Personal finance and investing can be a daunting venture, especially when you have a limited budget in the first place. Many people assume you need large amounts of extra money in order to get started with an attractive portfolio with even the smallest amounts. If you can only spare $50 per month, you can set yourself for a variety of purchase plans and convenient strategies to build a valuable series of investments.

First, consider how personal investing actually works. Most people are accustomed to working with their personal banker or financial planner to review their current standing; this can help you learn how much money you have available, but beyond this point, you don't need another person to guide you along. Most people turn to a stock broker or brokerage house to start assessing their investment. Not only do these agents charge extra fees for each transaction, but in most cases, you will have limited control on how and when your funds are distributed.

Simply eliminating the broker from the investment process means you can buy the stock directly from the company; this is known as a Direct Purchase Plan (DPP), and can offset any fees you would have with the average agent or broker.

Since you're intervening the standard system, you won't find these plans published anywhere; instead, you'll have to visit websites and do some research on direct investing plans on each company, and Direct Invest.com is a good place to start. You can set up your initial $50 per month investment to be taken out of your bank account automatically, or you can agree to making a monthly deposit. You don't need hundreds of dollars to get started; even $25 or $50 will do, and you can select from a wide range of stocks by purchasing the minimum levels. Even in cases where the program requires an up-front investment amount, you may be able to apply for a waiver if you commit to a monthly or quarterly withdrawal.

Knowing which stocks to invest in will take some time, and you will need to do some independent research since you won't have a broker's advice. Before buying anything, be sure to read up on some basic stock picking strategies and confirm that your stocks are attractive enough in the long term. Practical investment advice doesn't come easy, but with experience, you'll understand how to make the system work for you. Read up on financial magazines, and make a trip to the local library to scan through the latest stock newspapers and articles.

As you start to earn a return on your investments, you'll easily see how your money will grow exponentially. Investing just $100 per month with a 12% return for 20 years will leave you with $86,000. That's a considerable amount, and you can work towards doubling your initial $50 per month to reach that goal.

Don't make the mistake of paying broker's fees just because you have limited information. All of the updates and data is available, you will just need to be resourceful and do some information ‘digging.' As your monthly investment abilities grow, you'll easily start to build your financial portfolio exponentially!