People often ask me if I can invest their money for them, but I’m not a financial planner. I don’t give financial advice either, because I believe in the power of doing it yourself.
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
If you want something done right, do it yourself. That’s what I was told as a kid, and I stand by it. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when I tell you that you really should learn how to invest yourself, instead of letting someone else do it for you.
Not all things require experts
I know, I know, you cannot do everything yourself. Some things are just too hard or not your cup of tea. For example: when my toilet decides to start a second career as a fountain I’m not gonna try and fix it myself. For that I’ll happily call a plumber.
When it comes to finance a lot of people are eager to delegate it. The stock market often triggers images of boring financial newspapers and complicated charts and numbers. I totally get why you would ask a broker or bank to advise you.
Take back control
But I like to be in control of my own money. I don’t love the idea of handing over the management over something I worked so hard for.
“Sure, but I don’t know how to invest myself Valerie.“
If you don’t understand the stock market, isn’t it better to let an expert handle it?
Yes and no:
➡️ Yes, because investing without knowledge is the worst thing you can do.
➡️ No, because if you don’t have the knowledge yourself, how will you know if the expert is good at what they do?
Learn how to invest yourself: the benefits
It’s a tough call, because they don’t teach us money management in school. It all starts with educating yourself. Even the very basics will get you further ahead, trust me.
>>> If you want to learn more, in this blog post I talk about the 4 pillars of financial knowledge.
Why should you learn to invest yourself, and not have someone else do it for you?
You have the power to change your life for the better, and seizing the reigns to steer your cash in the right direction is a heck of a way to do it.
1. You have control over your own money
Work work work. Whether it’s for yourself or for an employer: money requires an effort. And after that you’re just going to surrender the control over it? Let someone else be in charge? I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sit right with me.
It’s your money, so you deserve to be its manager.
2. It’s really empowering
Confidence, we all crave it. There are many different ways to build confidence, but if you ask me I’ll definitely put managing your own money on top of the list.
I personally get a buzz from realizing that I was a really bad at economics once, and now I’m an investing expert. You have the power to change your life for the better, and seizing the reigns to steer your cash in the right direction is a heck of a way to do it.
3. You stay in touch with what happens in the world
The stock market reflects what happens in the world. Crisis? Economic decline. Covid? Stock market panic. Revolutionary new medicine? Optimism in the pharmaceutical side of the market. And so on, and so on.
Once you learn how to invest, you automatically develop an interest for how everything is connected in the world economy. You realize that what you see on the news and social media also happens in your portfolio. I think it’s fascinating, and it sure helped me to get a better understanding of how the world works.
4. You’ll know when someone is trying to scam you
If you know how the stock market works you can still decide to delegate your portfolio management. The difference is that with a decent financial education you will be able to recognize the scammers. You’ll know what to pay attention to.
A good financial planner/advisor will for example happily discuss your investment strategy with you. If they are reluctant to keep you in the loop: run.
5. You maintain a healthy relationship with finance
Happy relationships aren’t built on avoidance. They need proper engagement.
Let’s say you have a friend. You tell them you only like staying in touch because you need someone to support you in bad times, someone to call when you’ve been dumped. If you act like this, do you expect your friend to be happy to see you or to reach out to you?
Of course not!
The same thing is true for finance. If you state that you hate money but you need it to pay the bills, money won’t flow towards you. So please invest in your relationship with money by managing it yourself.
(Book tip: “You’re a badass at making money” by Jen Sincero levels up your money mindset.)
