How to Invest for Beginners in 2025

what's the best way for beginners to start investing online with just $100 as a millionaire investor this is something I get asked all the time and because of that 4 years ago I set out to answer this question by creating a video where I invested $100 into five different things today I'm going to compare the results from those five Investments that you can make from your laptop and try to finally answer the question once and for all we're going to be using this grid to judge each one in these categories first up learning curve this is how long it takes to learn the ins and outs of each method ideally we want this to be as short as possible next is passive income potential which is how much money an investment can earn for you passively while you still own it without needing to sell it then there's tax efficiency which refers to the specific tax advantages or benefits available for each type of investment that can help you pay less tax after that we have risk level which is about How likely you are to lose money and how much the investment's value might go up or down and finally we're looking at the results this is where I'll reveal my percentage return over the last four years and exactly how much my $100 investment is now worth before we jump in please remember I'm not a financial advisor I'm just sharing my own results and strategies that have worked for me over the years please also do your own [Music] research okay first up is IND individual stocks individual stocks give you the chance to own a piece of a company you believe in this can be really exciting because you're directly investing in businesses that you think will grow or succeed for learning curve I'm going to say this is high if you want to be successful picking individual stocks then it's not just a guessing game you'll need to dig into the nitty-gritty of a company's fundamentals this includes looking into the financials who's leading the company and how well known the brand is when I invest in individual stocks I look through income statements balance sheets and cash flow statements so when I invest in a stock I'm in it for the long haul which means at least 2 to 10 years a great way to learn how to do this is by using an investing app with a demo account which lets you play around with fake money until you're confident with your strategies for passive income potential I'm going to say this is good you see when you own a stock there are two ways you can make money firstly if the price of the stock goes up during the time you own it you can sell it for more than you paid secondly you can receive dividends Dividends are regular payments to shareholders not all stocks pay dividends but if they do this means you can receive money without ever selling your stock this is essentially passive income now for tax efficiency this is great if you use the right accounts then you can reduce your tax burden in the UK these are called stocks and shares Isis you can set one up on most investing apps and any profits you make are safe from taxes in the USA there's something similar called a Roth IRA these accounts work like a shield protecting your profits from the tax man while there are different rules depending on where you live the idea is the same please bear in mind that I'm not a Tax Advisor and you should do your own research as everyone's circumstances are different so what's the risk this is definitely high back in 1995 during the do boom I got lucky and picked a few great stocks I sold them at the right time and made a lot of money in a short period but when the bubble burst some of the other companies I'd invested in ones that cost me very little went out of business completely even though I ended up making money overall it just shows how risky investing in individual stocks can be especially if you put all your money into just a few companies if they fail you could lose everything so let's look at how much my $100 investment is now worth Let me refresh your memory here's what I invested in so I'm going to throw a dart at the board and as you can see I randomly selected 20 different stocks and wherever the dart lands that's what I'm going to invest in now I've just got to put on a blindfold okay here we go oh you hit it right let's see what we got and we've gone into Samsung that investment is now worth $676 but don't forget my dividends over the four years I made 10 cents so that leaves me with a total of $67. 72 that's a negative 32. 3% return this example perfectly shows how Hit or Miss individual Stock Investing really is that Dart could have just as easily landed on Apple Microsoft or Nvidia so let's have a look at how much I would have made if that Dart had landed a bit differently a $100 investment in apple four years ago would now be worth $170 the investment in Microsoft would be $188 and drum roll please Nvidia would be worth $98 those stocks have boomed in recent years and luckily I have some of those in my personal portfolio but this just goes to show you can't just leave individual Stock Investing down to luck you have to be strategic with your stock picks and even then the market is unpredictable if you want to try this out just download trading 212 it's a great app for or investors because it lets you use a demo account to practice trading with fake money this way you can learn how it all works without risking any real cash just like I mentioned earlier it also lets you set up a stocks and shares Isa if you're in the UK which protects your investment returns from taxes but again I'm not a Tax Advisor so please do your own research as everyone's situation is unique trading 212 also lets you buy fractional shares which means you don't have to buy a whole stock that's how I was able to own just 0.

