Getting Started with Stocks
When you’re new at something, it can be hard getting started.You might start without much experience, and maybe your first try doesn’t go too well. Or you decide to do loads of research so you can start out perfectly, but you don’t have time, so you never start in the first place.I fell into both of these traps when I first started gardening. Here are some lessons I learned as a novice gardener that can help you get started as a beginning investor.
* * *
I wanted to make my yard pretty, so I went and bought some plants and flowers that I thought would look great. They sure looked beautiful on those little cards they came with!One Texas summer later, almost every one of them had shriveled up.The next year, I decided to put together a plan. I was going to find the perfect plants for each part of the yard based on sun, shade, water, you name it. I would make sketches of the front and back yard, chart it all out. I would start perfectly!But I couldn’t find the time for all that planning and I didn’t start at all.Finally, I decided that I was just going to pick one kind of plant that could probably make it in this climate, and see what happened. I knew it would have to be something low-maintenance, because I hadn’t yet proven myself as a seven-days-a-week gardener.
I settled on succulents. They look beautiful, they last a long time, and they don’t need much nurturing.Today I have dozens of potted plants on my front porch and I spend an hour or two in my yard every weekend. I’m not a master gardener, but I’m really glad I got started. I love working with my plants when I have time, and just seeing them makes me happy every day when I get home from work.
This is a lesson I always try to teach aspiring investors.In the beginning, the most important thing is to find a way to get started.Of course you don’t want to throw your money into some random investment without any research or guidance. But you also don’t want to put it off indefinitely until you have the perfect strategy.I talk to people all the time who wanted to start investing years ago but never got around to it. They didn’t think they had a good enough plan. They didn’t think they had enough money. They didn’t know what investments to choose.There are always lots of reasons not to start investing. But if you want to have enough money to retire someday, you simply need to find a way to get started that’s going to work for you. As soon as possible.Don’t try to be the perfect investor, don’t put it off until you have the perfect investing plan, and don’t wait for the perfect time.Just get started.Save some money, do a little research (or consult with an expert), and pick some investments.The reason it’s so important to get started investing sooner rather than later is because, thanks to the beauty of compounding, time itself is a crucial ingredient of successful investing. The sooner you start investing, the more time you have for the returns on your investments to compound over a longer investing horizon. That means more money for retirement when the time comes.And if you’re wondering what your first investment should be, I still think ETFs are a good option for beginning investors.So, do NOT ask yourself: Do I have the perfect plan to start investing?Instead, ask yourself: