Investing

Make Your Money Work For You

If you’ve mastered your current financial situation and you want to take your finances to the next level, learn how investing can make your money work for you. Many people refrain from investing, as they find it complicated, confusing, and too risky. But even some intro-level investing can help you do more with your money over time. This guide aims to make investing seem less intimidating and help you identify an appropriate investing strategy for yourself.

Why Invest?

You might think you can just leave your extra cash in a savings account when you don’t have somewhere else to put it, but doing so can reduce your purchasing power over time. Most savings accounts have interest rates lower than the rate of inflation, meaning your money is doing little for you by sitting there long-term. Investing allows you to put your money into vehicles that have a better chance to outpace inflation and avoid losing value on your money.

Investing Resources

Investing can be intimidating. The resources throughout our site are just the start to your understanding of investing. We've curated some additional resources that may be helpful in your investing journey, including apps and extensive investing guides.

Investing Guides

If you're looking for a more extensive guide for how to invest, consider using these guides from external resources. Investopedia and NerdWallet both provide an impressive collection of educational materials and tools to help you understand investing, including these three guides. 

Investing Apps

If you're completely new to investing, a good way to start is by using an app and starting with small investments. The apps listed below are different in their methods, but many Penn students use them. 

Acorns allows you to passively invest "round-ups" from your regular debit transactions. You can choose how conservative or aggressive you want your investments to be. 

RobinHood allows you to actively buy and trade individual stocks. 

Assess Your Risk Tolerance

Investing Guides

If you're looking for a more extensive guide for how to invest, consider using these guides from external resources. Investopedia and NerdWallet both provide an impressive collection of educational materials and tools to help you understand investing, including these three guides. 

Investing Apps

If you're completely new to investing, a good way to start is by using an app and starting with small investments. The apps listed below are different in their methods, but many Penn students use them. 

Acorns allows you to passively invest "round-ups" from your regular debit transactions. You can choose how conservative or aggressive you want your investments to be. 

RobinHood allows you to actively buy and trade individual stocks. 

Assess Your Risk Tolerance