When I first started reading about investing, I thought you needed thousands of dollars to buy stocks. That felt impossible for me as a student. But then I heard about something called fractional shares, and it completely changed my perspective.
Fractional shares mean you can buy just a piece of a stock instead of the whole thing. For example, if one share of Amazon costs three thousand dollars, you do not need to save that much. With fractional investing, you can put in ten dollars and still own a small slice of Amazon. Some brokers, like Fidelity and Schwab, let you do this with no minimum balance.
I also learned that ETFs can be bought fractionally too. That means I could take ten dollars and put it into an ETF like SPY or VOO, which gives me exposure to hundreds of companies at once. $10 will not make me rich overnight, but the point is not the size. The point is starting early and letting compounding work over time.
After testing this in my custodial account, I realized something important. Even a small trade feels real. It changes the way I see money. Buying with ten dollars made me think like an investor, not just a saver. That mindset might be worth more than the money itself.
What I Learned
- Fractional shares let you buy part of a stock with small amounts of money.
- Ten dollars can buy you exposure to giant companies or even whole indexes through ETFs.
- Starting small is better than waiting to save up a huge amount.
- The habit of investing is more valuable than the size of the first trade.
Sources I Read
- Fidelity: Fractional Shares
- Charles Schwab: Stock Slices
Next time: If small amounts can grow, I want to understand how.
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