Investing is one of the things I wish I had started earlier
It wasn’t until the age of 20 when I learnt about investing.
Before then I was only interested in the fun things in life… clubbing, drinking, and getting laid. I also never really thought about the future. I always hoped that I would graduate university, get a fun, well paid job with a fat salary which would get me a mansion and a model wife.
Either that, or somehow, I would get famous and then I would have a Ferrari and a mansion with a swimming pool. And a tennis court in the garden of course.
Without a clear idea of what I actually wanted to do for the rest of my life, I was even more clueless about money, taxes and all of that ‘financial nonsense’.
The pandemic brought an abrupt end to my ‘fun life’. Clubs were closed for the foreseeable future and I had no choice but to sit down and actually think about what I needed to improve on in life.
Then one day, by chance, when I was starting my self-development phase of my life (I know, life dropped that low) I began reading. A friend had recommended the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ by Robert Kiyosaki.
The book Rich Dad, Poor Dad book is simply a mindset book. For me at least, it changed my mindset on money. Almost contradicting my whole previous belief of money, I couldn’t put it down and I finished the whole 336-page book in two days.
For those who haven’t read the book the main conclusion from the book is that you should invest in assets. Assets give you money and are good investments — potentially making you richer if you chose them wisely. With the rising inflation rates, it is silly to have a lot of money just sitting in the bank.
In the end, they are just numbers on a screen. Doing nothing apart from slowly losing their value over time if they are not spent.
I started off by looking at my bank and savings balance. My savings included money I had earnt from various ‘handyman’ jobs I had done over the years and some other money I had accumulated over the years (thank you student loans!). But basically, there was too much to waste in there if nothing was used. I kept a backup amount of course, but then I began my investment journey.
With the year turning 2021, cryptocurrencies were the main ‘hype’ online for investing and I didn’t want to miss out. These ‘decentralized’ currencies can be bought on coinbase or other crypto exchange marketplaces. Beware, the market is very volatile, but that is what makes it fun. One day the cryptocurrency you purchased could be half the value you bought it, the next day it could be 10x the value you bought it for.
I also started investing into some stocks and shares. By using the Freetrade app, I could buy any share, or portion of a share of any company (that they had). Personally, I find stocks and shares boring, and they have not been the greatest asset I have owned.
In fact, as mentioned in Rich Dad Poor Dad, for me they are the definition of a liability. This is because instead of putting money into my pocket they have sucked it out. But this is mainly because I invested at the wrong time and with the wrong company. But hey, we only learn from our mistakes!
My favourite investment is commodities. Commodities include gold, silver and oil. The good thing about gold and silver is that there is a finite amount available, so what you own is valuable and worth something, no matter what happens in the economy.
Plus, you can buy coins of gold and silver which look sick.
It has been a good 8 months since I started investing. Since then, I have gained money, and lost money. Each loss was a learning experience which I am glad I went through at a young age. Now my portfolios have grown, and I feel like I have managed to get a good set of assets under my belt.
Instead of sitting back and waiting for the money to come in the form of pay slips, now at least I have some money coming in from the investments and have an understanding on finances and tax.
Financial knowledge is not as boring as I thought it was, and I would highly recommend investing to not only improve your financial intelligence, but also to get that money that is doing nothing to ‘work for you’.
