Motley Fool's Day

I subscribed to the Motley Fool investing newsletter 10 years ago -- the last time I planned to buckle down and get serious about my financial future. The newsletters reliably arrived in my email account. But I rarely read them and never acted upon the advice they contained.


I wasn't ready. Obviously I am now.

In just the one month of blogging about my economic stimulus, I have done more to secure a smooth financial future than I did the last decade.

So just before I celebrate April Fool's Day, I decided to check in with my old friends at Motley Fool. In preparation for receiving my $600 disbursement, I'm looking everywhere on how to invest such a small amount of money. Almost everyone advises paying down credit cards and high-interest debt before they get to what I really want to know -- stocks.

The Fool article I found is titled How to Invest $20, $100, and $1,000 (and More). Suze Orman and Jim Cramer are great resources, but this is CLOSE TO EXACTLY what I have been seeking for a while now. Now I'm learning about index investing, Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRPs and often called Drips), and Direct Stock Purchase Plans (DSPs). Drips and DSPs let you bypass brokers and commissions by buying stocks directly from companies.

For more information on Drips, check out this other Fool article. Looks like I've got more reading to do!

Lastly, Monday, March 31, is the LAST DAY to set up Suze's Save Yourself account at TD Ameritrade -- the savings account that gives you $100 at the end of March 2009 if you commit to socking away $50 for 12 straight months. I signed up on March 12, and I've already earned a little money. My $50 investment is now up to $50.07. Sphere: Related Content