With you, having only $50/month, it’s pointless to learn much about the whims of the stock market. In your situation, you really just need to understand 5 things.

1. Time is the most important factor. The sooner you can start putting your money to work for you, the better. The longer you have until retirement, the more you stand to gain from your investments. Start today, and don’t look back.

2. Understand the differences between basic account types such as a 401k, traditional IRA, and ROTH IRA. Especially as they relate to taxes. Taxes are going to have a major impact on your nest egg in retirement, arguably the biggest impact other than your investment selection.

3. Stick with low cost ETFs or target date funds. Don’t buy individual stocks, buy baskets of stocks. Vanguard funds are generally the gold standard. You’ll want to do at least a bit of research on specific funds like VOO or VTI and ideal allocations based on your age and specific goals… A good place to start would be googling the 4 fund portfolio.

4. Don’t panic when the stock market tanks. It happens. As long as you aren’t nearing retirement in the next couple years or so, just let it ride.

5. As you near retirement you’ll want to rebalance your portfolio from aggressive to more conservative. This basically means selling your riskier investments (stocks) and buying safer investments (bonds). You have 30 years before retirement to learn about this stuff, but if it seems too complicated or you’re not interested in learning, just go back to step 3 and stick with a target date fund. With target date funds, all you do is select the date you expect to retire and they will automatically adjust your portfolio as you get closer to that “target date”. Most 401ks have target date options.

All that being said, I’d also recommend you download the Acorns app. It’s a great platform for beginners. Fidelity is great too.