In reality, there are multiple forms of investing, but for sake of this guide, we’re going to show you what investing means in terms of money and finances, because that’s most likely why most of you reading this are here in search of.

The first thing to review when looking for discretionary money to start investing with is to take a look at your current budget. Chances are you are spending more than you think on one of the following categories:

• Fast food and restaurants
• Entertainment such as movies
• Number of services you are paying subscriptions for
• Gas and grocery shopping budget

These are just some starting points to take a look at. Sure it seems common sense, but i'm willing to bet that 9 out of 10 people reading this that actually follow the advice above will find an additional $50-$100 per month from eliminating expenses from some of these categories.

If reviewing your budget didn't free up some cash, here are 5 more ways to save extra money to invest:

1. Limit how many times you eat out for lunch each week and take a home lunch to work.
2. Use apps like Acorns to invest your spare change in the stock market.
3. Start a side hustle for a couple hours per day or week to bring in some extra cash. You can make money doing almost anything such as a part time job, selling your handmade goods online on sites like eBay and Etsy, or by providing freelance services on sites like Fiverr and Upwork
4. Sign up for cashback apps like Ibotta, Swagbucks or Paribus. These apps give you cashback for shopping at certain retailers on things you already purchase anyways.
5. Sign up for a ride sharing service like Uber or Lyft and drive in your spare time for extra cash.

Using any or all of the following will free up some extra money to begin saving to start investing for your future.

Don't let the term intimidate you, its actually pretty simple concept once you think about it.  When you hear the term "Super Market" or "Market" in general, chances are you think of a grocery store or a central location where people go to purchase goods.  Now what do you think of when you think about the stock market?

The stock market is a central location where stocks, bonds and investment vehicles are bought and sold.  Its a digital marketplace where buyers and sellers meet to negotiate buying and selling of different types of investments.  The two main stock marketplaces today are in the United States are the "New York Stock Exchange" (NYSE) and the "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System" (NASDAQ). While there are other large and well known stock exchanges, these two remain the largest and most well known.

Clarifying examples of the stock market

The following examples may help clarify what the stock market is, and how it is very similar to other marketplaces you and I use regularly.

Example #1: Amazon

• We're all familiar with the eCommerce giant, Amazon.  Amazon is a "market" where consumers go to purchase every day goods.  Small businesses and individuals are able to list their products on Amazon and sell them at a competitive price, and customers will make a purchasing decision on whether they think the product being sold is really worth the asking price.
• Just like Amazon, the stock market is a central marketplace where investment vehicles, aka "securities" are bought and sold.  The price of the investment vehicles is set based on what consumers are willing to pay for it.

Example #2: Walmart

• Walmart is perhaps the largest "brick and mortar" retail giant, with one of the largest online retail marketplaces.  Walmart differs from Amazon in that they have a large physical presence in thousands of cities worldwide.  The stock market originally started out as a physical location where buyers and sellers of investment vehicles met to exchange stock certificates, or physical papers/certificates of a share of stock.

As technology evolved over the years, the stock market is purely a digital location where investors and businesses meet to buy and sell investment securities.  What began as a physical location where consumers and businesses exchanged stock certificates, evolved in to a digital marketplace that drives our economies today.

Now that you understand the basics of the stock market and how it works, you're probably wondering "OK, that all makes sense, but why would someone invest in the stock market?"

While that question has a potentially very broad response, the quick and easy answer is...TO MAKE MONEY!  Some invest in the stock market to grow their money for retirement, or to save money for a large purchase they plan to make in the next few years, and others buy and sell stock shares daily to make quick gains.  They buy  the stock at a price, and sell it for a profit when the price rises.  This is called "Day Trading", and is very risky way to participate in the stock market.

Just like the social media giant Facebook began as a small local business, it's now a large worldwide company.  Imagine if you had invested in Facebook when it was in it's infant years? Remember that each stock share represents a percentage ownership in the company, not a dollar amount.

So if you owned a share of Facebook when it was first publicly traded at $38 per share of stock, and you bought 100 shares (total of $3,800 purchase price), today those same 100 shares of stock would be worth roughly $200 per share (as of this writing) equating to a total of $20,000! Not a bad return on investment!

The stock market as a whole historically rises over time.  The idea of buying stock and holding onto it for years to come has held to be sound investment advice that has made many people multi millionaires and even billionaires (like Warren Buffet, for example) today.

Similar to the stock market, real estate naturally increases in value over time.  Why? It all comes back to the basic law of supply and demand.  As time goes on, land becomes more and more scarce.  As homes are built, their location respective to other communities may be better suited for most.  These two concepts are what create high demand, and a higher demand for these homes and land results in real estate prices increasing.

Think of supply and demand like an auction; An auctioneer stands on the stage with a painting to auction off.  He starts the bid at $100.  If there were a crowd of just 5 people, what are the chances of that painting selling for much more than the starting price? Pretty slim.  But if you take the same scenario and say there is a crowd of 500 people, what are the chances of that painting selling for a lot more than its starting price? Much better than the scenario with a crowd of 5!

The higher the demand (aka the more people who want the product or service, in this case, real estate), the higher the price rises.  Here's the details about how real estate investing works, and how to include it into your investing portfolio.

There are many ways in which you can start investing in real estate.  The path you choose depends on how hands on you wish your investment to be, and your ultimate objective for the investment.  For example, you may wish to buy a property at a great price, update the property with renovations needed, and sell the property for a profit all within a few months time.  This is a more passive approach to investing in real estate, and often requires mentor-ship, previous experience, or a partnership to help carry out the heavy work.

If you're more of a passive minded investor, you can invest in real estate through a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), or purchase real estate through modern investment apps such as Fundrise or Diversyfund, which are both similar to how a REIT works.  Lastly, you can purchase the actual real estate property and rent it out to tenants, thus making money on the appreciation of the property, and the rental income cash-flow of the property.  We'll cover each of these real estate investment strategies in detail.