A little bit of effort could save you thousands and that's money in your pocket. Take your time and speak to licensed debt counsellors from as many places as you can find. While a couple of extra days won't make much difference at this stage they could add months or even years on to the length of your repayment schedule. We need to know which types of investment they are considering when they ask "what is the first step to investing?" Many newcomers to the world of investments think only of stocks and shares but there are of course many more options out there. Some of which are possibly far better for beginners. Safe Investing For Beginners Safe investing should be the aim of anyone thinking of investing for the first time. Of course safe investing means different things to different people. To some the idea of safe is simply to put their money on deposit. However from a stock market point of view let's look at what safe means to new investors. Investing like anything else is a skill which has to be learned and the good news is that there are plenty of opportunities to learn it. To begin with it's a good idea to have a plan. Your plan should cover exactly what it is you are investing for. Ok you know you want to invest for the future but exactly when in the future? Equally important if someone decides to go ahead is making certain that the loan they are taking out is the cheapest they can get. A great way to do this is to shop around and compares prices and costs exactly the same as for making any major purchase. With the internet available to just about everyone now doing the checking can be a very simple task. More and more people are moving over from the high street banks to the online banks and applying the savings and checking accounts on them for the myriad conveniences that they can get out of them. But at the same time, you have to realize that there might be disadvantages of these online accounts too.