First, I wanted to dip my toes in the water with small sums of money. There’s no better way to learn how these investments work than by becoming an investor yourself with a tiny sliver of your portfolio. Also, with some of these platforms, I’ve had advertising or referral relationships in place, and I figure if I’m researching them and presenting them as potentially viable options for your investment dollars, I should be comfortable investing with them myself, which I’ve done in most cases.