3 Investing Myths That May Be Costing You Serious Money

If you want to grow wealthy, you need to invest. Unless you win the lottery or marry rich, smart investing is the absolute best and easiest path to building financial security.

Unfortunately, many people don't invest because they've bought into some common myths. If you're one of those people, these myths could be costing you. Let's take a look at them, so you can make sure that these misconceptions aren't holding you back.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. You need a lot of money to invest

One of the biggest misconceptions people have about investing is that it's something only the wealthy do or that you need a lot of money to get started. This couldn't be further from the truth. Many brokerage accounts have no minimum investment requirements and can be opened online in minutes. You just need to fill out a few forms and can get started with a couple of dollars.

Many brokers also offer fractional shares, which are partial shares of stocks or ETFs, so you don't need enough money to buy a full share to start investing. If you're interested in buying an investment that costs $100 but you only have $10, you can buy 1/10th of a share of your chosen investment. You'll still earn the same returns on a percentage basis as someone who has 1 million shares.

So, don't let fear of not having enough hold you back. Just get started. Investing even small amounts over time really can make a difference, too. If you invest $100 per month for 40 years and earn 10% average annual returns, you'd end up with over $531,000.

2. Investing is complicated

Another common belief holding people back is that investing is complicated. But it absolutely does not have to be. If you have a basic understanding of what a stock is (aka that it's fractional ownership of a company), you have enough knowledge to get started.

That's because there are really easy investments out there. One of the easiest is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the S&P 500. Essentially, when you buy an ETF, you're buying a pooled investment that aims to track the performance of a financial index. Your money is combined with a bunch of other people's money, and, in this case, it's used to buy shares of the 500 or so largest companies in America that make up the index.

Fees on this investment are low because there's no need for a professional to actively select investments, and the S&P 500 has consistently produced 10% average returns over the long haul. Since your money is spread across 500 large companies, it also provides instant diversification and is like betting on the U.S. economy.

Now, of course, if you want to learn more about investing and buy individual stocks, you may be able to beat the S&P -- but if you're holding back from investing because you don't know what to buy, an S&P fund could be your perfect answer.

3. Timing matters a lot

Finally, the last big myth holding people back is that timing matters. You may feel like you want to buy investments at the perfect time. This isn't a very good strategy, though. No one really knows when the best or worst time to buy is. If you're investing for the long term, it doesn't even really matter if you buy at the "wrong" time, since your investment should still go up over time.

So, don't let these myths hold you back. Dive into investing today so you can start making your money work for you.

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.