I recently had lunch with a friend and we brought up money and investing. She explained that she was scared to lose money through investing and she didn’t have the knowledge to invest. Does this sound like you?
She had savings in her TFSA and RRSP but none of the money was invested. There was money sitting in her accounts, earning a tiny bit of interest (probably 1-2%)
Yes, investing is scary, intimidating and unknown to many of us but there are many options to minimize risk. Let me explain…
Here are some reasons people don’t invest
- It’s scary
- They don’t have the knowledge
- They don’t have money to invest
- They need the money soon
- They’re scared of losing money
Here are some reasons people should invest
- Compound interest
- To save for a large expense (for retirement, down payment, wedding)
- To earn higher returns (more than 1% growth that is customary in a traditional savings account)
- To reduce taxable income (if money is invested in an RRSP)
- Because it’s extremely rewarding
Here are some reasons why holding on to too much cash/liquid money can hurt
- Inflation
- Cash drag
Let’s start off addressing the #1 reason people don’t invest: Fear.
Losing money is a valid reason people don’t invest. However, chances are you won’t be putting all your money into 1 stock that is going to tank and bring all your money down with it. There are various places you can invest and they all have different risks. For low(er) risk investments check out Mutual Funds and ETFs. These are equities that are managed by portfolio managers and have various stocks and holdings within them. If one stock in the ETFs does bad, the entire ETFs doesn’t tank. That’s similar to Mutual Funds. Both ETFs and Mutual Funds can be bought under the TFSA and RRSP umbrella so they are tax-sheltered.
Are you still following?
If you want a safe place to invest your money, consider a low-risk portfolio. How can you do this? Talk to your bank or check out Tangerine Investing and Wealth Simple to do it yourself.
Open a Tangerine account with my Orange Key 44516522S1 and get a $50 bonus! The best part about these accounts are that there are NO FEES!
Let’s address the #2 reason people don’t invest: Lack of Knowledge
When it comes to investing, I am still learning, and I still consider myself a beginner but I’m not doing too bad!
I have zero background in finance and I am not even good at math but I know the basics are: keep fees low, buy when the unit price is low, and leave the money alone.
Below is a screen cap on how my Mutual Fund and ETF investments are doing.
On the $7,020.94 I have invested in one of my TFSA accounts, I’ve made around $670 on that money in less than 1 year. I did about an hour of research to figure out which investments I wanted to purchase and looked at some charts before I made my decision. Then I left my money alone. I’ve never sold any investments, I’ve never read any reports, and I don’t look at my investments frequently.
To show you how much you can make on $1,500 here’s a screenshot of just one of my investments: The RBC Global Dividend Growth Fund Series. In less than 1 year, I made $257.21 on $1,500. If I had left the money in my regular savings account, I would have made like $15. Imagine how much you are losing out on if you don’t invest!
Trust me when I say if I can do it so can you!
I have no idea what I am doing most of the time and if I see my accounts drop, I know that they will come back up eventually… it’s just the way the market works. The markets recovered from the Great Depression and the crash of 2008 and it continues to improve.
Obviously, I am not certified to give investment advice, but I do know that investing money is a wise decision for future growth.
Here are 4 steps to take to start investing.
- Save money
- Do research (read the news, talk to your bank, read personal finance blogs/articles
- Take baby steps (invest with a little bit of money and see how that goes)
- Talk to a finance professional
Want to learn more about investing? Me too!
Sign up for my newsletter so I can share what I learn.