07 of a Samsung stock instead of having to buy an entire share as I was going to mention trading 212 anyway I reached out to see if they'd be interested in sponsoring this portion of the video they agreed and are offering a free fractional share worth up to 100 to anyone that uses the code Tilbury when they create an account plus you can get more free shares by inviting your friends both of you will get a free share as long as they fund their account I'll leave the link in the description if you're interested [Music] second is a real estate investment trust otherwise known as a Reit I know this one sounds pretty complicated but it's actually quite cool imagine your friend collects $100 from 3,000 people giving him $300,000 he then uses that money to buy a property rents it out and shares the rental income with all 3,000 people who helped him buy it that's a simple way to explain a re it allows anyone to invest in properties without needing to buy one themselves think of it like you own the front door someone else owns a window and a few others own the bricks which means together everyone owns the entire property and shares in the profits for learning curve I'm going to say it's moderate and that's because getting started with rats is much easier than buying physical property it's not like you need a huge down payment or a mortgage and there's no need to deal with agents or solicitors however you do need to understand how reats work they own things like offices shopping centers apartments hotels and much more and they get their income through rent for passive income potential I'm going to say this is great reats are well known for paying high dividends this is because the law says they have to pass on at least 90% of all their profits to investors so as long as the reat is doing well and its properties are rented out you can earn a steady stream of passive income most businesses sign long-term leases on their commercial commcial properties therefore most of the time income is pretty stable and reliable but of course just keep in mind that your earnings depend on the re you pick and the types of properties it owns for tax efficiency I'm going to put this down as great this is because in many countries RS offer great tax benefits for example in the UK you can hold RS in a stocks and shares Isa which means you don't have to pay taxes on your profits or dividends in terms of risk I'd have to say this is medium REITs are generally less risky than buying a single property because they invest in multiple properties spreading out the risk however they're not risk-free if the real estate market takes a downturn or if the re struggles to keep its properties rented you might see both a drop in dividends and the value of the investment so what's my investment worth now let's flash back to me making the investment four years ago as I'm in the UK I'm going to use the tradeing 212 website to put $100 into a Sim R ready for the Moment of Truth looking at my investment now I can see it's worth $98. 59 so that's a a small loss of 1. 41% this shows that even though reats are normally more stable than individual stocks they're not guaranteed to perform well my re lightly underperformed because it invested in commercial real estate which struggled during the pandemic but that's not the end of the world as I made $1.

93 back in dividends meaning I'm actually 10 $152 up so that's 10. 52% [Music] up third is cryptocurrency imagine a form of digital money that isn't controlled by any government or bank that's what cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and ethereum are these currencies run on the blockchain technology which makes them secure transparent and almost impossible to counterfeit cryptocurrencies have created did massive weal for some people with Bitcoin being the best performing asset of the last decade but on the flip side it's highly volatile and people have also lost fortunes that's why I describe crypto as part investment and part speculation and not for the faint-hearted for learning curve I'm going to say it's moderate crypto might sound complicated but I'll break it down for you first you'll need a wallet this is where you store your crypto think of it like a digital piggy bank and there are different different types first are online wallets these are easy to use but you'll need to protect them with very strong passwords second are offline wallets like Hardware wallets these are the safest because they're not connected to the internet next you'll need to pick an exchange to buy and sell your crypto some popular ones are coinbase and binance these platforms make it simple to trade but make sure that choose a trustworthy exchange to avoid any issues then there's tokenomics this just means understand in how the supply and demand of a coin works for example Bitcoin has a limited Supply which is why it's often called digital gold for passive income potential I'm going to also say this is moderate unlike stocks or REITs crypto doesn't pay dividends but there are ways to earn passive income the first is called staken this is when you lock up your crypto like ethereum to help the system work and process transactions in return you get paid rewards kind of