Know NOTHING about investing? Try these three platforms to learn and grow money

You might have heard about the big stock market gains during the last two years. You might have seen folks gossiping about their fabulous 401(k) accounts.

But maybe you just don’t have much to spend and don’t know anything about investing in the first place.

First, if you have a 401(k) stop reading and put everything you can into it every single month, and never take it out.

Ok, great. Now here is a way to use spare change; try these apps.

Acorns: $5 minimum deposit. This platform invests your small change. Acorns is kind of like a change jar, but it just takes the change from debit card transactions, the ones you would have put in the jar. It does this by rounding up totals to the next dollar. So, $15.50, gets you a half buck in an investment account of Vanguard ETFs. Great for beginners because it automatically gives you some investments and gives you a chance to throw in $5 automatically each month. The company will automatically give you little pinches of companies like Apple.

Stash: $5 minimum deposit. Gives you the option of choosing portfolios of sectors you think will make money (Internet Titans!) or causes (Combat Carbon!), according to medium.com. Beware! Medium writer Alex White, in 2018, invested in his favorite causes and lost 5.5%. But he did make 1900% on the next platform.

Robinhood: No minimum investment and it advertises that you get a free stock. Maybe like Facebook, which hovers around $200, or Apple, around $300. There is a chance of that, but there is more of a chance you get a $3 stock you never heard of. Hey, it is still a stock and it will be fun to follow it.

Look up your free stock. Note the price, what exchange it is on (like the Dow), read about the company, and already you are a stock trader. You can watch the stock, buy more, if you want, and you might enjoy owning your slice of that company. Sell (but not at a loss!) as soon as you want to invest that $3 somewhere else.

You can fund your Robinhood account with whatever you can afford. It’s not like you are risking your retirement at $3 a pop, but win or lose, you learn something and maybe make money.

Robinhood gives you lots of tips on buying stocks. You can learn a lot and use their tools to study up on the subject while following your stocks – even if they aren’t big ones.