There are countless financial “experts” out there that all claim you should follow their recommended money moves for when you have $1,000 saved up.
But who do you believe?
And how could you possibly have time to watch them all so you can eventually figure out who to believe?
No one has time for that.
So, to help with this problem, I made this post.
It covers 6 financial moves 3 entrepreneurs and investing experts on YouTube tend to agree on when it comes to maximizing your first $1,000 in savings.
Here are the experts I chose to include:
- Stefan James – founder of ProjectLifeMastery.com, Amazon expert, investor, and YouTuber with over 1,000,000 subscribers.
- Graham Stephan – real estate agent, investor, and finance YouTuber with over 2.5 million subscribers.
- Andrei Jikh – investor, finance expert, magic enthusiast, and YouTuber with just under 1,000,000 subscribers.
I've followed these 3 for a while now and I fully believe they are all great sources of information on the subjects I mentioned above.
Here are the 6 financial moves they agree you should take:
1. Start an emergency fund
Stefan James and Andrei Jikh seem to agree that you should first make sure that you are prepared for an emergency before investing your money in hopes to make more.
You might want to use part or all of that $1,000 to start something like a high yield savings account, so you can save up for a rainy day while also earning some interest over time.
Andrei recommends Ally Bank as an option for these types of accounts.
2. Pay off high interest debt
Another thing you might want to do once you've saved up a little money is start paying off credit cards and other forms of high interest debt.
This is a strategy that both Stephan James and Andrei Jikh both agreed on as well.
When credit card APR can be as high as 30%, you need to make sure and pay that off because hardly any kind of investment will make more than that.
In other words, paying off 30% is more efficient than otherwise investing that money into stocks or something that earns 5%-10%.
This reminds me of a quote from billionaire Mark Cuban:
“Pay off debt first. Freedom from debt is worth more than any amount you can earn.”
Mark Cuban
3. Invest in yourself
Stefan James and Graham Stephan seem to agree that you should also spend a portion of that money investing in yourself.
You should be investing in your knowledge and skills so that you can be more valuable as an individual and therefore be more successful in the future.
In the end, your most valuable asset is yourself.
Invest in courses, books, coaching, classes, or anything else that can help you reach your goals faster.
This also reminds me of a famous quote from Benjamin Franklin:
Benjamin Franklin
4. Invest in a good index fund
Between Stefan James, Graham Stephan, and Andrei Jikh, all 3 seemed to agree that people should invest in a good index fund.
Specifically, they recommended investing with Vanguard.
As far as what index fund to invest in, the Vanguard 500 (VOO), which is Vanguard's version of the S&P 500 index fund seemed to be the popular choice.
Vanguard was also recommended in a great investing book I recommend called Money: Master the Game by Tony Robbins.
5. Start a business
Another thing all 3 experts agreed you should do with your money is to start some kind of business.
This shouldn't be surprising because at the very least, all 3 of them started YouTube channels that make good money.
Stefan James has an Amazon publishing business, affiliate marketing revenue, an Amazon FBA business, courses, and other business ventures.
Graham Stephan has some rental properties to go along with his YouTube channels that have been very successful.
And Andrei Jikh has a Patreon business that compliments his YouTube channel.
There are countless businesses you can start, but you just have to find the right one for YOU.
Here are a few posts I've done to help you find a good business idea:
- 8 Best Online Business Ideas to Start for Beginners
- 5 Best Small Business Ideas to Start with No Money 2020
- 10 Passive Income Business Ideas That Make Good Money
6. Invest in individual stocks
Another financial move that Graham Stephan and Andrei Jikh agreed on for your first $1,000 is to invest in individual stocks that you pick.
This is meant to be a learning process more than anything else, but you also have A LOT of upside if you pick the right one and hold it for years.
I mean, just look at all these articles that come out saying how much you would've made if you invested in Apple, Amazon, or lots of other companies back in the day.
One of these days, you might be one of the successful case studies of one of the articles.
Just be sure that you're okay with losing whatever amount of money you invest in these stocks before getting started.
Don't bet your life savings when you've never done this before!
You can make an account with sites like TDAmeritrade or ETrade to start picking stocks.
I also recommend Google Finance for tracking the ones you might be interested in.
More tips from the experts:
If you want more tips for what to do with your first $1,000, watch the full videos below that I used as sources:
