Why should I invest?
Do I really have to invest? That is the question, one question a lot of people would need to answer at some point in their lifetime. However, in today’s world of uncertainty, can we bank on giving our hard earned cash to a company and be rest assured that after a couple of years, we would get more than the amount invested in return. Also, life is so busy, we’ve got lot of things to do, places to go, and so little time to get everything done, how can I find the time to create and manage my portfolio.
Some people think that taking time out to critically analyse the different investment options out there and make the right decisions that fits their lifestyle and financial goals are a waste of time. If you think that is true, let me give you a couple of reasons why you should be very involved in making your investment a priority.
1) Not having to work your whole life.
Can you imagine living to the age of 90 (possible as life expectancy keeps getting higher), and you have to wake up at 6 am and drive to work every day, scary thought but that is what happens when you don’t have enough money to take care of yourself in your “Golden” years. Stats show that some retires are returning back to works, for two main reasons: not enough money to sustain themselves and boredom. There are two ways to make money, by working or having your money work for you. If you dump your money in some savings without investing in some form of asset or security where you can generate more money, chances are you would not have a lot to leave on when you retire.
2) Taking control of your goals
We all have goals in life some goals could be getting the latest tech gadget, while some as daunting as sailing around the world, in all of these you need money and when you don’t have the money to do this, it could lead to frustration and the feeling that you have failed. Needless to say our lifestyle goals are determine by our finances, if you start taking control early in life, chances are you can get far much later in life.
3) Get increased returns.
Imagine these two scenarios, if you had $1,000 which you did not have to spend for another 6 months and you had two options, to put it in savings account at 2.5% or invest in a stock that could appreciate by 40% in 6 months, I don’t know about you but for me it definitely would be option 2. I have nothing against owning a savings account, everyone should have one and I have several but the ultimate goal for money in a savings account is for it to be used for investing.
4) Building a new wealth of knowledge on investing
Like a lot of people I have met, I consider lifelong learning the ultimate goal which promotes long term growth. Commitment to learning how investing works and how to make wise investment decisions to manage your portfolio, requires having basic knowledge of investing principles. We don’t say because we see the doctor regularly, we can eat what we like, live sedentary lives and think everything is going to be okay, no, we need to understand what our bodies need and how it functions. Same with investing, we need to understand what our money is being used for and how assets and funds work.
I hope I have been able to give you reasons why you should seriously consider getting you investment strategy. See you at the next post.