• Save: This is the first rule. If money is not routinely set aside for investing, a person will end up in retirement with nothing.
• Stay Broadly Diversified: Diversification eliminates the risks of incorrectly picking individual stocks, selecting managers and choosing sectors. Define your short-term goal (30 to 60 days) and long-term goal(3 to 5-year plan)
• Keep Costs Low: Investing is not a zero-sum game with winners and losers since the investment industry keeps a share of investors’ returns through fees and other expenses. Be consistent and persistent to learn about the stock market and how the markets work.
• Keep Transactions to a Minimum: Doing so will help keep costs low. Try acorns, stash and or Robinhood apps to keep cost down.
• check out dividend stocks to support your portfolio. Two stocks that are paying a dividend every quarter are VISA and Home Depot. These two stock can buffer your portfolio.
Gardening like investing requires planting seeds. Investing seeds can be mutual funds, stocks, bonds, or ETFs. Plants seeds such as lemons, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots or kales can be a great diversified garden. Prior to setting up your plans, ask why are you planning to garden or invest. It is important to know your reason and to define your goal. Knowing your reason helps you to understand your commitment when things go awry when we are learning a new skill set.
To learn more about how to invest in stocks, check out this link to learn more about trading : flipthatstock.com.This is an educational site.
. This site is geared to someone who wants to earn money daily and uses Think or Swim platform to make trades. You can study with JR Fenwick. Learn from his experience on how to enter the trade and when to exit. This site offers one on one training and group sessions. The training focuses on trading while the market is live. getting an education on how stocks works are helpful.
I have used acorns.com as a way to invest $5 per day.This is a low-cost way of investing and using your extra money that has and making the investment for you. Sometimes we need an easy way to save and invest that is without thinking too hard or putting it off. https://acorns.com/invite/M6YQ76
A gardening parallel is that to set up a small scale garden that can sustain you. You can try container garden that you regrow kitchen scraps or seeds from oranges or lemons. I found some great youtube videos that you can preview on my facebook.com/reikigardenhome.
There are two other apps that you can use to build your savings to invest program and build a portfolio. Stash is a great start to investing and you can choose funds that resonate with your likes.
https://get.stashinvest.com/charic72ua
I like Robinhood, a free platform to select your own stocks.
share.robinhood.com/charif
Another Educational site is The Brown Report.com. Working with a coach helps you avoid some of the pitfalls and a place to ask questions. Jason Brown, CEO of The Brown Report has videos that are streamed on Facebook. Great way to get inspiration on Facebook live streaming. The videos are under 5 minutes but inspirational and motivational for both newbies and seasoned traders.
With the markets in a sporadic movement daily, it is difficult to find a balance. These points make it easier to sleep at night and watch your account grow and compound. Decide on your investing goal and focus on your plan of action.
Another way to manage your investing is to look at what you like to purchase such as Nike, Macy or Apple. Compare purchasing items versus owning the stock. What you discover that items paid $250 for Nike shoes. You could invest buying 5 shares of Nike and receive more value in the long term. Such as dividend returns every quarter from Nike. Another item, buying an Apple product for $1000. That $1000 in stocks would buy you 10 shares and you would receive dividends every quarter. Investing in the stock can provide a better return and you could take the dividends to purchase the items that you would normally purchase without thinking about return on investment.
When we shift our purchasing power into what is the return instead of impulse buying. We can plan better and create a better use of our money.
Gardening can be selected by choosing annuals or perennials. Your return on investment and time can be determined if there is a dividend or instant show. Annuals are short-lived plantings that last only one season. Perennials have a long-term benefit and once established can provide more plants and come back each year.
Another step is to wait 72 hours before making a purchase. This allows us a chance to differentiate between wants and needs. This is a great way to defer gratification and spend less or decide which is a more of a priority. By developing a plan you can stick with your defined budget and not overspend. Define your criteria for selecting your stocks or your plants. What is your temperament? Do you like high earnings, showy display, or conservative and less risky. Check the history and earnings of your stocks. With plant selection, what type of plants do you like which area would they like sunny, shady area, water-intensive or drought tolerant?
The area that I really changed was on money spent on lunches at nearby eateries. When I decided to take my lunch, my eating habits became better, I had more salads, fresh fruit and my food budget decreased. Before, I would spend $250 to $350 per month on food. Just by changing my eating habits, I decreased my food spending into half per month.The money that I saved, I can earmark for paying down my credit card debt and/ or adding to my investment plan.
I started my garden from seeds and some from transplant. Now I can augment food budget by growing veggies from my garden and sharing with others my harvest.
Add to your peace of mind, control how you will spend your nickels and dimes and take charge of your investments and spending plan. Having a plan in place to prepare for changes in the financial markets no matter what the political landscape unfolds.
Happy growing, investing and planning for your future
Chari Farmer Ogogo
The Wealth Mastery Coach
Bsavvylivewealthy.com
