Top 10 Ways to Invest $10 Dollars

In the time you have invested researching online, reading books and listening to podcasts on investments, I’m sure the following thought has flowed through your mind: “It takes money to make money.” Which is sometimes followed followed by the thought, “If only I had more money; then, I would get started.” Typical fallacy. I don’t blame you, it’s easy to think in this way when most stories we read about are about someone risking large amounts or their savings to make it big, sometimes leading to a great ending, but most times leading to a negative bottom line.

I have compiled a short list of the top 10 ways to serve as a go-to resource to get started. At the end of this read you’ll learn:

• How to invest $10
• How to invest a (seemingly) small amount of money
• The power of compounding interest
• A list of 10 easy ways to diversify your cashflow

In short, by the time you finish reading this post, you’ll be ready to go out there and spend a little money to make some more.

First off lets explore the definition of investing.

in·vest
/inˈvest/

expend money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial plans, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture.

expend money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial plans, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture.

So immediately the idea stands out to us. Investing means to buy an asset expecting it to appreciate so it can then be sold at a higher price, thereby increasing our capital for future ventures. In addition, investing also works when you buy and hold an asset that generates income. Instead of “locking in” profits by selling the asset, the goal is to buy an asset that will generate cashflow over time. The following examples will contain a bit of both of these ideas.

Invest in Fractional Shares

If you have been watching news lately or paying any attention to any social media you have definitely heard of fintech, investment apps and the momentum of the markets. Lately, some of these apps have made it possible for people like you and me to become retail investors with small amounts. If you are in for the long game, investing in fractional shares or a company whose shares are between $1-10 you can have some money in the market which could be worth much more in a few years.

Through offering value, growth and compounding interest. These $10 can scale up to much more and be useful in your next venture. What is compounding interest? Well I will probably have to dedicate a full post to this later. For now, we will define compounding interest as interest that you earn on previous interest. This can be illustrated by using basic math. If you invest $10 earning 5% interest each year, at the end of year 1, you will have $10.50. However, at the end of the second year you will have $11.02. Not only did you earn 50 cents on the initial $10 but you also earned 2 cents on the 50 cents from the previous year. This may not sound like tons of money, but over a long time, this initial $10 investment, could be worth much more. In 20 years you could have $26.53. Not a lot of money, but if you play with the numbers a little, you can see how this adds up.

Even more exciting, sometimes the growth can be much higher. Let’s look at some examples. In February 2011, Nike (Ticker symbol: NKE) was worth approximately $22/share. If you had invested $10 into Nike at this point, you would have acquired 0.45 shares. Those $10 in 2011 would be worth around $65 in 2021.

Company	Shares for $10 in Feb 2011	Investment Value in Feb 2021
SPY (ETF)	0.08	$         29.70
Exxon Mobile	0.12	$         6.22
Coca-Cola	0.31	$         15.49
Walmart	0.19	$         28.44
JP Morgan	0.21	$         31.06
Nike	0.45	$         65.00
Apple	0.55	$         72.00
Netflix	0.33	$       181.22
Amazon	0.06	$       186.89
Tesla	2.16	$   1,719.83

As you see, only one of these companies returned a loss. Using a simple app such as Robinhood, you could invest a quick $10 dollars into a company right now, and get decent returns years down the line. Always do your due diligence before jumping into the markets.

Invest in a Monetized Hobby

Even better you could use those $10 to pay for an experience tied to your hobby, lets say to go to berry picking and you can record that activity to create content for your YouTube channel or another monetizable platform.

Invest in Knowledge

Same as above investing $10 can easily lead to acquiring a piece of knowledge or set of skills that is easily monetizable. There are decent courses online that are priced around the $10 range. Following one of these courses can become monetizable if you then use that knowledge to teach someone else, create your own digital product, or share your own experience in video or writing. One of the top “How To” videos on YouTube is a video on how to make a Disney princess cake. This 7 minute video has amassed 215 million views in 6 years. This could easily represent a $300,000 estimated total earnings. Assuming that the real earnings are about 10-20% of that, it would still represent a bit more than $30,000.

