What are some investment opportunities for people with low income?

Basically I am in my 20s and I have gotten interested in investing some of my money now in hopes maybe I can start saving something for my future. I have looked into stocks I purchased some through direct purchase programs.

I started looking up information on mutual funds but got lost so quick. And I think T. Rowe and companies like them have a minimum of 5,000 to get their advice and etc.

So I was curious if anyone out there knew where I should look for decent investments.

Not all mutual fund companies have such a high minimum. There are some that have a much lower minimum. They are mutual fund companies with a front end load--a 5.75% sales charge. American Funds is one of them. They have an excellent record and a relatively low initial investment of $250. But after the initial investment, money can be added in amounts of $50. The sales charge is not popular with people who are used to no load funds which do not have a sales charge. But there is an offsetting consideration. The expense ratio of American Funds is about 1/3 that of the average no-load fund. After about 5 years, you make back the front end load in lower expenses. Dividends can be reinvested without any sales charge, another plus.

Now as I said American Funds has some excellent funds. Here are a couple of examples:

Capital Income Builder Fund 10 year annual return 10.73%.

Capital World Growth and Income Fund 10 year annual return 13%.

Here is one more tip. Start out with one fund but after you build up a $1000 or so in the fund. Begin investing in a fund with a different investment objective to diversify your holdings. American Funds allows you to exchange shares from one fund to another without a sales charge.

I use American Funds as an example because I am familiar with the company and the funds. There are others that I am sure are equally good.

INVEST YOUR TIME IN THIS
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WELFARE

A GREAT beginner tool is a 401K, if your workplace offers it. There's usually a company match--and that's FREE money!
If you invest even $10,000 in the next 5 years & NEVER add a penny, it will grow to over a mil by the time you retire.

Buy a home! Don't waste your money on rent! Use the savings you get from your property tax deductions and your mortgage interest deductions to invest in whatever interests you. I've known several people who got rich just buying vacant land and holding it for a few years or a few decades. I bought half an acre 4 years ago and now it has doubled in value.

Sharebuilder is a good program. The most important thing you can do is to educate yourself- and it sounds like you are trying. The reason I like Sharebuilder is because you can purchase stocks based upon whatever amount of money you can set aside each month. There are search tools on the website so you can learn about stocks, also.

In addition to using Sharebuilder to build a portfolio, I read the motley fool (www.fool.com) there are excellent articles and whether you are a beginner or an experienced investor, there is a lot of great information.

Good luck!

Well, honestly if you are able to put as much as $25 per pay check, assuming you get paid weekly you could start a Annuity that will pay out big time if you leave there until retirement or for just 20 years (which isn't a long time trust me). Plus, in the event you need to withdraw those funds early there is only a nominal fee compared to most early withdrawals from banks etc. I suggest speaking with a Insurance representative of your choice and getting information reference Annuity. What they do is take your money and usually invest in four categories; money market, IRA, etc and believe me it adds up quick. When you really start seeing the investment return is obviuosly some years down the road, for example once your balance is around $10,000 at the current yield you could be drawing as much as $400 a month, doing nothing!! And of course at retirement you stop paying it and it pays you and it is transferrable to your beneficiary. I am impressed that someone at your age is considering this. My first and froemost suggestion is that you not commit to much from your paycheck, because as you see these funds grow it will be hard to resist temptation, so keep enough of your pay to pay bills and play. Hope this helps.

It really depends on how much free cash you have.
by free cash i mean, money that you can afford to put aside for investment without missing it. or raiding it.
If you work for a company that offers a 401k plan you should start there. some companies match anywhere from 50% to 100% of whatever you put in and you usually have a choice of pretax (my choice) or aftertax. (remember that company matches are always pretax)
You can start with savings bonds which you can get through your bank or directly from the US treasury. i think they cost about 1/2 of face value but you need to hold them until maturity. the interest rate is very low so time to maturity is very long.
you can put your money each paycheck into a savings account at your bank and then move it into a brokerage account at the end of the year to purchase stocks. that way you are constantly putting money in but you will meet the minimum requirement when it is time to invest it.
Yes you should have at the very least $5000 to get into a brokerage account, $10k would be better as brokerages tend to charge fees for small accounts and you dont want the fees to start eating into your capital.
Another investment is a Roth IRA where you put a set amount into the account every month until you retire. (you would then deduct the amount you put in from your earnings and not pay taxes on it until withdrawel) there are limitations and penalties to withdrawing early but it is tax deferred.
I think the max you can put in each year is $2000 (depending on age and your state), it may be more but you should talk to your banker about it.
there are also Tbills that pay a higher interest rate but i think you need $10k to start. read the links for more info
and GOOD LUCK. It warms my heart when i hear a young person who thinks about taking care of their future and not living from day to day.
Social Security should not be counted on for retirement as it has always been considered a suppliment to retirement income.
and there really isn't anything left in the fund and may not be there when you retire.

I give you a lot of credit for starting to invest early. This is how I got started in investing - I opened an account at Scottrade with a check for $500. Scottrade offers $7 internet trades. They seem to be the best.

If you are looking for ideas about what to buy I would suggest http://www.top10traders.com - this is a totally free site. The idea behind the site is that people should get investing ideas from the traders who have proven that they are the best. The site lets you create your own portfolio of stocks or funds with $100,000 in "play" money. Then each day the site ranks all the portfolios based on their return over the last day, last month, and all-time. You can see what any person has bought or sold from their portfolio, just by clicking on their username. The best 10% of traders are that month's "Top 10 Traders".

Good luck with your investing.

look at Putnam for low cost mutual funds. their asset allocation funds beat their peers in all time periods and will give you all the stock exposure and downside protection with no work on your part. no minimums to start out. you can also dollar cost average (put in a set $$ amt on a regualr schedule)