I was having this conversation with a friend and we were talking about investing. We were looking into investing a few of our coins so that we get that financial freedom – in my friend’s words.
She also didn’t want to be those people who reached their fifties and questioned where all their money went.
For me, I was looking to invest so that my kids wouldn’t wonder where I was when people were doing so. (Like how I keep wondering where my grandfather was when grandfathers were grabbing land)
I am in the group of Kenyans who have gotten accustomed to hand to mouth mode of living.
Getting paid at the end of the month, paying bills (and the bills are a lot), paying the debts (these are a lot too) and the next thing is that there is no money left.
However, it dawned on me the other day that the age I will be turning next year requires me to wear my investment shoes. I know I should have worn them earlier but, it’s never too late.
I am starting to be more concerned about the whole outcome after retirement (corporate world *sighs), or even when I get laid off instantly. I have read how investments provide some sense of security and personally, it is a calculated risk.
I used to assume that investing is for rich people until I read that even many rich people forget to invest and some end up poor.
I am therefore starting to believe that when someone wants to invest, regardless of what they are earning they can really get to it.
What do they say about earning anyway; “It’s not what you earn, it’s what you do with what you earn.” What are you doing with what you are earning?
Here are some of the reasons that might have convinced me to start investing so I thought it would be wise to share with you all.
Financial security
Someone once told me that nothing satisfies the mind financially more than having financial freedom.
How does financial freedom come about though? Also, at what point does a person reach to believe that now they are officially financially free?
Financial freedom is a sister to financial security. Where you are free to spend your money because it is continuously streaming in!
Sometimes, over time people often get to investing and after one investment grows then they continuously invest in other investments. This then leads to getting to have money that can make you financially free and secure.
Investing will not have you waiting for the end of the month to go do that thing that you need to but it gives the security to do it at the time that it happens without actually feeling the loss.
Depending on your bracket of financial security, being able to invest can get you there especially when done correctly.
I want that financial freedom that comes with financial security. I want to reach that level and I don’t think my salary is going to get me there no matter how hard I try.
The only way is to invest and so I am so ready to take that road. Maybe you should too, unless you are already financially secure, or your grandfather grabbed a land when mine was all righteous; oh, honest hard work pays, blah blah.
Source of income generation
I am yet to meet someone who might not be up to getting involved in any form of opportunity that might fatten their pockets.
If you are that person then I think, I slightly think, that I want to be friends with you and learn how you reason.
Growing up, I used to think that my mother was overworking herself by having several businesses.
In my head, I thought that one business was able to sustain us. (I had not considered how much ugali I was eating in a sitting, and don’t even start with the amount my brother was eating!)
Fast forward to starting to understand money, I realized that she was doing this because she wanted to have several sources of income.
My mother was never employed in her entire life but seeing her employing herself in different businesses reminded me of the importance of having more than one source of income.
I can’t actually say that they were million-dollar sources, but at the end of the day, she was able to provide.
Anyway, getting many sources of income generation is a way to financial security. For some reason, I have seen people who have gone to investing confirm how much money they have managed to get; which was an increase to what they used to get.
Don’t get me wrong, some people have also gone into investing and did not get to have the income increase. Some gave up. Some did not, but eventually, with time they had to get there.
There are no people I envy more than the people who have money working for them. When you invest in different places, and do it so well, you can have money working for you instead of the other way around.
Honestly speaking, I am a material person, and I don’t think a little Maldives while my income is streaming from various sources will hurt anyone.
Preparation for Unexpected Expenses
Having investments can be a financial cushion in case of unexpected events. One of the best examples is the year 2020.
No one saw the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic and the effect it had on people’s lives was unmatched.
Most people lost their jobs and others were not able to even sustain themselves with the little they had.
The fact that many people were not prepared for it was a very huge challenge to how people were to deal with their finances.
For that reason, getting to invest can give you the chance to at least have a little something in case of the occurrence of unexpected events.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened had you started the investment before 2019? If things would have been different on your side or not?
Forget about the pandemic then, how well and for how long will you be able to sustain yourself in case of any unexpected events, especially financially?
When you ask yourself and find that the years are not as long as you want, then maybe you should start looking for another way out. Investing can be one of them.