Additionally, websites such as Humble Bundle routinely post bundles of books (and video games) that cost as low as $1 for a couple of items and can result in trove of knowledge you can use for the future. I actually just purchased a bundle for myself for a total of $15 for 18 books. I will use them to build content for this site well into next year.

Invest in Debts

If you owe money on a car, on a credit card or on student loans, you are not alone. The total household debt in the US has risen to $14.35 trillion. While we know that debt represents a huge problem, most people still think it’s a normal part of life. The reality is that racking up debt robs you of your future and ability to take advantage of opportunities, while also allowing the banks to pocket all that extra money you are paying on interest.

Let’s work with a true to life example. Let’s say you take out a $10,000 loan to purchase a car. The loan needs to be covered in 5 years (60 months) at the average interest rate of 6%. This equates to about $190/month. Adding $10 every month, would not only save you $90 in interest in the long run, but also allow you to finish paying off the loan 3 months earlier, which would free up your cash to make your next move. 3 Months might not seem like a lot, but our time on earth is too limited to be saddled by debt.

Invest in Saving Money

This is a tough one to call out. Most people have heard something along the lines of “Saving money is wise, but investing it is profitable.” And you wouldn’t be wrong to think that. What if I could share with you a secret way in which saving money could free up more money for investing in your future. Well, this is not the saving that you are thinking of; it’s not about putting the $10 in your savings account.

One way you could invest $10 is to spend it on items that will save you money in the long term.

For example lightbulbs. For $10 you can purchase at least 2 CFL lightbulbs. The chart below shows the projected yearly cost of using 2 regular incandescent lightbulbs vs. 2 CFL lightbulbs.

Energy Efficiency and Costs
Type	Incandescent	CFL
Average Life Span	1500 Hrs	8000 Hrs
Watts	60	13
Annual Power Usage @ 8 hr/day	176 kWh	38 kWh
Power for 2 bulbs	352 kWh	76 kWh
Annual Home Lighting Cost (Natianal average $0.13/kWh)	$            45.76	$           9.88

In essence spending these extra $10 today would save you about $35 dollars for the year which you can then invest in something more fruitful. Start thinking about which other items in life are costing you more than they should, and how minimizing those costs can work in your favor in the long run.

Invest in P2P Lending

This one probably deserves its own post as well. Easy to use apps to use such as GROUNDFLOOR allow you to start investing in real estate loans with as low as $10 with as much as 10% APY returns. The exact numbers depend on your investment as well as the time it takes for the loan to be repaid and the app with it’s charts and graphs makes it really easy for you to perform that math.

Groundfloor lends borrowers with cash and then sells loans to investors who share the benefit (or loss). Usually, the creditor is an investor himself who needs a home to flip. (Buy a run-down house, patch it up, and potentially sell for a profit).

By charging the borrower 2 per cent – 4.5 per cent of the principal of the loan, they make their money. For investors, there are no expenses, which is a good feature.

Currently, the site is also the only platform which enables non-accredited investors to invest in individual notes. This has historically been accessible only to approved investors, so it’s great to see them open this option to retail investors like you and me.

Invest in Happiness

So this one is a bit more emotional and opinion based. There are some life experiences that will stay with you long after the business side of things ends. Also building a strong bond with your partner can be an investment in the success of your relationship and therefore the future life you are earning today.

Investing $10 in a bouquet of flowers or in cooking your partner’s favorite meal or an activity you can bond over together can pay off love dividends for a long time. Again, that $10 investment in happiness can cement a relationship that becomes the foundation for a much wealthier future legacy.

Invest in Savings Account

This might be the safest easiest option. However it doesn’t offer much possibility for growth. It is still viable as a short term investment rather than holding that money as cash, where it can’t do anything. Some banks don’t require a minimum deposit, so you’d have to shop around to find one that would allow you to start with as low as $10. The benefit of this is that at least your savings will be generating interest as the bank uses that capital.

