We live in the information age, but this often is not a good thing. Why? There is way too much of it. When it comes to investing, it is difficult to know what to do. This is why sticking to the basics is vital if you want to be a success.
Bring up finances and people go motoring down all kinds of directions. Stocks are best! No, real estate is best! Ah, investing in government bonds is really the way to go if you want to make millions.
Still, gathering information and making decisions on what to do can be brutally difficult. Every mutual fund touts themselves as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The same goes for most investments, so step back and develop a theme.
Time is on your side. Besides being a good lyric, this statement is true when it comes to investing. Time has a tremendous cumulative effect. Oddly, you never hear the financial gurus talk about it. This is probably because they cannot sell you time.
So, what is the power or time? The fundamental concept involves the fact that money you make accumulates over time with your gains growing in addition to your primary investments. As long as you are showing gains, you will make a lot in the end.
A good example of this is the rule of seven. It works like this. If you get a seven percent annual return, your investment will double in 10 years. This would appear to make no sense, but it does because your gains are being reinvested.
While this is a very simple scenario, it is a fundamental rule followed by everyone. It also shows the power of time because it is a simple example of how reinvesting your gain makes you a ton of money in the long run.
Consider a retirement vehicle as our first example. How about an IRA. If you put $2,000 in annually with a 6.9 percent average return for 30 years, you will end up with a total return of $185,556 when you are ready to retire.
Now, what if you start saving when you are 45, but put in $4,000 a year and get a 6.9 percent return? Your total at the end of 15 years will be $99,000. Your total return is much small despite an interesting fact.
Now, what is the one difference between these scenarios? We invested the same total amount. The only difference was the time over which we did it. The longer time period gave our money time to grow and grow again, known as compounding.
You do not have to be a wizard to invest comfortably. The key is to start as early as possible. This is true even if you are just putting $100 a month towards it. As time passes, that money will grow and grow and so will your nest egg.