Answer:
Investing for the future is not necessarily something that is on the mind of those who are struggling to get by, so kudos to you for having the foresight to realize the importance of planning for your financial future early. There are several different options that you may want to consider if the amount that you have to invest is minimal. If you are lucky enough to have a job where your employer matches your investment contributions (usually into a retirement account of some kind like a 401k), most of the hard work has already been done for you. In these scenarios the retirement account is already up and running and all that you have to do is agree to have an amount taken from your paycheck. This can even be pre-tax, increasing the distance that your dollar goes. What's even greater is that you have an automatic increase when your employer matches your contribution. Not only will you benefit from seeing your money grow due to natural motions in the stock market but you also see an automatic increase in your investment dollar from your employer's contribution. Although you will not continue to receive the same employer contributions if you choose to switch jobs, the investment account remains yours and you can continue contributing to it. Unfortunately, there are those who neglect these accounts because they do not take care of making regular contributions on their own, they become used to having everything done automatically by the payroll department. This leads me to discuss the importance of your mentality when you are saving and investing.

The saying that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is a good illustration that what may be valuable to one person is of little value to another. What I mean by this is that a given amount of money means different things to different people based on what their spending habits are, what material needs exist and the individual's mentality when it comes to money. Because money matters involve a mental component, there is room in just about anyone's budget for some re-thinking. If you have the will, you can find a way to cut back on what you spend each month. Determining your needs from your wants is a personal decision that differs for all of us. There are hundreds of thousands of opportunities to save money, all that you have to do is put forth the effort to find and apply these ideas. Just to give you some examples, you can take your lunch to work instead of buying it, use coupons at the super market, or choose a less expensive cable package.

The first steps of setting up an investment account without the help of your employer are the hardest. Often times, there is a minimum investment amount that will be required to open an account. Get yourself into the habit of paying yourself for your investments. Decide to contribute to your future rather than remaining on the fence about whether or not investing is the best use for your money. In the beginning, just make sure to be regularly setting money aside until you have enough to open your investment account. Then simply continue what you have gotten into the habit of doing but instead of putting that money into your savings account, put it into your investment account. Investment accounts are not sealed at Fort Knox; you can access that money if you need it. This should give you some added piece of mind if you can't get over the feelings of apprehension when it comes to putting your money aside. In most cases you will be charged a fee to access your investment money before certain time markers, but this can be helpful to you in that you are discouraged to pull money out of your investment accounts haphazardly.