This article is sponsored by TD Direct Investing to help inform readers about how easy it can be to get started with investing on your own. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

At first, investing can sound a little daunting and complicated – especially when you’re not too familiar with what investing really entails.

Even if you are familiar with basic investment principles, it can be tough knowing how and where to get started.

As someone whose felt intimidated by investing, I realized that my intimidation came from a lack of knowledge. But now I know there are so many valuable resources from sources that can help just about anyone towards gain knowledge and investing confidence!

One resource that’s been crucial to my investing knowledge journey is the TD Direct Investing Learning Centre. Getting started with investing has been seamless for me, thanks to the helpful video lessons and webinars in the Learning Centre that taught me about topics like budgeting, planning for life events, paying down debt, managing my money and more. Plus, it’s all included for TD Direct Investing clients at no additional cost! 

To get you a little motivated, and hopefully help you get started, I’ve shared 5 reasons why I think investing educational resources like the Learning Centre are worth checking out. 

1. Your future self will thank you for learning about investing before you get started. Approaching anything that you’re unfamiliar with can seem confusing at first, so there’s no need to dive headfirst into investing without learning about the fundamentals first. Learning the basics will help you understand the different ways for you to invest so that you can choose based what works for your current needs.

2. You can learn & invest from almost anywhere. Whether you’re on the go, or working from home, you can log into the TD Direct Investing Learning Centre and continue where you left off. Bonus – once you’re up to speed and feeling more confident about investing on your own, you can use a comprehensive mobile app, like the TD app, to actually trade & monitor your investments while on the go!

3. You’ll surprise yourself with the goals you’re able to set. Maybe you’re worried that your financial goals seem unrealistic – but you’d be surprised with how much can be within your reach once you understand investing. So, take advantage of those tools available to you – especially when they’re available at no additional cost.  TD Direct investing has a new service, called TD GoalAssist™, which offers a simplified, low-cost approach to goal-based investing.  

4. You’ll learn how your spending habits are working for (or against) your savings goals. No matter what stage of life you’re in, budgeting is important. Understanding how much money you make, spend, and save can help you stay aligned with your goals. It can also help you feel more in control of your overall finances – and that’s ultimately a good thing.

5. If you don’t want to invest right away, you’ll at least gain some valuable investing knowledge! Even after using the TD Direct Investing Learning Centre, I haven’t been able to apply every single bit of investing knowledge I’ve learned at this point in time – but that information will likely become useful in the future as I become a more advanced investor. If anything, it helps build a foundation for basic finance and investing principles that you can carry with you wherever you go in life.

It’s never too late to consider investing. Taking the time to check out the TD Direct Investing Learning Centre will be useful, no matter how large or small your financial goals are. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to check it out here and let me know what you think!