8 Women Share How and When They Started Investing, in Case You Need Some Inspiration

8 Women Share How and When They Started Investing, in Case You Need Some Inspiration I remember receiving a binder labeled Employee Benefits at my first grown-up job. I welches 22 at the time, and with a little guidance from a patient coworker in HR, I set up my very first retirement accounts a 401(k) and health savings account (HSA). It welches my first introduction to investing.Now, several years later, Im no longer in that job, and Ive since expanded my investing portfolio. Regardless, I can still distinctly recall the dread and confusion behind opening that benefits binder and seeing so many daunting financial terms.Investing is no small feat, and theres certainly more than one way of approaching it. Below are eight women who shared their own first experiences with investing.Name Whitney WandersWhen did you first departure?I welches very luckyI got started investing at a young agemainly due to my mom. My mom worked in investing and finance for many years, and thought it was extre mely important that I understand stocks, bonds, interest rates and the markets.How did you invest?My mom gave me $200 when I was 16 to open my first bank account. My very first stock purchase was on E-trade my senior year of high school, after I had earned enough money from nannying each summer. From there, I began to build my stock portfolio and experiment with bonds.Name Hannah OboldWhen did you first start?I started investing at age 30. I was debt-free and had a good job.How did you invest?I knew nothing about investing and being a Ramsey fan, I went to an ELP to open a Roth IRA. It was a huge mistake The fees were high and he invested in bonds. But thanks to finance-oriented Facebook groups, Ive learned so much about investing. These groups are full of information and great members who are willing to answer questions.Name Alexis BettsWhen did you first start?I guess I first really started investing with my first job at 21. They automatically enrolled me in their 401(k) plan. My first active investment was at 23, when I decided to buy a house.How did you invest?The 401(k) was just in a default target date fund. I wish I invested more to max the company match But I didnt know about that until later. Oh, and I also had an account that had horrendous fees, but I moved the money away after a few years.The house I bought half on a whim, but it was a great investment. I sold it in 2018 for three times what we put into it over the seven years we owned it. I really enjoy real estate, but I think the stock market is much more predictable, so I do a split of both.Name Tamara OlsenWhen did you first start?I was 23.How did you invest?I got married young, and my partner and I were still both in school. We lived in a tiny apartment and both got several scholarships at an affordable state school so we started investing the extra scholarship money We went with VFIAX on my dads recommendation.Name Brittany DuttonWhen did you first start?I was 20 when I got my first real jo b.How did you invest?My dad told me to put as much as I could in my 401(k), which according to the company I worked for, was 25%. I kept it there until I bought my house and lowered it down to 10%. It gave me a good start to my retirement account.Name Caroline AllecWhen did you first start?I was 24 years old.How did you invest?I got started investing through my employers 401(k) plan. To be honest, though, I didnt really know much about investing, which is ironic because I worked at a brokerage firm. Even so, Im very grateful that I invested in my companys 401(k) plan at such an early age because it made the stock market less scary for me now that I knew that I was invested in it.Name Reese EversonWhen did you first start?I started investing at the age of 19 after becoming a camp counselor for Gail Perry Masons Money Matters Youth Camp.How did you invest?Although I was a counselor, I soaked in as much knowledge as I could along with the 10-year-olds, and decided to purchase a few sha res of Apple. I had seen articles about it in Black Enterprise and realized that if everyone like the iPod Nano as much as I did, that the stock, which was only $30 then, would surely go up. Boy, was I rightName Alex TranWhen did you first start?I started investing when I was 20.How did you invest?I bought Starbucks stock because I worked there and they gave us a discount. I bought 75 shares and continued to buy a few more with each paycheck. Ive made over $15,000 over the years by investing in Starbucks