I have been talking to people about investing for YEARS now. I just finished up some of our year-end financial housekeeping and investing. Doing this just reminded me how VERY VERY important it is for people to have a hold of their finances and get investing for their future! So this is my semi-yearly plug for you to become pro-active and get investing for your future!!
I had no idea what I was doing and we just ignored our investing when we first started out in marriage, jobs, and kids. About a decade ago, I decided we needed to figure out this whole investing thing and get pro-active when it came to our retirement, savings, etc. I was lost and had no idea what I was doing! I started doing research, reading, reading, reading, and watching CNBC and Suze Orman. It completely changed my life and our investing! Instead of being a passive, not-caring investor, I got educated and learned how to invest. Not only has our portfolio benefitted from taking that time, but we also save money by doing it ourselves.
While I was working on our year-end items, I came up with a great example for you. About 8-9 years ago, we started saving for our kids. We worried about trying to keep up with monthly savings for each kid, especially the more kids we have. So far, we have been blessed to be able to keep up with it. We decided to just start with $50 (per kid), every month. I chose a balanced mutual fund to put the money in for the kids (at the end of the year, I do lots of math to figure out how many shares each kid now has!). This way, we had the flexibility to use what we were saving for – could be for college, weddings, missions, braces – for whatever the money was needed for, as we can not see our future needs. This was when my daughter was 3/4. She is now 12. We have been saving $50 a month since then (every once in a while – maybe once a year or less – we skip a month) and we now have over 12k saved in that mutual fund, just for her. I NEVER thought we would be able to save that kind of money for our kids, (and she still has 5-6ish years before college). Now if we had simply put that into a savings account, after 8 years, we would only have $4800 (maybe $5000). That is a HUGE difference. This is a fantastic example of how only $50 per month, when invested in a balanced way, can pay off big for your future. Considering that money went through the great downturn a few years ago – this is a fantastic return, since we just kept with it and didn’t freak out during the recession!
We also have 529 accounts for college, for each kid, that we put another $50 in a month (per kid). It won’t be enough for them to go to all 4 years of college (and beyond), but it will make a dent, and help them not to have so many Student Loans.
My point is, no matter how small the investment – like $50 per month – if invested well, over time, it can pay off and really help and aid your financial future!
So get investing. Get started! I still kick myself we wasted so many years not investing wisely (Well, I was only 23/24 years old when I started this, but STILL! There was like 4-5 years I could have invested better). No matter how small, just get started. As you can see, if you stick to it, educate yourself, and make wise choices, you can get a good nest egg and help secure your financial future – even with as little as $50 a month!
