Saving money to invest is becoming more and more difficult every day. The economy is in the tank and it is difficult to make ends meet, but you know you should be investing some money. Luckily, there are several options to invest your money that don't require very much money. These low minimum investments are great for beginners or those looking to build money slowly over the long run.

Five ways to invest with small amounts

1. Direct Purchase Plans or DRIPS- A Direct Purchase Plan, or DPP is a system that allows an individual to purchase shares or even portions of a share directly from the company, while avoiding the middle man. A Dividend Reinvestment Plan, or a DRIP, is very similar to the DPP, the only real difference is that in a DRIP you must be an exisiting shareholder. These allow you to invest amounts such as $25 or so. Through these plans you can purchase parts of a share of stock and build up your money over the long run in a very cost effective manner. Here is a nice list of companies that offer these direct purchase plans.

2. Low Minimum Mutual Funds- More and more mutual funds are lowering the minimum investment to allow small investors to get into their funds. It has become quite easy to find mutual funds that have a minimum as low as $500, and there are now even some as low as $100. These funds offer beginning investors a great way to average into the market and get their feet wet.

3. Certicates of Deposit- CD's aren't necessarily huge earners, especially in a low interest rate environment like we are currently in, but they are extremely safe. Safety and the guarantee of the FDIC make these a great investment at any time. Most CD's have higher rates for those who can invest huge amounts, but for those of us who can't invest as much, there are plenty of decent options.

4. Sharebuilder- Sharebuilder is the ultimate way to start investing in the stock market on the cheap. Trades are extremely cheap and the automatic investment program there has some great benefits. They have over 7,000 investment options, so you won't be short on options for your portfolio.

5. ETF's- ETF's are similar to mutual funds, but have much lower expenses because they take away the human element of picking stocks in most cases. ETF's are also very tax efficient investments that a beginner can take advantage of quite nicely.

The next time you start to think you don't have enough money to invest remember that it only takes just a little. Investing 100 dollars or investing 500 dollars is becoming just about as easy as investing $100,000. One obviously has to be patient with their investments, but building up those investments little by little is certainly a wise strategy.