Investing for Beginners: Your First Five Steps
From emergency fund to your first ETF purchase: a simple order of operations.
5 min read · Savings & Investing
Life situations: Investing and Wealth Building
Starting to invest is easier than it looks. Follow a simple order.
The five steps
- Build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses.
- Pay off expensive debt such as credit cards.
- Use pillar 3a for retirement savings.
- Choose a low-cost broker and a global ETF.
- Set up a monthly standing order.
- Final amount
- Interest earned
Example with default values. Open the calculator →
Time is your friend
Compounding rewards patience. Starting ten years earlier can matter more than a higher return.
Avoid common mistakes
Keep it simple
- Start with a small amount and raise it when you can.
- Automate contributions so you do not have to decide each month.
- Review your plan once a year, not every day.
Do not chase trends, do not invest money you need within five years and keep costs low. See how growth builds up with the compound interest calculator.
Try it yourself: Compound Interest Calculator
Change any input and the result updates instantly. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Final amountCHF 43'822
- Interest earned
- CHF 23'822
- Growth factor
- 2.19
| Year | Balance |
|---|---|
| 5.00 | CHF 24'333 |
| 10.00 | CHF 29'605 |
| 15.00 | CHF 36'019 |
| 20.00 | CHF 43'822 |
- Final amount
- Interest earned