Never invest more than you can afford to lose.

If you're reading this, you're probably eager to start investing and making money. But before you do, there are a few things we need to cover.

Just like stretching before running a race, or looking up directions before going on a road trip, doing these things will significantly lower the chances of you getting hurt or lost as you start investing.

1. Are you living in debt?

2. Are you living paycheck to paycheck?

If either of these two things are true for you, then you're going to want to figure out a way to address these issues first, before you start investing.

When it comes to investing, you have the potential to both make but also lose money.

The general rule of thumb when it comes to financial planning is to try to save at least 3-6 months worth of expenses in cash, then any left over money that you have after that can be used to spend on whatever you'd like, such as investing. The reason this is important is because you never want to be in a situation where you're forced to sell your investments just to pay the bills. Sometimes investments take years to pan out, so you have to be patient with them.