I am mentoring a talented lady about 5 years into her career.
During our conversation this afternoon, the topic of stock investing and saving for retirement came up.
She asked me whether she should trust her Financial Advisor – who happens to be a classmate of hers.
This was my response.
Whether we like it or not, money plays a big part in life. We might as well develop some liking for it, identify the “good of money” and explore ways to make our money work harder for our long-term enjoyment.
Lots of research has proven that the following does work to build a nice nest egg:
- Saving regularly (saving 1 $ a day everybody can become a millionaire in his or her lifetime!)
- Investing in the stock market with ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
- Keeping fees down
- Diversifying your portfolio
- Holding investments for the long term—like 15 + years
- Avoiding scams
This won’t guarantee overnight success, but it will heavily tilt the probabilities of long-term success in your favor. In fact, it would be hard to fail.
Don’t ever forget what’s important to achieve financial literacy:
It’s not about how much money you make in life.
It’s how much money you keep and make it grow.
And allow me to clear up one misunderstanding that many people have about investing:
Managing your money and investing should be boring.
In case you are looking for excitement and entertainment, do look into other fields, but don’t expect excitement from investing your money.
The price you’d pay for that excitement will be too high.