If you’re investing your money, there's a big chance that your $1,000 today will be worth more at this time next year. When you invest, you let money work for you and hopefully earn you income.
If you put $1,000 away today in an investment account and you don’t touch it for 30 years, how much do you think it will be worth? With a historical average return of 7% on the stock market, your money will be worth $8,165.
If you’re just starting out, I would recommend saving just as much money as you can. Maybe that’s $100 per month, maybe that’s $25 per month. It’s all fine.
This part is very important! Do your research when investing. Don’t think: Google had a +20% return over the past year, which means I should buy it. Or: I like my MacBook, I think I should invest in Apple, they make products I like.
The best you can do in my opinion is to open an account with an online broker. You can also find someone to manage your investments for you, but their fees are mostly way higher.
How much stock or bond allocation you take is up to you, depending on how much risk you want to take. Do you want to go for higher risk? Focus more on stocks. Do you want to go for a lower risk? Focus more on bonds.