The advantages of having money in a savings account are the following:

• A savings account is fast to set up, and to move money to and from
• A savings account can be linked to your primary checking account
• You can withdraw your full balance at any time
• Up to $250,000 is federally insured against bank failure

Invest in Crypto

Here is where we get into the high risk, high reward area of investments. Cryptocurrencies have been around for a while but lately because of the surge in prices and demand they have seen a large increase in value. Arguing whether cryptocurrencies are a viable store of value or even a serious investment is an argument for another day. All I can do is present the facts and based on that and your own research, you can make the choices that best fit your strategy.

What is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a form of payment that can be exchanged over the internet for goods and services. Entities have previously issued their own currencies, often called tokens, and these can be traded specifically for the good or service that the company provides. Think of these coins as you would arcade tokens or casino chips. You’ll need to exchange real currency for the cryptocurrency to be able to use that currency.

Cryptocurrencies work using a technology called blockchain. Blockchain is a decentralized technology spread across many computers that manages and records transactions. Part of the appeal of this technology is its security, achieved through strong cryptography to secure online transactions.

We shouldn’t use past performance to guide our investments in the future. However it’s hard to ignore the previous results in this case, paired with increased demand and adoption over the last couple of years. Here’s another chart. Guess I enjoy these:

Crypto Currency	Amount for $10 in Feb 2019	Value in Feb 2021
Litecoin	0.19535065	$         44.01
Bitcoin Cash	0.08333333	$         58.33
Bitcoin	0.00243309	$       125.74
Ethereum	0.0822639	$       156.47
Dogecoin	5000	$       250.00

What I found interesting here was that you risk to lose it all, but at the same time could have exposed yourself to the possibility of realizing 10 years or more of gains in just 1 or 2 years. Investing in cryptocurrency is not for the fainthearted, and shouldn’t represent more than a tolerable percentage of your portfolio. Nevertheless, cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Having zero of it at this point is not really an option.

Invest in a Domain

Last but not least there is always the possibility of investing into a domain. Owning a domain for a year can be around $10 with the right host.

On the off chance that you have a unused domain — perhaps an idea never took off or you just listed something spontaneously in light of the fact that it sounded cool but never intended to develop it yourself — this name could be worth cash. Domain investing (AKA domaining) resembles ordinary investing —  buy low and sell high — however rather than stocks or other assets, you do it with domains (which you can get for as low as $0.99/yr). It stands to be an incredible income stream as an afterthought, and some wise business people even make their living as domainers.

Namebio offers a list of recent domain sales. You are free to use this to train your mind to assess the value of a domain upon first sight.

Domain	Price	Date	Venue
tradevision.com	$     9,500.00	2/13/2021	Sedo
airgram.com	$     9,900.00	2/4/2021	Sedo
rescuers.com	$    10,000.00	2/12/2021	NameJet
purplekush.com	$    12,369.00	2/17/2021	DropCatch
startuphire.com	$    12,500.00	2/15/2021	Flippa
mastersales.com	$    15,117.00	2/16/2021	Sedo
sin.net	$    20,000.00	1/22/2021	Sedo
appstack.com	$    22,350.00	2/4/2021	GoDaddy
bettercare.com	$    30,000.00	1/22/2021	Sedo
cypherpunk.com	$    31,277.00	2/9/2021	GoDaddy

Based on that chart I could see the appeal of finding a good name you have confidence in and making the investment to hold on to it as long as it takes to finally find a buyer.

Bonus Idea

This is the riskiest but it could be a bit fun for your inner gambler. Here goes some bad advice. Invest $10 into buying ten $1 scratch-off cards or a lottery ticket. The math says you are guaranteed to lose, and this is not a true investment. There are wild stories about people winning large with much less. So if you are willing to lose your $10, you can give this a go.

On the other hand, psychologically, I’m still inclined to believe that some people need to incur the loss to become a bit smarter about the next $10. Maybe losing the lotto play leads to taking the next step and trying one of the previously mentioned strategies.