But!! Investing is for rich people, isn’t it? Believe me, investing is for everyone, and you can start by investing as little as $20 per month. It’s all about a mindset change.

I cannot emphasize any more how important it is to invest your money. If you think the investment is only for rich people then you are wrong. I started investing with just $40 per month in 2017. And slowly I have grown my portfolio to around $60k in just over 3 and a half years. I know it’s not much but I am kind of a conservative investor and have invested in the projects that I truly believe in.

There was a time when I was living just paycheck to paycheck with no savings or investments. I used to panic if any unexpected expense came along. One day I was talking to my mom and she suggested investing in mutual funds, an amount that does not seem too big. And I thought $20 biweekly is not much and I started investing that. After 6 months I started investing $50 more. I feel like when you see your pile of money growing it gives you some sort of amazing confidence. Thereafter I changed my job, and my pay increased, but I decided to invest the difference in my pay. $20 biweekly was not much to create wealth but setting it aside did change my mindset and did wonders for me. You start noticing the changes and news in the world of investing. You start to see companies differently.

Power of Compounding

Albert Einstein said, “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it … He who doesn’t … pays it.” When it comes to investing, compounding is one of the most important, if not the most important concept to understand. Time in the market always beat timing the market. Building wealth takes time and hence it’s said the sooner you start better will be the returns.

For example, take John, Mary, and Naina. They all started setting aside 100$ per month. However, John saved it as cash, and Mary and Naina both invested in a Mutual Fund which gave an 8% annualized return. After 20 years John and Mary took out their money. Guess how much they had? While John had only $24000, Mary had $63000. That’s the power of compounding. 5 years later, Naina decided to take out money. How much do you think she accumulated? Around $100,000. And if she keeps investing for 5 more years, the $100,000 will grow to a whopping $156,000. Now that’s the power of compounding.

My Investment Strategy

When you are starting out just try simple things, like mutual funds. I did it through Tangerine Bank, as they allow you to do most of the things online. However, with time I changed strategy and currently I follow the following

1. 20 % — Cash (Savings Account)
2. 20% — RRSP, RESPs, etc Long Term Investment (High-Risk Mutual Funds)
3. 20 % — Medium Risk Mutual Funds (Medium Term Investment)
4. 20% — Low-Risk Mutual Funds
5. 20% — High Risk (Like Crypto)

Invest in yourself

The best investment anyone can make is an investment in yourself. Learn new things, take new courses, read books and try to constantly upgrade yourself. Especially in today’s world when everything changes so quickly. There can be no better investment than investing in yourself.