 So how much money do you need to start investing? It's a very common question that I get through the channel. And it's really quite an interesting topic to deliberate on. This video is gonna be talking about the $500, really just as a marker. The actual amount really doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot. You can seek out this question a thousand times over on YouTube and find a thousand different answers about, hey, if you mix this one or two stocks with this index fund, blah, blah, yippity-do-da-day, you can find your answer for what you're looking for. I think most of that, what I would ask you to do is garbage, let it go. It's all kind of irrelevant, right? In this video, we're gonna talk about the $500 pledge to yourself as a commitment to start on a wealth building strategy for yourself. Super important. I always say that, you know, you can have a thousand different pieces of crappy information. You only really need to hear it once as far as what the investing opportunity can mean for you. Okay? I know what it means for me. Those of you who have followed me for a long time, this is gonna be part of my green series, okay? How to invest a specific amount of money, this being 500, the other series that I did were black and white, okay? No more bells and whistles on the channel. I typically keep the hand motions to a minimum because people need this information and the less distraction that I can provide for you guys, I do apologize for the headphones, but it allows me to block out the distraction for me so I can deliver this razor sharp cutting edge to you guys. So $500, let's get right into it. $500 really is that starting commitment to yourself. That's what it is. Can you break away from some of the habits you've had, right? Can you give up what it is that you envision yourself, otherwise spending that money on, okay? And it goes along with the validation, the psychology of buying into a program of, look, I don't need to spend this money always, okay? Can I prove to myself that I can save this money? It is in fact a commitment to yourself, okay? It's a commitment to start. It's a commitment to begin a journey of wealth building. Are you gonna be rich overnight with $500? There's lots of programs out there that'll promise you everything under the sun. I'm here to tell you it's all garbage. Don't waste your time. It's a waste of time, all right? That $500 is way better served being put into a program that you can buy into that you can really, really substantiate for yourself. So commitment to yourself has nothing to do with me. Has nothing to do with the thousand other ideas that you can seek out on YouTube as to what you should do with your own money. The $500 can be utilized in a lot of different capacities, but I will say that when you first start investing, it's less about the dollars and cents and a lot more about the substantiation, the validation, the very start that you're putting on, acknowledging those critical results that you're looking to seek out and you can go through those deliberations putting no money to risk, okay? The $500 really is that impasse to where you say, you know what, I'm gonna make a stand and I'm gonna make that commitment to myself. Here we go, giddy up, let's rock. The next on the list really is to acknowledge that it's the beginning, okay? And once we start that beginning point, okay? You're gonna go from a non-investor to an investor and you'd be like, okay, what now? The best thing a lot of investors can do is disengage, okay? Get engaged enough to where you can validate the program for yourself, get started and then forget the hell it even exists, okay? You can do some things in acknowledging that it is the beginning and setting some fair expectations for yourself. You're not gonna get rich overnight, okay? Your money probably will go down in the interim. You can check it every week, it's probably not gonna change very much, okay? Keep that perspective and understanding that it is in its beginning stages, okay? And by identifying those other things that you can look to add upon, that beginning phase of your investing, that $500 just is what it is, okay? Don't make it more than what it should be made out to be. $500 in this day and age, 2021, the time to make in this video is not that much money. Sorry to break it to you guys. And if you're serious about this commitment for yourself, don't chalk it up to be more than what it is and that is what it is, just a commitment to yourself to step into a better place and start yourself on a path to wealth building. The next is to have fair expectations of your money over time. Now you can run calculators out years in advance to see where the potential of that starting amount could lend you, okay? Also expectations about what it is that you can buy with $500 in the stock market game, okay? You're not gonna be able to buy the entire stock market, okay? But having fair expectations in understanding that that money is a pledge to yourself, yes, and identifying those things that you can do to kind of foster that account along or help it to grow, right? Because you should take some satisfaction in knowing that you've gone from a non-investor to an investor and I think that's a bridge and gap that a lot of people are unwilling to take in their investing journey and they failed to even take that beginning step and it's really unfortunate until it's too late and they look back and say, I wish I would have started it. This is your opportunity to do just that. Understanding the opportunity in its totality, putting this into context as a starting amount to $500, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna earmark a portfolio for you guys. If I was in your shoes and I had no investing savvy at all, I'm gonna aim for a 50-50 mix, a portfolio, perhaps maybe even just a passive mix. I might throw a couple options out there for you guys because a lot of people are gonna be like, you know, tell me what I need to do, Ryan. Well, what you need to do is what is going to make sense for you. There's an infinite amount of options out there, whether or not you go 100% passive, whether or not you do a 50-50 mix with your money. Remember, $500 is not gonna be able to buy you the entire market. So to start in the capacity to identify what strategy is good for you is gonna be a great start. And to understand that that portfolio is going to be able to be built upon as it evolves into the future, okay? So having fair expectations on the onset will help you put yourself in decisions down the line a year from now, five years from now, and you can reflect back and say, wow, I remember when I was there, look at me now. How can we look to continue to evolve and scale this program up? The last thing I'll mention is the maintenance aspect. Once you get started on this, it's time to start identifying those things that you can do to really help foster growth in that account. Dollar cost average, how much per month or every two weeks can you contribute to this program? How can I cut out some of the vices in my life to cut back on my spending application? How can I get better control over my credit discipline? Can I invest and pay off debt at the same time? 100%, right? Can I establish a little bit of an avenue of the portfolio to render some payments within the portfolio in way of dividends? Sure, so you can identify some of those things. This is the stage where you want to look at those results that I contender so important to seek out and you wanna make sure that you're achieving those results in the capacity that you're starting in, right? But you wanna make sure that you're able to monitor the account, contribute to the account, to link the accounts in, and then just allow it to grow, right? By monitoring the account and being in tune with your personal finance is a far cry from where I think a lot of people are, is they just wanna stick their head in the sand and not pay attention at all. I think that can be a real mistake. And I think we're coming into a different time in the investing game where I think you need to pay attention. I really do. I think you need to wake up and smell the roses. It's time to get off the sideline and get going, okay? And this is the best way to do that. And this $500 pledge is a perfect start for you to get going on this. If you enjoy the content, make sure and subscribe to the channel of your comments at the bottom and share the video with anybody out there that you know maybe looking to get started in investing, man, bring them onto the game. I'm breaking this down to its granular nature, okay? If I was sitting across from myself as a beginning investor, what would I wanna hear, all right? And that's really what I'm looking to do is tailor the message to those folks so that anybody can say, you know what, I can do that too. Thank you so much for tuning in to the message and good luck in your investment future.