Johna Strickland

Former Bankrate investing editor Johna Strickland has explained complicated topics to everyday people for more than 15 years. As an editor and journalist, she has touched on nearly every aspect of personal finance and written extensively about the intricacies of public money across local, state and federal entities to help educate taxpayers.

Her coverage included focusing on the financial impacts of government budgets and projects, taxes, legal cases and legislative initiatives. She believes in investing what you can as early as you can and loves spending travel credit card rewards and fiddling with her retirement plan.

Johna wants you to know

I cashed out my first 401(k), also the only one I’d have in my 20s, because I didn’t understand a rollover to a new provider. But one of the beautiful things about investing and saving for retirement is that you can start over, start again, start from a different place. I did all three.

What matters is that you start. You may make mistakes too but you’ll figure it out. Even experts were once beginners.

Investing can be risky and complicated but investing can also be affordable and straightforward. Start with the basics — fund your retirement accounts, give a robo-advisor a try, look at index funds — but start. Even if it's just $10 at first.