People have different reasons to get into investing, you have your own without a doubt. In this blog I give you an exclusive peak behind the curtains of my personal life. I share the story of how I got into investing and I talk about the mistakes I made so that you can learn from them.
Life starts at retirement, no?
I took my first steps in the world of investing at the age of approximately 25 years old. In Belgium it’s pretty common to save with one main goal in mind: retirement. Because that’s when you apparently get to start enjoying life.
“Yes, work is hard but I will start enjoying life when I’m retired.”
“You’re going on a sabbatical? Ooh, that’s gonna harm your pension!”
Something else that’s pretty common in Belgium is trying to lower the amount of taxes you pay because we are taxed heavily on our income. So it won’t come as a surprise that the first investment I made was starting up a retirement savings plan.
It ticked the two boxes: saving up for later and the payments I made were deductible. Win win!
First mistake: not knowing what I invested in
Someone in my environment was an insurance broker and he signed me up for a life insurance as a retirement plan. I didn’t know back then, but that particular plan was super hard to get out of. I had no idea what I actually signed up for and it ended up being a bad decision. The insurance didn’t cause heavy losses but wasn’t beneficial either, and now I’m stuck with a rigid plan until I’m 60.
At that time I thought it was a good decision: save for your retirement, it’s the sensible thing to do. I paid little to no attention to what it actually was and just transferred the money. That was the firs lesson I got to make me realize the importance of education.
Second mistake: believing investing keeps your money locked up
Later I started thinking about what else I could do to minimize my taxes but I still needed my savings account because I wanted to go traveling.
Whenever my parents discussed investing they would always mention that they were “locking money away”. That scared me so – I mean, what about a money jail sounds appealing?! – that I stuck to my savings account.
The idea of not being able to pull out money whenever I needed it didn’t make me feel comfortable at all. This is something I hear many other people say as well about investing.
That scared me so – I mean, what about a money jail sounds appealing?! – that I stuck to my savings account.
Eventually I went to the bank: I was clueless about wealth building but wanted to do something else besides saving. They suggested an investment plan where I would transfer 25 euro/month to invest in a mutual fund. Back then I was pretty risk averse (=no aggressive investing approach) so they selected a fund for me with a neutral risk profile. Still I didn’t have an idea what investing was exactly, but at least these were only low amounts.
Travel before investing
2 yeas after that I started traveling and I stopped the plan payments but I kept the fund. I needed the money to have fun, because that’s what it’s all about after all! Money isn’t meant to just pile up in your account for you to admire it. It pays for the good things in life, that’s the whole point.
A combined total of over a year of traveling cost me a couple of thousands, but I’m happy to report I have 0 regrets. Travel taught me so much. I understand better now how the world works and how everything is connected. I expanded my horizon and got rid of tunnel vision. If you ever find yourself doubting to start traveling: just do it. It will help you get ahead in life.
A combined total of over a year of traveling cost me a couple of thousands, but I’m happy to report I have 0 regrets. Travel taught me so much.
Naturally I did need an income after I returned to Belgium. There were some savings left in my account (always keep a buffer!) but it was time to top up the balance.
Unexpected career moves
Back then I was stuck career wise. As a highly gifted person I am good at a lot of things and I was unsure about what my actual talent was (that’s what I thought back then but spoiler alert, it’s actually exactly that: being able to learn everything is my superpower). So I went to a recruitment office that I had worked for before and just asked them to look for a job for me. I handed my CV and just said “get me something based on my experience”.
I had experience in customer service and they ended up sending me to a bank. “Are you sure?” I asked. I didn’t have a background in economics at all, as a matter of fact I don’t even have a degree.
They assured me it would not be a problem and that I would get an in-house training. “Just give it a shot” they said, and so I did.
Stay updated, get on the Money Girl email list.
The interview was amazing, there was a good vibe and eventually they offered me the job and I started two weeks later.
When I got the training I was surprised to find out it was rather interesting, not at all as boring as I believed the banking world to be. They appointed me to join the team that specializes in investing, which scared me at first. In school at some point they explained funds and bonds and I didn’t get it at all.
But the training about investing at work was awesome, and I fell in love. I realize that sounds crazy, but I really did. It triggered me so much that after 2 days of training I ran to the book store and got a book “investing for beginners”.
Obsessed with investing: I did not see that one coming
Being highly gifted, I get hyper focus and get obsessed about topics that spark my interest. My perfectionism kicked in and I was like: I want to know EVERYTHING about this.
Very often it happens that I get tired of a subject after a couple of months but that did not happen with investing. Quite the opposite: I continue to learn and discover new things.
I explored new roads in my own investing journey that had been collecting dust ever since I left to travel:
- I broadened my portfolio, with the difference that this time I knew what I was doing.
- I now check the stock exchange almost daily. Not because that’s necessary (it isn’t) but because it intrigues me.
- I discovered crypto.
- I changed my pension plan to a better formula.
- I no longer let the bank decide and took back control over my money
Education is everything!
In my enthusiasm I bought a couple of individual stocks. One of the first stocks I bought has actually performed very poorly ever since it’s in my portfolio. There is only one reason for this: I FAILED TO DO MY RESEARCH.
The stock plummeted and my learning curve went upward, because this made me realize how important education is. I kept the stock though, as a reminder.
I believe that my investments will take care of me when I’m older. I only seriously started investing in my early 30’s, and I now regret not having started sooner. But you know what they say:
The best day to start was yesterday, but today is the second best one.
I keep on learning as well. I enjoy teaching my clients about the basics and enjoy seeing them soak up that knowledge. You can build wealth instead of losing your money to inflation. Even Warren Buffet learns everyday, that’s what makes him successful.
If I can do it (without degree) so can you.
If you are on the brink of investing but no knowledge, no money, too late … I can help.
Don’t make my mistakes – or do make them and learn from them – and just get going. You’ll be able to figure it out and get wealthy in the end.
I love helping and teaching, that’s why I started this business in the first place. It would be an absolute pleasure to teach you.
Do you want to become an investing pro? Check out my investing courses!
