Skip to main content
Advertiser Disclosure
We do receive compensation from some partners whose offers appear on this page. We have not reviewed all available products or offers. Compensation may impact the order in which offers appear on page, but our editorial opinions and ratings are not influenced by compensation.

The Ascent Logo The Ascent Logo - Blue circle with an A in it and the ascent a motley fool company to the right of that

  • Credit Cards
  • Banking
  • Brokerages
  • Loans
  • Mortgages
  • Knowledge
  • Latest Picks
  • Search Icon Click here to search

Credit Cards

Top Picks
  • Best of January 2021
  • Cash Back
  • Balance Transfer
  • Travel
  • 0% APR
  • Rewards
  • Bad Credit
Knowledge
  • Beginners Guide to Credit Cards
  • How to Rebuild Your Credit
  • Maximize Your Credit Card Rewards
  • Learn More About Credit Cards
Credit Card Tools
  • Compare Cards
Looking for a new credit card?

Explore the best credit cards in every category as of January 2021.

Get started!

Banking

Top Picks
  • Best Savings Accounts
  • Best Bank Accounts
  • Best Money Market Accounts
  • Best CDs
  • Best Checking Account Bonuses
Knowledge
  • Beginners Guide to Banking
  • Everything You Need to Know About Savings
  • Money Market Accounts Made Easy
  • Learn More About Banking
Looking for a place to park your cash?

Check out our top picks of the best online savings accounts for January 2021.

Get Started!

Brokerages

Top Picks
  • Best Brokers of January 2021
  • Best Online Brokers for Beginners
  • Best Options Brokers
  • Best IRA Accounts
  • Best Roth IRA Accounts
  • Best Robo Advisors
Knowledge
  • How to Open a Brokerage Account
  • Beginner's Guide to Brokerages
  • Learn More About Brokerage
Just getting started?

Explore our picks of the best brokerage accounts for beginners for January 2021.

Get Started!

Loans

Top Picks
  • Best Loans of January 2021
  • Best Personal Loans for Bad Credit
  • Best Loans for Debt Consolidation
  • Best Low-Interest Personal Loans
  • Best Personal Loans for Good Credit
  • Best Personal Loans for Fair Credit
Knowledge
  • Personal Loans Made Easy
  • Debt Consolidation Guide
  • How to Pay Off Debt
  • Learn More About Loans
Thinking about taking out a loan?

Before you apply for a personal loan, here's what you need to know.

Get Started!

Mortgages

Top Picks
  • Best Mortgage Lenders of January 2021
  • Best Mortgage Lenders for Poor Credit
  • Best Refinance Lenders
  • Best VA Mortgage Lenders
Knowledge
  • First Time Homebuyers Guide
  • Home Loans Made Easy
  • The Complete Guide to Refinancing
  • How to Get a Mortgage with Bad Credit
  • Learn More About Mortgages
Tools & Calculators
  • Mortgage Calculator
Compare Rates
  • Today's Mortgage Rates
  • Refinance Rates
  • 15-Year Mortgage Rates
  • 20-Year Mortgage Rates
  • 30-Year Mortgage Rates
  • Jumbo Mortgage Rates
  • VA Loan Rates
  • 5/1 ARM Rates
  • 7/1 ARM Rates
  • FHA Mortgage Rates

Knowledge

Knowledge Section
  • All Articles
  • Credit Card Articles
  • Banking Articles
  • Brokerage Articles
  • Personal Loan Articles
  • Mortgage Articles
  • Personal Finance Articles
Recent Articles
  • Mortgage Refinance Applications Fall 5% as Rates Rise

    Mortgages

    Mortgage Refinance Applications Fall 5% as Rates Rise
  • FHFA Extends Foreclosure and Eviction Moratorium to Feb. 28

    Mortgages

    FHFA Extends Foreclosure and Eviction Moratorium to Feb. 28
  • Didn't Get Your Stimulus Payments? You Can Now Use 'Free File' to Claim Them

    Personal Finance

    Didn't Get Your Stimulus Payments? You Can Now Use 'Free File' to Claim Them
  • Stimulus Check Update: Lone Democratic Holdout May Be Softening Toward the Idea of Another Stimulus Check

    Personal Finance

    Stimulus Check Update: Lone Democratic Holdout May Be Softening Toward the Idea of Another Stimulus Check
  • The Ascent
  • Knowledge
  • Brokerages

How to Get Over Your Fear of Investing

by Christy Bieber | Aug. 13, 2019

The Ascent is reader-supported: we may earn a commission from offers on this page. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation.

Are you afraid to put your money into the market? Here are some tips to overcome your fear so you can put your money to work for you.

Nervous girl looking at laptop

Image source: Getty Images

Investing money in the stock market is one of the single best ways to grow your wealth. Historically, the stock market has reliably produced better returns over time than real estate, bonds, certificates of deposit, or other investments.

And, you need to earn a reasonable rate of return on your money if you hope to accomplish big goals, such as saving for retirement. Otherwise, if you just stick your cash in the bank, it could actually end up losing value due to inflation.

Unfortunately, many people are afraid of investing, and are reluctant to get their money into the market where it can work for them. If you’re one of them, here are some tips and tricks to get over your fear of investing.

Educate yourself on simple investments

Investing can seem scary when you don’t know much about it. After all, there are all different kinds of investments to learn about, including individual stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. There are also many investing terms you may not know, such as price-earnings ratio, or moving average, or options, or arbitrage.