Creates opportunities for long-term returns
I am really big on having my children get generational wealth. One of the roads to that is ensuring there are better investments in any of the things that I want to put my mind in.
The thing about investing is the creation of opportunities for long-term returns. As long as you put in your money and set the goal for whatever years you want; you will find the returns for those long years.
Even when you decide to invest in your business, when you do it well, you find that after some years you keep expanding and you keep employing more and more people.
The continuous growth and input create the environment for having the sources generate even more and more income for several years.
It’s a way of building wealth
When I was in primary school, I remember wanting to grow up and just become a wealthy person. I did not care how I was going to get there but I knew that all I wanted was to be a wealthy person.
One career day, my teacher asked about how I was going to be wealthy, and when I told her I had no idea, she told me to at least start imagining a wealth plan.
My thinking got me to start a small business selling ice pops to my classmates. I remember taking some of my savings and just trying this out and actually it was okay on the first day and the day afterwards.
I don’t think I was making much out of it but I was making something. In my head, I was already building that wealth and it went on until I had to be reminded to know how to balance my education and business.
For a ten-year-old, I had not seen that I had invested. In my head, I just wanted to be able to be wealthy. My definition of wealthy then was being able to buy biscuits whenever my mother said no.
I saw my wealth build up and I saw that I was able to buy these biscuits and even in more brands than were ever provided at home. I had started building wealth with the little I had.
If I could do it at the age of ten years, what’s stopping me from doing it now? I can still be the wealthy person that I always wanted to be.
I have to start getting to those investments that can get me there. I can even go back to ice pops, I mean, I don’t have school to balance right now.
Can be a secure plan for retirement
What age do you want to retire? Do you think you will be able to retire at that age? What are you working on to give you the sustainability of fully retiring by that age?
Our system is designed for us to get to retire in our sixties but I’m glad that many people are thinking of retiring as early as their thirties.
I don’t think these people hell-bent on retiring at the age of thirties are relying on the average monthly salary only.
These are people who have created various investment platforms and are still into some of the investments maybe partially.
These are people who created their companies out of the university loans that they were given when some of us were flaunting around with them.
Remember, it’s still never too late. You can still invest now and be done by your forties and not necessarily your sixties.
A year before my father retired from his profession, I was curious as to what his plans were. Were we going to end up changing our lives or were we still going to live the same life?
A month after his retirement, our lives had not changed and I asked how it had happened and the old man proudly said how he had made some small investments to ensure there was sustainability before pension kicked in.
I wasn’t seeing these investments, myself. When I asked what the investments were, he told me that he had educated his children and that by the time he was retiring, he knew some would be earning even while some were still in school.
I had not seen it that way and I still don’t know if that was a good investment but we can give it to the old man for trying. Honestly, investment is investment. Get to invest so that you get to have great retirement plans.
Can help build up savings
My mother once told me that in any amount that you receive ensure that you save 10% of it.
That was way before I became an adult and realized that your savings might actually be saving you more than you saving them.
True to it, it has been a circle where one minute I save my money, and the next minute, my money is saving me.
I wanted to change that narrative and the people I consulted encouraged me to start investing.
That way, you are saving without actually knowing that you are saving. Not many of us can build our savings because of the amount that we might be earning and also because of the continuous bills.
However, when you save a little through investing, you can make it through the end of the month without having your savings save you.
It’s a way to meet one’s financial goals
Are there people who don’t have their own financial goals even in 2024?
What are your financial goals?
Do you think your current trend can enable you to reach them?
The most common financial goal is always to be able to afford yourself.
Many of us are still not able to do so because we have bills but lack the financial intelligence to make it with the current money that we are earning.
That’s where investing comes in.
The good thing about the current world is that everything can learned online.
I have watched YouTube videos where people are given tips on how to handle their current earnings so that they can meet their goals.
I also watch most of the videos on what to invest in and whatnot and all I can say is that maybe you are taking so long to meet your financial goals because you are not looking at the right places.
All in all, I still don’t know what can convince many of us to at least invest. Investing is an opportunity to let your money grow over time.
It might not work out sometimes but come on; investment just like everything else in life, is a risk. There is always a chance, however little, that it might be the breakthrough that catapults you to early retirement.
