In my book, I talk about how I had to learn about investing my money for my future. I tell a story about calling the investment service that had my meager retirement funds after my first husband died. He looked at what I had and told me I had to diversify. I responded that I was diverse! I had THREE FUNDS!!! As I discuss in the book, I’m sure he put his head in his hands before responding. He eventually explained that they were all stock funds and I needed more than that. I had no clue about what he was talking about.

A few years later, I got a financial planner who helped me to understand a lot more about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. I learned. I now have a wide variety of investments in my retirement portfolio. And, because I had help with my investments from a financial planner, I’m now comfortable in retirement.

So why invest? Can’t I just put it in the bank? While some money does belong in the bank, you want to invest for the long term. This is money you’ll use later in life for retirement and helps you build wealth. As of this writing, my investments have averaged 11.31% over the last year. Over five years, I’ve earned 8.43%. Does your bank give you that kind of return?

I’m not telling you this to brag. I’m telling you this so that you see the value in investing your money.

But, you say, you don’t have money to invest. This is where sacrifices have to happen. Give up that morning latte. Quit eating out so much. Look at ways to cut your spending. There are things you can’t cut, but most people have stuff they can eliminate. It’s time to go bare bones.

Moral of the story:

Start investing your money. Find a financial planner if you don’t already have one and do whatever they tell you to do to build wealth. The younger you are when you start, the more money you’ll have when you retire. I’ll do another post soon about how to find a financial planner.