Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If you haven’t started, learning to invest your money is a smart, but also a potentially perilous undertaking if you don’t know what you’re doing. There are lots of books, teachers and programs out there encouraging us to invest but many people don’t know where to start. The following contributed post is entitled, These Tips will Help you to Make your Very First Investment.
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Making your very first investment can be a daunting task to say the least. You may find that your mind flashes back to the very first global crises and market dips. This is understandable, but at the end of the day, you have to make sure that you do everything you can to move past this or you may end up stunting your own potential. If you want to make a positive change then this guide will tell you everything you need to know.
Set some Goals
Before you even begin thinking about making your first investment, you need to figure out why you are investing. You need to start out with a specific life goal, whether it’s your wedding or even your retirement. Don’t throw up a number, do your research and try to be a bit specific about it if you can. Online calculators can easily help you to figure out your investment strategy and it can also help you to really make the most out of your finances overall. Your goals may well change over time and there is nothing wrong with this, but at least you have a tangible reward that you can try and push for.
Work Out a Timeline
Next up, you have to figure out what timeline you are going to have to reach your goal. This will help you to figure out how much you need to put away. As a general rule, it helps to follow the 50-30-20 strategy. This is where 50% of your income goes towards your living expenses. 30% of your money will be for discretionary spending and 20% will then go away for your savings. This amount may vary of course, depending on your goal and your overall time horizon. Often, the more money you can put into your investment, the better. This is all because of compound interest. This will enable you to earn way more interest on your returns. That being said, you have to make sure that you understand what you can afford. If you start baking into your plan that you are eventually going to have a great career and can therefore put away more, then you will end up being disappointed. Start with what you know you have right now and adjust it later on. If you do this, then you will soon find that you can come out on top with ease.
Understand your Risk Tolerance
Alongside your timeline, you need to put in the work to increase your risk tolerance. This is especially the case for medical device investors. If you are a millennial, your objectives will be quite long-term in the overall nature. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach here, so if you are an investor, you have to make sure that you are true to yourself where possible. If you know that you are not comfortable with what you are doing so far then you will end up making the wrong investment.
Diversify
When you have managed to pin down your goal and your strategy overall, it’s then time for you to work out the best vehicle for your investment needs. For a lot of first-time investors, this will be an index fund which is passively managed. This will give you access to a lot of market indices or even a low-cost digital manager who will go ahead and make your portfolio for you on your behalf. The most important element that you have to look for however is diversification. You need to try and get exposure to a lot of different asset classes, whether they are equities, bonds or even property. You need to have a portfolio that is diversified enough so you don’t lose sleep if something was to happen.
Remember about Fees
Digital wealth platforms have really helped to lower the entry barriers to the investment world. That being said, you will still need to pay fees. If you go for a wealth managing platform, then you will end up paying more as well. If you want to get the best result out of your investing experience, then you need to try and opt for a platform where you don’t have to pay an exit fee. If you can do this, then you will soon find that you have way more flexibility over your investment and that you can also really help yourself to take things to that next level in terms of your overall profit margin. If you have never invested before or if you want to try and experiment a little before you lock yourself in, then it is a good idea for you to start up a demo account. When you do this, you will soon find that you can experiment with a virtual currency, so you don’t have to worry about a thing at all there.
Forget about It
The last step for investors would be for you to forget about your investment. A lot of platforms that can be used to invest now give you some kind of on-demand performance overview. Observing your portfolio is a good way for you to monitor the amount of risk you are facing, but that being said, it’s important to ensure that it does not disrupt your strategy overall. You need to check your investments on a quarterly rota if possible. If you can do this, then you will ensure that you are not making any mistakes by leaving your investment for too long and you also eliminate the risk of pulling out of an investment impatiently. Of course, there are many benefits to investing, but at the end of the day, you also have to make sure that you are exploring the right options and that you are also taking the right steps to safeguard yourself against any risk. If you can ensure that this is the case, then you can easily hire an advisor. When you do, they can help you to stay on top of anything you might need to know, and
they can also work with you to ensure that you are taking the right steps to protect your portfolio.
