Ah, 30 years ago. The days when I thought the most important decision in my life was what variety of cheap sparkling wine to buy or whether I could go without food to purchase a hair crimping iron (it was the early 90s). Back then, investing, not even sure I knew what it was and certainly KiwiSaver didn\u2019t exist. Had it even come up in conversation (which it didn\u2019t because I was so much more focused on hitting karaoke bars Thursday \u2013 Saturday in Wellington where I grew up), it would have felt as distant as quantum physics \u2013 complex, confusing, and probably best left to someone else that was vaguely interested in atom stuff. Little did I know that one day I\u2019d be working in an investment firm, surrounded by words like \u201cdiversification\u201d and \u201ccompound returns\u201d instead of \u201cparty tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n
So, if I could go back in time and drop some investment wisdom on my younger self (right between convincing myself not to buy one shoulder overalls), here is what I would tell me:<\/p>\n
1. Start early, chick. Seriously!<\/strong><\/span> 2. Diversify, Diversify, Diversify.<\/span><\/strong> 3. Patience, Grasshopper.<\/strong><\/span> 4. Risk Is Inevitable \u2013 But Manage It.<\/strong><\/span> In conclusion, past me, if you\u2019re reading this from another dimension \u2013 start investing now. But also, maybe hold off on buying more off the shoulder overalls, they made your bum look big.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …if I could go back in time and drop some investment wisdom on my younger self (right between convincing myself not to buy one shoulder overalls), here is what I would tell me:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":41772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[710,848],"tags":[840],"media_type":[],"fund_category":[],"class_list":["post-41602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-getting-started","category-investing","tag-masterclass"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nYes, I know saving money feels like a personal betrayal of the fun-loving spirit, but future-you will thank you. Time is your best friend when it comes to investing. Compound returns are magical. Like Harry Potter, but with numbers. It\u2019s the secret sauce to growing wealth \u2013 money making money on the money you\u2019ve already made. If I had opened an investment fund account and regularly thrown in a few dollars in each week or month after that, instead of spending my spare cash on Oasis CDs, I\u2019d probably be lounging on a yacht by now (well, possibly not but I am embellishing here to illustrate a point).<\/p>\n
\nPutting all your money into shares in one company or one asset class is like betting all your chips on one number at the roulette table. Sure, you could win big, but you\u2019re more likely to walk away with nothing but regret and an empty wallet. I wish I had known that spreading investments across different classes \u2013 shares, bonds, real estate, etc was the adult version of not keeping all your ice cream in one bowl. And trust me, future-you doesn\u2019t want to lose all the ice cream.<\/p>\n
\nYoung me, I get it. The urge to check your account balance on your Milford app every five minutes is real. But successful investing is like slow-cooking \u2013 set it up, check in every now and then, but let it marinate over time. Trying to time the market is like trying to predict when the next viral dance craze will hit TikTok: you\u2019ll probably be wrong, and you\u2019ll definitely feel ridiculous.<\/p>\n
\nI used to think that \u201crisk\u201d was a fancy word thrown around by financial peeps to sound smart. Turns out, it\u2019s real. But the key is knowing how much risk you\u2019re comfortable with and managing it with the right type or mix of investments.<\/p>\n