Investing

I would agree with most of what has already been said, but let me add a bit of practical advice as well. As a first time small investor you should be investing in a broad range of equities across most economic sectors. The most practical and least costly way of doing that is to invest an an Exchange Traded Index fund (ETF), something like the and  S&P 500 index ETF or the total stock market ETF. For example, and only for example, SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), or Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), or Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), and similar products. Second, invest what you can afford to live without, but invest regularly (dollar cost average). Over time you will realize the benefits of the economy's growth, but there will be times when your investments depreciate. Just stick with it for the long run. If you have some money in the bank that you're not prepared to lose, but you'd like to earn some better interest on those funds, think of investing in Treasury bills. You can buy T-bills directly though a Treasury Direct account in amounts of a little as $1000, and it's simple to set up an account. Right now a 91-day T-bill is yielding about 2.4% and the investment is the safest in the world.  The Treasury site is: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/

Good luck