401k Plan

• The beauty of a 401k plan is that you can start as small a you want. That makes these retirement plans the perfect choice for new investors. You can direct as little as 1 percent of your paycheck to the 401k plan, then slowly ramp up your percentage as you become more comfortable with setting money aside. In addition to the ability to start small, you might also get matching funds from your employer, providing an immediate return on your investment.
  
  

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

• If your company has an employee stock purchase plan in place, that plan can be an excellent introduction to the stock market. You can invest in an employee stock purchase plan by directing a percentage of each paycheck to purchase shares. Furthermore, you can buy those shares without paying a broker, and you might even get a discount off the market price of the stock.
  
  

Index Fund

• Index funds work by buying all of the stocks in a given index, such as the Standard and Poor's 500 or the total stock market index. Since these funds simply hold all of the stocks in the index, they do not have to hire money managers to try to beat the market. That makes index funds among the lowest cost of all investments, providing a simple and inexpensive way for new investors to get started. Many index funds also have low minimum investment requirements, often between $1,000 and $3,000.
  
  

Exchange-Traded Funds

• Exchange-traded funds are similar to mutual funds in that they hold many different stocks within their portfolios. But unlike mutual funds, exchange-traded funds trade freely throughout the day, making it easier for new investors to choose the price at which they want to get in. Some of the lowest-cost and most widely used exchange traded funds track the Standard and Poor's 500 and total stock market indexes. These ETFs trade under the ticker symbols SPY and VTI, respectively.