Once you’ve decided to open an account, you don’t want to get bogged down in the details of how to open it.

Here’s a walk through of the process at Vanguard:

Step 1:

Step 2: Click on the “open a new account” button.

Step 3: You can register, or skip this step until later.

Step 4: Vanguard thankfully tells you what you need before you get in the middle of everything so you can gather documents.

To open an account you’ll need: your Social Security Number, Date of Birth, Email address, Street address, Employer name and address. You’ll also need a check for your account and routing number.

Step 5a (for a retirement account):

–OR– Step 5b (for a general savings/investing account):

Step 6: Choose your investments, or just set up the account and select your investments later.

Step 7: If you choose to come back later to pick out investments, you can enter the amount of money to transfer to set up the account. There’s a $3,000 minimum.

Step 8: Electronic transfers are the easiest, but checks will work fine too.

So there you have it! How to open an account in 8 easy steps.