The Ascent's picks for the best online stock brokers

The Ascent's picks for the best online stock brokers

Find the best stock broker for you among these top picks. Whether you're looking for a special sign-up offer, outstanding customer support, $0 commissions, intuitive mobile apps, or more, you'll find a stock broker to fit your trading needs.

See the picks

The good news is, you don’t need to know that much to get started. For a beginning investor, investing in index funds is a simple approach to building a diversified portfolio without advanced knowledge. Index funds are simply funds that attempt to match the performance of a group of assets or investments. For example, you could buy a fund that matches the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is an index that tracks the performance of 30 large U.S. companies.

If you learn a little about index funds, and invest in a few of them, you can get exposure to a broad range of diverse assets without having to research individual companies. You can always learn more about picking specific stocks later, once you’ve seen your index funds perform and are feeling more comfortable with the investing process.

Learn more about the benefits of diversification

Fear of losing money is one major reason that many people don’t want to invest. But, you can minimize your risk of losses by diversifying your investments. Diversification means you don’t put all your eggs in one basket -- you invest in lots of different things so that if one investment performs poorly, others may do well and compensate for your losses.

Building a diversified portfolio doesn’t have to be hard -- especially if you’re investing in index funds. You can pick an index fund that tracks the performance of large U.S. companies, another that tracks the performance of midsize companies, another that tracks smaller companies, another that tracks bonds, and another that tracks emerging markets. By doing simply this, you’ll have your money invested in all different kinds of assets, and chances are good that at least some of them will perform well over time.

Start small and watch your money grow 

Putting a ton of money on the line at one time can be scary. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily have to invest your entire nest egg at once. You can start by investing just a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. As you learn your way around your broker’s website and you get better at understanding different investments, you can put more money into your account.

You don’t want to invest an amount so small that the commissions you pay to buy stocks eat up any profits. But, you can buy commission-free investments that track market indexes, such as exchange-traded funds -- which would mean you don’t pay each time you buy in.

Choosing commission-free investments gives you the chance to start investing with a smaller nest egg. As you see your money grow, and become more comfortable, you can increase the amount you put into the market. 

Buying your first stocks: Do it the smart way

Once you’ve chosen one of our top-rated brokers, you need to make sure you’re buying the right stocks. We think there’s no better place to start than with Stock Advisor, the flagship stock-picking service of our company, The Motley Fool. You’ll get two new stock picks every month from legendary investors and Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner, plus 10 starter stocks and best buys now. Over the past 17 years, Stock Advisor’s average stock pick has seen a 569% return — more than 4.5x that of the S&P 500! (as of 1/15/2021). Learn more and get started today with a special new member discount.

Start investing

You can’t afford to be afraid to invest

Fear of investing could actually cost you your financial security, because you’ll lose ground if you just leave your money in the bank to earn little or no interest. It’s worth taking these steps today, so you can start to feel more comfortable putting your money into the market. The sooner you get started investing, the sooner you can make your money work for you.

Using the wrong broker could cost you serious money

Over the long term, there's been no better way to grow your wealth than investing in the stock market. But using the wrong broker could make a big dent in your investing returns. Our experts have ranked and reviewed the top online stock brokers - simply click here to see the results and learn how to take advantage of the free trades and cash bonuses that our top-rated brokers are offering.

About the Author

Christy Bieber
Christy Bieber icon-button-linkedin-2x

Christy Bieber is a personal finance and legal writer with more than a decade of experience. Her work has been featured on major outlets including MSN Money, CNBC, and USA Today.

Share This Page
Blue Facebook Icon Share this website with Facebook
Blue Twitter Icon Share this website with Twitter
Blue LinkedIn Icon Share this website with LinkedIn
Blue Mail Icon Share this website by email

The Ascent is reader-supported: we may earn a commission from offers on this page. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation.

Featured Offer

Merrill Logo

4.5 Star Rating - $0 stock trades & up to a $600 bonus

Open Account

Related Articles

Stock prices moving on a screen image for Best Online Stock Brokers for 2021

Best Online Stock Brokers for 2021

Stock numbers keyboard image for How to Open a Brokerage Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Open a Brokerage Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

Man sitting at a desk celebrating with a fist pump image for Best Online Stock Brokers for Beginners in 2021

Best Online Stock Brokers for Beginners in 2021

Golf Swing image for Best Online Stock Brokers for IRAs in 2021

Best Online Stock Brokers for IRAs in 2021

Featured Articles

Best Online Stock Brokers for 2021

How to Open a Brokerage Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

Best Online Stock Brokers for Beginners in 2021

Best Online Stock Brokers for IRAs in 2021


We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.

The Ascent Logo

The Ascent is a Motley Fool service that rates and reviews essential products for your everyday money matters.

btn_facebook-yellow btn_twitter-yellow btn_instagram-yellow

Copyright © 2018 - 2021 The Ascent. All rights reserved.

About The Ascent
About Us Contact Us Newsroom How We Make Money Editorial Integrity Ratings Methodology
Legal
Terms of Use Privacy Policy Accessibility Policy Terms and Conditions Copyright, Trademark and Patent Information
Learn
Credit Cards Banking Brokerage Loans Recent Articles

By submitting your email address, you consent to us sending you money tips along with products and services that we think might interest you. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please read our Privacy Statement and Terms & Conditions.

Back to The Motley Fool