K Plan

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Aja McClanahan

Aja “A.J.” McClanahan is a writer, speaker and entrepreneur.