3 Ways to Invest $1,000

A survey by Prudential Research called The African American Financial Experience finds that one of the reasons blacks shy away from financial professionals is because they don’t feel they have enough assets.

[Related: [WATCH] BE’s Stacey Tisdale Shares Her Insights on Millennials at Rider University]

This is consistent with the belief I’ve heard throughout my career as a financial journalist from varied groups – that investing is for the wealthy.

To prove that investing is not beyond the reach of us “99 percenters,” we’ve asked three financial experts how they would invest $1,000 if they were a millennial (born between 1982 and 2004), a Gen Xer (born between 1965 and 1982), or a baby boomer (born between 1945 and 1964).

THE MILLENNIALS

Rianka Dorsainvil, CFP, is president and founder of Your Greatest Contribution financial planning firm: Dorsainvil also serves as 2015 President-elect of the Financial Planning Association’s NexGen community, where she focuses on the cultivation of the next generation of financial planners, and was recently recognized by Investment News in their 2015 list of top “40 Under 40” financial services professionals.

Many millennials seem to have the belief that they cannot afford to invest. What would you tell them?
If your bills are being paid and you have some cash in your emergency fund, it’s safe for you to start investing. For my millennials who say they do not have any money to invest, I challenge them to keep track of their spending–every dime–for two weeks, and see if their perception about not having any money will change. The money we spend eating out, for example, can add up and be a source we can use to start investing.

How would you tell a millennial to invest $1,000?
If I had $1,000 to invest, I would invest it into a Roth IRA. I am in favor of Roth IRAs because when investing in this vehicle your contributions can grow, tax free, and you can generally make withdrawals tax and penalty free after you reach age 59 ¹/₂. You can open up a Roth at your local bank or financial institution such as Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade, etc. As for what I would invest the $1,000 in once it was in a Roth account? An index fund. The most widely known market index is the S&P 500 (SPY).

THE GEN-Xers

Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP, founder & CEO, Financial Fountains: Braxton is also on the board of directors for The Association of African American Financial Advisors.

Many in Generation X feel that they have to make the choice between childcare, their children’s education costs, and saving for their own retirement. What advice would you give them?

Make sure you think of yourself. If we overspend and don’t invest, we will have another generation where children would have to take care of parents. This generation has to really think about how much they are able to realistically fund when it comes to their children’s education. What boundaries do they need to set? Long-term care for parents is also something this generation must contend with. They need to have a tough conversation with their parents so they can really quantify what the financial impact will be on their own household.

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How would you tell someone in Generation X to invest $1,000?
I want to be clear that their first priorities should be emergency savings, saving for short-term goals, and saving for retirement. If I were just thinking about $1,000, however, I would consider the Vanguard 2040 target date fund. (VFORX).  You get diversification, and right now it’s heavily weighted in equities, which will help them reach their financial targets for retirement. If you don’t want as much equity

risk, you can try the Vanguard 2035 fund (VTTHX), which has less money in stocks.

THE BOOMERS

Frank Paré, CFP, founder and president,  PF Wealth Management Group L.L.C.: Paré also serves on the board of directors for the Financial Planning Association, the largest membership organization for CFP professionals in the country.

Baby boomers can feel that it is too late for them to save and invest in meaningful ways because of other financial challenges they have had to endure, such as childcare costs and challenging labor conditions. Is it ever too late or too little?
It’s never too late. I like to tell the story of the Mom who lived in an apartment for 30 years, raised three children, held multiple credit cards, and hadn’t finished high school. This was my first client, and my mother. She didn’t start financial planning until she was in her mid-40s, but by the time she died, she owned a duplex, started an investment account, and was in the process of looking for land in order to build her vacation home. It’s never too late, but it’s important to recognize what you’ve done in the past. My mother had to track spending and vow not to use credit cards.

She also got her GED, enrolled in college, and earned an engineering degree. It’s never too late; it’s really about the mindset. As long as you’re taking in air, you have the opportunity to make things better.

How would you tell a baby boomer to invest $1,000?
One thing that is often taken for granted is investing in oneself. What I mean by that is reading. There are a number of books out there on financial planning, so that you can really look at cash flow, understand how liability works, and from there, figure out how you can free up some dollars. Right now, I’m reading The One-Page Financial Plan, by Carl Richards (Penguin Publishing Group; $14). If I had $1,000 to invest, I would consider the Schwab total stock market index fund (SWTSX). This gives you total market exposure, with the idea being not so much to beat the market, but to get market-type returns, particularly if you have a longer time horizon than a year or two. It is also important that boomers make regular contributions to their investment account to mitigate the risk of losses. Boomers should also talk to professionals so that they can take tax considerations into account.