In How to Build Wealth – A Step-by Step Guide, I explain thirty-six principles for mastering your finances and building wealth, and discuss several ways to make your money work for you. Some require due diligence on your part, but some don’t require much effort at all.

If you have income – whether it’s from work, social security, disability or babysitting – you can start building wealth immediately. It really is that simple. Building wealth doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to be an expert on stocks and bonds. You don’t need to know anything about the market to start making money.

If you’ve read my book, you know that having a generous Emergency Fund on hand is essential. But putting all your money in a low-interest bank account won’t make you wealthy. If your bank account is earning two percent interest and the rate of inflation is also two percent, your money isn’t growing. You’re not building wealth. You’re merely breaking even.

So, what’s the easiest way to grow your money?  Here are two very simple ways . . .

If you’re employed, the best place to begin building wealth is by opening a retirement account. You were hoping for a really sexy response, weren’t you? Well, while there’s nothing particularly sexy about a retirement account, it’s an extremely effective wealth builder.

There are several types of retirement accounts. Whether you’re self-employed or employed by a company, non-profit or the government, there’s a retirement account to fit your situation. The traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA), Roth IRA, SEP IRA, Simple IRA and Solo 401(k) are options if you’re self-employed. If you’re an employee, your company might offer a 401(k) retirement account, or a 403(k) if you work for a non-profit, or a 457(b) if you work for the government. Anyone can open a traditional IRA or Roth IRA, but a 401(k) can only be opened through your employer.

Your contributions to a retirement account, except the Roth IRA, typically are made with pre-tax dollars, and your investment grows tax-deferred until you withdraw it. Moreover, many employers will match the funds you contribute to your retirement account. This is free money and it can make your investment grow twice as fast! Seriously! Who doesn’t want free money? I do!

Unless you elect to self-manage your retirement account – which I don’t recommend – your account will be professionally managed. The only decision you’ll need to make is how much to invest each month.

If your situation doesn’t allow for a retirement plan, you still have another very simple way to invest that doesn’t require any special knowledge: an automated investment service, or robo-advisor.

Robos utilize algorithms to invest and manage their clients’ assets. Algorithms are nothing new in the investment business. Morgan Stanley claims to have introduced one in 1962. But putting your portfolio completely in the proverbial hands of a computer – that’s relatively novel. Robos are quickly gaining popularity, though. Minimum deposit requirements vary from brokerage to brokerage. Some companies have no minimum deposit requirements at all.

The Robo Report and Money magazine are great sources for information on automated investment platforms.

Open a robo-account, even if you can start with only a small amount. Settle on an amount you’d like to contribute monthly – again, even if it’s a small amount – and have it automatically debited from your bank account each and every month. Then get on with the rest of your life. The computer will do all the buying, selling, balancing, dividend reinvesting and tax harvesting. You’ll get monthly statements, and you can log on anytime to see how your investment is doing.

When I was writing How to Build Wealth, I opened an account with robo-advisor Betterment just to see how the computer would invest my money. At the end of the year I’ll report in a blog post how Betterment’s annualized returns compare to my other investments. And just for the record, I don’t receive any compensation in any form from the service providers mentioned in my blog posts or book.

Betterment, like a few other services, has no minimum deposit requirements, so anyone eighteen years of age or older, regardless of employment status, can open an account.

Looking for a simple way to start building wealth? Well, it doesn’t get much simpler than that. Get your money working for you!