Investing basics · Step-by-step guide

Your first investment,
step by step.

READ4 min·UPDATED·APPLIES TOUnited States·LEVELBeginner
For first-time investors ready to open an account. Sources are listed at the bottom of the page; check their dates before acting.

Not the theory. The actual steps. Open an account, pick a fund, set up automatic contributions. This is everything you need to make your first investment in under an hour.

This page covers US brokerage accounts and IRAIndividual Retirement Account (IRA)A retirement account with tax advantages and eligibility rules. Traditional IRA contributions may be deductible; taxable withdrawals generally enter income. Roth contributions use after-tax money, and qualified Roth withdrawals are tax-free.Full definition rules. Outside the US, the fund tickers differ but the step-by-step approach is the same.

This page is the readiness check and first-purchase checklist. For why low-cost indexing works and account order, see Investing for Beginners; for eligibility and the click-by-click Roth IRA setup, see Open a Roth IRA.

Short answer

Step 1: open a Fidelity account at fidelity.com. Select Roth IRA if you have earned income and are under the income limit. Step 2: fund it with any amount. Step 3: buy FZROX (a 0 percent expense ratioExpense ratioThe yearly fee a mutual fund or ETF charges, stated as a percentage of your investment and taken out of the fund's assets instead of billed to you. A 0.03% ratio costs $3 a year per $10,000 invested; a 1% ratio costs $100. Lower is better.Full definition total-market fund). Step 4: set up automatic monthly contributions. Done. Everything else is optional.

On this page
  1. Before you start: two checks
  2. Open the account
  3. Fund the account
  4. Pick a fund
  5. Set up automatic contributions
  6. What to do now
  7. What comes later
  8. A contribution is not yet an investment

Before you start: two checks

CHECK 1: EMERGENCY FUND

At least $1,000 in a separate savings account. If you don't have this yet, build it first. See Emergency Fund.

CHECK 2: HIGH-INTEREST DEBT

Any debt above 7 percent APRAnnual Percentage Rate (APR)The yearly cost of borrowing money, shown as a percentage.Full definition? Pay that off first. The guaranteed return of eliminating 24 percent credit card interest beats any investment. See Debt Types.

If both checks pass: proceed.

Open the account

Go to fidelity.com/open-account/overview ↗ ×DON'T TRUST, VERIFYClaim: Fidelity's standard account-opening page is at fidelity.com/open-account/overview.Verify at: fidelity.com ↗ Source 1 in the list belowConfirm the URL is current before following the link. Fidelity occasionally reorganizes its account structure..

Select account type:

  • Roth IRA: if you have earned income (W-2 or self-employment) and your modified adjusted gross incomegross incomeYour total income before any taxes or deductions are subtracted. is under the limit (roughly $153,000 single / $242,000 married for 2026 contributions) ×DON'T TRUST, VERIFYClaim: Roth IRA contribution phase-out ranges are roughly $153,000 single / $242,000 married for 2026.Verify at: IRS: Roth IRA phase-out ↗ Source 2 in the list belowThe IRS publishes annual inflation-adjusted phase-out ranges. Verify against current year..
  • Individual (taxable) brokerage: if you're over the Roth income limit, or want withdrawal flexibility.

Information needed: Social Security number, bank account and routing number (for the initial transfer), employment information.

Time required: roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Your account is open.

Fund the account

Link your bank account (Fidelity will prompt you). Transfer any amount, even $50. The transfer takes one to three business days to settle. Your money sits in a settlement fund until you buy something with it.

Two identical flowerpots: one with an unopened seed packet on the soil, one with a sprouted seedling in orange.
An IRA or brokerage account is a container. Transferred cash sits in the settlement position until a fund such as FZROX is bought with it.

Pick a fund

For a Roth IRA or taxable brokerage at Fidelity:

FZROX
Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund
  • Expense ratio: 0.00 percent ×DON'T TRUST, VERIFYClaim: Fidelity FZROX has a 0.00 percent expense ratio and tracks the total US stock market.Verify at: Fidelity FZROX fund page ↗ Source 3 in the list belowFidelity's ZERO funds have zero expense ratios and zero minimums, available only on the Fidelity platform.
  • What it holds: essentially every publicly traded US company.
  • Minimum investment: $1.

Alternative: FSKAX (Fidelity Total Market Index Fund, 0.015 percent expense ratio). Virtually identical to FZROX. Preferred if you might move the account to a different brokerage later, because non-Fidelity brokerages generally do not hold the ZERO-series funds.

HOW TO BUY
  1. Type FZROX in the search bar.
  2. Click "Buy."
  3. Enter the dollar amount (not shares, dollar amount).
  4. Confirm.

That's your first investment.

Set up automatic contributions

This is the most important step. A one-time investment is good. Automatic monthly contributions are how wealth is built.

AT FIDELITY

Accounts → Automatic Investments → Set up a recurring transfer from your bank → Select FZROX → Set amount and frequency.

Illustration, not a forecast: start from $0 and invest $50 at the end of each month for 40 years. At a constant 7% effective annual real return, the monthly rate is (1.07)^(1/12) − 1 and the result is approximately $123,577 in today’s dollars. Contributions total $24,000. This excludes taxes and fees and assumes contributions keep constant purchasing power; actual returns vary and losses are possible. With nominal APR/12 instead, the numerical result differs, so the rate convention must be stated.[4]

What comes later

Once the Roth IRA is set up and automatic, other moves make sense:

  • Add a small Bitcoin DCADollar-cost averaging (DCA)Investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule, such as $50 every payday, regardless of price. It spreads out when money enters the market and buys more units when prices are low, but it does not guarantee a better price than investing all at once, a profit or protection against loss.Full definition. See How to Buy Bitcoin.
  • Set up a credit card that earns cashback. See Credit Card Strategy.
  • Open a Fidelity Cash Management Account for checking. See Banking.

Those come later. Not today. Today: open the account, pick FZROX, set up auto-contributions.

A contribution is not yet an investment

An IRA or brokerage account is a container. A bank transfer can leave cash in its settlement position until you buy a fund or other holding. Confirm both the cash transfer and the recurring purchase, check the chosen fund and fee, and verify the first transaction before relying on automation.

Where to go from here

Do next

Compound Interest Visualizer

See what the automatic monthly contribution this page sets up actually grows into.

Read next

Pick 401(k) Funds

What to pick when a 401(k) is the only account available.

Explore further

Sources

Bracketed numbers and verify badges in the text link to these sources. Figures, rates and rules change: check each source’s date before acting on it.

  1. Fidelity Investments, Open an Account with Fidelity ↩
  2. IRS: Roth IRA phase-out · irs.gov ↩
  3. Fidelity FZROX fund page · fundresearch.fidelity.com ↩
  4. Introduction to Investing | Investor.gov ↩
  5. SEC compound interest calculator · investor.gov

Last updated . Not financial advice. Disclosures · How pages are reviewed

Subscribe via RSS for new articles.