 TITLE: Investing 101: How to Start Investing CONTENT: Decide How to Invest\n--------------------\nDon't just jump into investing willy-nilly. Consider the following:\n*   **Your goals**: Are you investing for a long-term goal, like retirement, or a short-term goal, like a down payment on a home?\n*   **Your age**: Young people have more time to recoup losses if they are investing long-term, so they can take more risks. Closer to retirement, shifting to more conservative investments helps protect your nest egg.\n*   **Your risk tolerance**: Some people are inherently cautious, while others like to take risks. Just make sure your income and finances can support your tolerance for risk.\n*   **Diversification**: Purchasing a variety of investments can provide some level of balance, because if one loses value, the others may cushion the blow.\n*   **Your budget**: How much do you have to invest? Again, this should take into account savings needed for your emergency fund, credit card bills and other expenses that make up part of your monthly budget.\n*   **Dollar cost averaging**: Investing a set amount of money at regular intervals can reduce the risk of investing all your money at a bad time (such as right before a stock market crash). END