Tips for investing during inflation

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Investing might seem daunting, but it could bring you rewards later on. Inflation might be making your budget tight, but now is actually the perfect time to start investing.

Steward Welch, financial advisor and founder of The Welch Group in Birmingham, said there’s never been an easier time to start investing. He said the market is right where it needs to be to begin.

“First of all, you get the market that’s down 20%. And while it’s counterintuitive, when the market’s down, it’s a great time to begin,” Welch said. There are a couple recommendations he would give to someone who is just starting.

“First, they could go to a company like Schwab, a discount broker... Fidelity, Vanguard, it’s really easy to open an account,” Welch said. He said you might be surprised that you only have to put in a little bit to start off.

“You can start with $50 a month, or $30 [a] month, or $100 a month. And these companies have no fees associated with buying stocks,” Welch said. He recommends starting to invest with stocks because even though short term, they can fluctuate, in the long term will always bring money back.

“I would start with either a very inexpensive index fund, like the S&P 500 index, or choose some stocks of companies, names that you know, places where you do shop, it could be for example, Apple, or it could be Google and put names that you know, and that’s a really fun way to get started,” Welch said. You should be able to track it all on an app provided by your broker.

“Once you have money in the game, you’ll begin to become a more astute investor very quickly. So the real key is get in the game. Be there for the long term,” Welch said.

He says if you do use an app—make sure you’re not tracking it so often that it becomes consuming.

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