awesome for beginners. I can finally justify STARTING an investment portfolio because I don't need so much money up front.

And now it seems like a good time to do it too. The automakers are close to their annual lows, Disney is below $100/share for the "first time in forever" and I've had a lot of fun picking up and making some money on the coal mines that were left for dead after falling from $3k/share down to $2. Now back up to $4. Nice return so far.

If you only have a bit of cash, I highly recommend RobinHood. Just get started. A lot of affordable options in name-companies right now. Heck, when I started Apple was low (I should have bought it, went Disney instead), and it's rebounded quite nicely.