Smart Investing in 2025: Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide
By The Money Manual As a retail investor with a brokerage account and a strong interest in developing your portfolio, you will find many opportunities open to you. Deciding your best fit is the challenge.
Here we’re highlighting some of the best opportunities to help you make the right financial decisions for your future; and providing some step-by-step advice to help you choose.
Step 1: Conducting Investment Research
Finding time to follow the markets and perform research is usually the biggest obstacle to making the best investment decisions. If collating your own research and making independent choices is your method, you need access to the best research currently available.
If you prefer the option of copying the trades and investments of professionals in real-time, building knowledge and avoiding learning from your mistakes, that too is an option today.
Whatever your choice, bottom line decisions need to be made. Your risk tolerance, for example, is a question that should be answered up front. Starting small and increasing your contributions over time is good advice. As a current retail investor, you should have ready answers to basic investment questions.
Echo Trade lets you:
- Copy trades from registered investment advisory firms in real time
- Select a portfolio and gain access to the Echo Trade Market Place
- Base your choices on your goals and risk tolerance
- Gain insight into portfolio positions with up-to-date info
- Receive instant notifications when trades take place
- Copy the same trade (or an entire portfolio) immediately
Echo Trade requires no minimum investment.
- Gain access to over 1,000 market beating reports
- Gain high-level up-to-date info and start investing
- Written by experts and distilled into plain English
- Discover the best stocks to buy right now
- Get news and alerts that are always on-point
- Choose between free and Premium options
Step 2: Choosing a Financial Advisor
Financial advice comes in all shapes and sizes. Once again, finding the right fit for your plans is key. With the right professional support, you can save consistently, invest confidently, and build a portfolio likely to meet your future needs.
Figuring out how much to invest and how to diversify your portfolio depends on finances and goals. Levels of return and levels of risk vie for attention. Having somebody to talk you through these critical choices is always a good idea.
Today there are companies who will match you to a financial advisor based on your needs. You can schedule free video meetings, chat with financial advisors, and learn how they can provide value to you.
- Receive free initial consultation
- Take the guesswork out of the equation
- Find pre-screened advisors who match your needs
- Review matched profiles and find your best fit
- Be confident that all advisors are FINRA and SEC-registered
- Work with a Fruitful Guide who understands you
- Benefit from a platform that makes money simple
- Take financial control with expert help and support
- Start saving with high APY returns on your money
- Build an investment portfolio with advice at each step
- Choose from 3 membership plans for a smart investment
- Get matched to a financial advisor free
- Schedule a free video meeting
- Compare and find your best fit for financial advice
- Don’t pay a penny, just get support
Step 3: Getting Your Financial House in Order
The perennial question: “Where do I start?” The ideal list is easier said than done: Set savings goals, monitor your income and spending, identify ways to trim your budget, etc.
Technology helps. Today you can automate the monitoring of your income and expenses, set savings goals, and track/cancel subscriptions in one place. The saying: “Time is money” makes sense here, as this technology creates order and efficiency by design. Consider it.
Think about unforeseen financial events. Example: Back in 2022, homeowners spent an average of $6,000 on home repairs. Not covered by regular homeowners’ insurance, the unexpected outlay of funds becomes unavoidable. Robust options exist to stem that cash leak.
On the flip side of the tech coin is the internet. Although endlessly useful and increasingly depended upon, the alarming growth in identity theft, personal info entering the dark web, targeted scams, and more stark realities, necessitate self-protection.
Happily, services exist that specialize in data removal services, targeting data brokers and working to remove your personal information from the internet and/or the dark web – generally removing it from, and keeping it out of, the wrong hands.
- Monitor your income and spending
- Set savings goals you can achieve
- Identify ways to trim your budget
- Get important notifications instantly
- Sync to your bank accounts
- Rated Best Home Warranty 4 years running
- Network of over 25,000 contractors
- Has handled more than 6 million service requests
- Covers what homeowners insurance doesn’t
- Protects major home appliances and systems
- Could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs
- Free quote with 1st month free at sign up
DeleteMe will:
- Remove your personal info from the internet
- Monitor data brokers online for you every three months
- Set you up with a personal privacy advisor for live chats
- Provide detailed reports on the progress made for you
DeleteMe has:
- Deleted over 100 million personal listings
- Been used by 20% of the Fortune 500
- Been used by several federal and state agencies
Individual plans start at only $6.97/month.
Step 4: Dealing With Debt – Loans, Consolidation
As with everything else in the financial realm (and most other things), organization is key. Rolling up your debts into a single monthly payment, with a single lower interest rate, may be the optimal solution for a serious debt issue. This is debt consolidation.
In other cases, you may need a personal loan to break down a big-ticket item into manageable pieces paid back over time. Deciding what you need is the first step to taking action and resolving your debt issues or big-ticket item needs.
As always, time should be spent looking for your best fit with a trusted company. Any significant time spent studying offers of this type constitutes a solid investment in your future. Once debt becomes easily manageable or ends, new options will open up to you.
- Turn debts of over $20,000 into 1 low monthly payment
- Get debt free in 24-48 months
- Free consultation with no effect on credit score
- America’s oldest debt relief company
- Forbes Advisor’s Best Debt Relief Pick of 2024
- Average savings of 25% after all fees
- Loan amounts up to $50,000*
- One-stop-shop for the best loan deal
- Could save up to $3,000+ comparing loans
- Rates starting at just 5.99% APR*
- Best for big loans and no fees
- Best for bad or no credit
- Best for consolidating debt
- Personalized info with zero affect on credit score
*Terms and conditions apply.
NMLS 1136.
- AmOne brings the top lenders directly to you
- Find who fits your needs best for maximum savings
- Turn high-interest debts into one simple repayment
- Wipe out the stress out due dates as well as debt
- Pay your debt faster at a single, lower interest rate
- Potential to save thousands based on your situation
- U.S. based specialists guide you through each stage
Step 5: Finding Solutions That Fit
Investing should be one part of taking care of your financial health. Today there are many opportunities to invest, get professional support, be informed with the latest info – but also to get your financial house in order first.
Here we’ve presented the companies we believe offer the best solutions across investing and financial wellness. You should check them out here and independently. You’ll find rave reviews on sites like Trustpilot and some fantastic, proven results reported on other trusted review sites and in the media.