like earning points for helping out the second is yield farming this is when you lend your crypto out to others and earn interest on it similar to how a bank pays you interest when you save money with them these methods can generate decent returns but they do come with higher risks if the coin's value drops or the platform you're using gets hacked your income could disappear along with your crypto that's why I personally don't mess with any of this and just hold mine on a ledger wallet for tax efficiency I'm going to have to say this one is poor tax taxes are a tricky part of crypto investing in many countries even swapping one cryptocurrency for another counts as a taxable event and if you earn staking rewards those are also taxed as income you also can't hold crypto in tax advantaged accounts like Isis or rough IRAs which makes it less tax efficient than stocks or rats in terms of risk I'd have to say it's very high crypto is one of the most volatile Investments out there prices can soar 1,000% in a year but they can also crash just as fast personally I just invest in Bitcoin and ethereum as they're more established and often refer to as Blue Chip cryptocurrencies smaller altcoins can be far more risky you've also got to be cautious of scams since crypto isn't regulated if someone hacks your wallet or tricks you into sending your coins there's no way to get them back so keeping your crypto safe is just as important as learning how to invest in it so what's my investment worth now let's re to when I made this investment 4 years ago so I'm going to jump onto the most popular Bitcoin app which is called coinbase and invest my $10000 in Bitcoin and forget about it ready for the reveal the $100 I invested in Bitcoin is now worth $652 124 that's a return of stress that this kind of growth is not typical Bitcoin has been the best performing asset of the last decade but most cryptocurrencies don't see these kinds of returns many lose their value entirely in my opinion crypto is exciting and the technology behind it has the potential to transform Industries however it's not for everyone it's highly volatile speculative and requires a strong stomach to handle the wild price swings just remember crypto is all about high risk and high reward so if you're going to dive in make sure you're doing your research and investing [Music] wisely fourth is gold this is one of the oldest and most trusted ways to store and protect wealth gold is often called a safe haven because it's a great way to protect your wealth during uncertain times like when inflation is rising or the economy is struggling for learning curve I'm going to have to say it's low learning how to invest in gold is pretty simple you have two main options first physical gold this includes gold bars and coins many people also think you can buy gold jewelry as Investments but you'll often pay more than the gold is actually worth because sellers add a markup for their craftmanship for this reason I personally stick to gold coins just bear in mind if you pick this option then you'd have to store it somewhere safe second is gold ETFs these are funds that let you invest in gold without physically owning it for example in the UK you can use trading 212 to buy shares in something like the I shares physical gold ETF it's quick easy and you can buy or sell it with just a few clicks passive income potential is absolutely zero unlike stocks REITs or crypto gold doesn't pay any passive income it's not an income generating asset it's purely a store of value for tax efficiency I'm going to put this as good if you buy physical gold like gold coins or bars the tax rules can be a little tricky for example in some countries certain gold coins like the UK's gold branas are considered legal tender which means you don't pay capital gains tax when you sell them however this doesn't apply to all gold coins or bars so you'll need to check the specific rules in your country for gold ETFs they're generally more straight forward in countries like the UK you can hold them in a stocks and shares Isa which makes any profits completely tax-free interestingly physical gold has another unique Advantage it can be used to transport wealth across borders discreetly that said this approach comes with risk such as theft or legal restrictions on transporting large amounts of gold across borders while it's not something I'd necessarily recommend it's worth mentioning as a unique aspect of owning physical gold in terms of risk I'd say this is a medium gold is one of the safest Investments you can make it's been used as a form of money for thousands of years and it's known to hold its value during times of inflation or economic uncertainty however the opportunity cost of investing in gold can be a downside while it's great for protecting your wealth it doesn't have the same growth potential as other Investments like stocks or crypto so what's my investment worth now let's flash back to when I made this investment four years ago I'm going to invest using trading 212 in a similar share and we've just a click of a button there you go I'm now MrGoldman so what's MrGoldman's investment worth today well it's currently sitting at $140 110 that's a return of 40.