How Can I Get Free Investment Advice?

If you ever plan to retire, send a child to college or even just outpace the rate of inflation, chances are you could benefit from investment advice. Unfortunately, solid advice rarely comes cheap.

The standard fee financial advisors tend to charge annually is around 1 percent of assets. For example, brokerage and banking company Charles Schwab requires a $25,000 minimum for its mutual fund and ETF portfolio management services, and fees start at 0.90 percent. Meanwhile, a $50,000 minimum investment is required by Fidelity, and a gross annual fee between 0.63 percent and 1.70 percent will be charged.

Over time, these fees can really add up. So, how can one learn to invest without breaking the bank on expensive advisory fees? The good news is that today there are many ways to get access to free investment advice.

How to Get Free Investment Advice

If you’re highly motivated to save on pricey advisory fees (and who could blame you?), then you’re in luck. Anyone can learn the basics of building a well-diversified investment portfolio — as long as they’re willing to roll up their sleeves and dig into one or more of the many sources of information available. Here are five ways you can receive free investment advice that can help you start investing for your future:

1. Read Personal Finance Books

The cornerstone of any solid investment strategy can be learned for free by visiting your local public library. As you search for these highly recommended investment books, don’t be deterred by their publication dates. Many new products have been introduced to financial markets over the years, but the soundest advice never goes out of style.

Here are some books you should consider reading:

• “The Little Book of Commonsense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns” by John C. Bogle
• “A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing” by Burton Malkiel
• “The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing” by Benjamin Graham
• “One Up on Wall Street: How to Use What You Already Know to Make Money in the Market” by Peter Lynch
• “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy” by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

If you can’t find these books in your local library, they are available for an affordable cost on Amazon. And if you don’t mind reading used books or using a Kindle, you can even get some of these books at even lower prices.

Related: 25 Best Personal Finance Books for Your Summer Reading List

2. Visit Finance Blogs and Online Magazines

There are plenty of free online sites where new investors can read about and even ask for money advice. Some of the top personal finance blogs include Get Rich Slowly, Money Crashers, The Simple Dollar and Mr. Money Mustache. And, of course, GOBankingRates features a variety of articles offering free investment advice and tips.

Many personal finance magazines offer free online content as well. Check out Kiplinger, MONEY, Bloomberg BusinessWeek and The Economist.

3. Listen to Financial Podcasts

If you prefer to learn on the go, GOBankingRates recently provided a list of the best financial podcasts and radio shows of 2015. Some of the podcasts that offer advice on investing are “The Disciplined Investor,” “The Money Girl,” “Motley Fool Money” and “Rich Dad Radio Show.”

Read: 20 Experts Reveal Their Favorite Financial Podcast

4. Download Financial Software and Apps

A number of newer sites are offering free online investment advice for the smaller investor. WiseBanyan.com, for one, is marketing itself as the world’s first free online financial advisor. How is the service free? The company offers financial products for sale, but there’s no obligation to upgrade.

Similarly, Wealthfront.com offers free investment management up to a $10,000 balance. After that threshold is met, the portfolio management fee is 0.25 percent per year. Even that’s a small price to pay when compared to the cost of working with an in-person investment advisor. Even better, Wealthfront’s investment team is led by economist Burton Malkiel, author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” mentioned above.

Personal finance sites like Mint.com and LearnVest link your accounts so you can easily view your spending patterns and investment results. These can be valuable tools to help you learn about your own saving and spending patterns.

And lastly, don’t rule out investing apps. Some apps might charge a small fee to download or actually trade stocks, but you can download Acorns, Fidelity Investments and the Yahoo Finance app for free in the App Store.

5. Schedule a Free Consultation With a Financial Planner

Some financial planning firms offer free initial consultations with advisors. Even so, don’t go expecting to get full-service investment advice. Most of these consultations are intended to get prospective clients in the door. You’ll likely spend more time getting to know each other and less time talking about specific financial tactics.

With the said, the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board usually hosts Financial Planning Days in October, where individuals and families have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with CFPs to talk about specific financial planning issues with no strings attached.

While it’s not in person, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine team up to offer a free series of Twitter chats. This is a chance for investors to ask questions by using the #JumpStart hashtag. The next twitter chat is scheduled for June 18.

Keep reading: 31 Ways Financial Planners Can Make You Richer

When you’re just starting out, it helps to know there are many ways to get access to free investment advice. Whether you prefer to receive advice by reading or listening, there is an affordable option for just about everyone.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Can I Get Free Investment Advice?

This article by Alaina Tweddale first appeared on GoBankingRates.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.