Today I want to spend a few minutes talking to you a little bit about investing. Most people work their butts off to pay off their debts and if they start a savings account, they think they’re doing really good. And maybe eventually they save up a good little nest egg.
From that point on their financial goals start to wane, if they have financial goals at all! Maybe they start saving for a vacation. But the bottom line is a lot of times, that saved money has no bigger purpose. It’s just money you’ve saved to spend later, right?
You absolutely should have a nest egg because you never know when circumstances in your life may change. But what you also need to realize is that money is seed. If you truly want to stop being a slave to money and start making money work FOR you, you have to plant it and let it grow.
Here are two big secrets to investing:
1. You have to realize that there is something called inflation in our nation, the cost of living and other expenses increase every year. This means that the money sitting in your savings account is actually worth less as time passes. If all you ever do is put money in a bank account, you will actually be able to afford less and less. Numbers do not equal wealth.
You may have heard me mention that you need to make money your slave instead of the other way around. All that starts with knowing exactly where all your money goes. Usually when I am showing people how to create their budget I suggest giving 10% to charity, 10% to savings and to live off the remaining 80% (which breaks down into fun budget, food budget, bills, etc).
Ultimately, only you know what percent works best for your personal budget. But you might want to consider putting another 5-10% or, if your budget is tight, consider taking a portion of what would go into your savings account and set it aside for investing or growing your account. This way you have money set aside for growth and if you lose out or something happens, it doesn’t affect your nest egg.
You think your money is safe in a bank account because you don’t run the risk of losing it. Which is true, I’ve witnessed people research for days and still lose thousands of pounds on investments. But you also won’t grow.
2. There is, however, one investment that always gives you 100% return on what you put in. It is the gold mine of investing that gives consistent results in every area of your life, including your finances.
Yourself! If you are continually investing in yourself, your knowledge and your skill sets raise your value in the marketplace automatically. There is no replacement for what your expertise has to offer. And the more you refine that and pour into that, the bigger your bank accounts will grow, guaranteed.
If you are one of those who is generally squirmish about where to invest or what market to get into, consider using that money you set aside to learn a new skill, or to expand on one you already have.
If you’re looking for a blueprint or cheat sheet on where to invest or how, there isn’t one. All the research and knowledge of stocks or property in the world do not guarantee anything. Even those with years of experience meet misfortune. Maybe that new skill set you invest in could be learning about the real estate market. But don’t use your lack of knowledge as an excuse!
I have a question for you. You may have kids at home that are getting older, maybe even some have a job already. Have you been teaching them how to make wise financial decisions and what a budget is? Do they follow a 80/10/10 rule or something like it? If not, today’s Daily Thought would be a great start. Print it out and start that conversation tonight at dinner.
Make sure to like and share this message, and let’s demolish this fear of investing, or this lie that it is only for a select group of people. Imagine a country where we are all growing our seeds and becoming financially independent!
