You Don't Need $1,000 to Start Investing. Here's What You Actually Need.

You’ve probably heard you need a pile of cash before you can invest. Maybe your parents said it. Maybe you saw it online. It was true 20 years ago. It’s not true anymore.

In 2026, you can open a brokerage account and buy stock with a single dollar. No minimums. No fees. No gatekeeping.

Most brokerage accounts today are opened with less than $100. You’re not behind. You’re right on time.

How Much Money Do You Need to Start Investing?

The honest answer: whatever you can afford to set aside without stressing about it. For most people, that’s somewhere between $5 and $50.

The big brokerages like Fidelity, Schwab, and Robinhood all offer $0 minimums now. You don’t need to wait until you have “enough.” There is no enough. There is only starting.

Fractional Shares Changed Everything

Here’s what used to stop people. A single share of Apple or Amazon can cost hundreds of dollars. If you only had $50, you were locked out of the best companies in the world.

Not anymore. Fractional shares let you buy a piece of a share. You can own $5 worth of Apple. You can own $10 worth of Microsoft. The dollar amount is up to you, not the stock price.

This means every company on the market is available to you right now, regardless of your budget.

The Real Cost of Waiting

Here’s where the math gets interesting, and a little painful.

Inflation runs about 3% per year. That means $100 sitting in your checking account today will only buy about $97 worth of stuff next year. And about $94.09 the year after that. Your money is quietly losing value every single day it sits still.

Meanwhile, the stock market has historically returned roughly 10% per year, based on the S&P 500’s historical average. That’s not guaranteed, but it’s the long-term trend going back decades.

So the gap between doing nothing and doing something isn’t 10%. It’s closer to 13% per year. Cash loses 3%. Investments have historically gained 10%. That spread adds up fast.

The $25-a-Month Experiment

Let’s make it concrete. Say you invest $25 a month. That’s less than one takeout dinner.

After one year, you have put in $300. Based on the S&P 500’s historical average of roughly 10% per year, your balance would be around $315. Not life-changing.

But keep going. After 5 years, you have put in $1,500 and your balance is roughly $1,950. After 10 years, your $3,000 in contributions has grown to approximately $5,300. That extra $2,300 appeared out of thin air. That’s compounding at work.

If you want to understand the mechanics behind that growth, check out our guide on how your money grows over time.

What to Buy When You Only Have a Little

When your budget is small, simplicity is your best friend. Don’t try to pick individual winners with $25. Buy an index fund like VOO (S&P 500) or VTI (total market).

One purchase gives you exposure to hundreds or thousands of companies. It’s the easiest, most diversified thing you can do with a small amount of money. Our beginner’s guide walks you through the whole process in four steps.

As your balance grows, you can start exploring individual companies. But there’s zero rush. The index fund strategy has outperformed most professional stock pickers over the past 20 years.

Start With What You Have

The best investment strategy is the one you actually follow. If $10 a month is what works for your budget, that’s a perfectly good starting point. Consistency beats size every single time.

The only wrong amount is zero.

Browse quality stocks under $50 on Stockbrowse to see what’s available at beginner-friendly prices.