Aside from the obvious reasons. (saving for retirement, spending the money I worked hard for on something real rather than stuff I don’t want or need… etc) These are the reasons I invest. These go in no particular order
Growing my net worth.
I’ve always been interested in other people’s net worth. I looked at Jay Z, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett… the list is endless, but I realised how fascinated I was with it. Than, after a while, I tried calculating mine and it was nothing (a couple hundred pound).
No1 → Jeff Bezos $113 billion age: 56
No 2 → Bill Gates $98 billion age: 64
Bernard Arnault (and family) → $76 billion age: 71
LVMH4
No 4 → Warren Buffett $67.5 billion age: 89
I researched those with a net worth larger than mine (Some of the names I listed above and other people in my life) and decided I wanted it or at the very least I was going to try. I didn’t want or need to get as high as their money. Money isn’t my life or my focus. It was more of a challenge for myself to grow it and I’ll probably never reach their level or want to reach their level. Those guys rarely take a break and work constantly, which isn’t what I want to do or be... but why can’t I try? Or find motivation from them?
All this in turn got me involved me looking into what an asset was and was really what started off my investing journey.
I even looked at the poorer people. Hearing people ring into dave ramsey show or another money show and share that they have 0 net worth at the age of 40+ and I realised I didn’t need or want that stress in my life.
What I’ve been told as a kid is work till you retire and you’ll be fine, you’ll have saved up enough to live off and be free in your old age. That’s ok and all but listening to those stories I know that, that isn’t true. No one (including god or a higher power) will look after your finances… you have to do that.
Money is this taboo subject which doesn’t get taught in school or anywhere really (aside from a couple youtube channels/blogs). You have to go out and learn about it. You have realise that being a slave to money is a shite life.
Within a year I have been able to quadruple my net worth. (This isn’t amazing as it was very small anyway XD) I know I can’t expect or keep that kind of growth up is or would be ridiculous but having it and being able to grow it is… fun… and productive…
Passive income
As soon as I received my first dividend I was hooked. It was only 15p but I didn’t have to work for it. I gave money to a business and it paid me… because it could. (Set up a trading 212 account here and get your first stock free using the link)
I started looking up investing youtubers, bloggers and everything to do with investing online (That kind of inspired me to create this site, blog and now podcast!!!), I have been obsessed with creating different forms of passive income. Although they will take a while to create and get going, I know I can do it.
I realised I could go to sleep… and wake up richer than I was when I woke up.
I could go to my martial arts training and come out the other end richer than when I started.
I could go on a hike and when I checked back… I would be richer
You get the point.
I hear stats (or rumors) like Mariah Carey gets paid over a million £ every year from her christmas song. She spent a month or so creating that song and now, to this day… Its still making her enough money to live on each year?
Imagine creating one thing (maybe over a month or 2) and still get an income from it years down the line…
Or the actors of F.R.I.E.N.D.S get paid a million each year even now (Those that worked in royalties into their contract but do your own research on this as it could be fake news… you’ve been warned)
Imagine doing something in your 20’s/30’s which would still be paying you into your 40’s/50’s?
I get it. These are all large and outrageous examples and no average person is Mariah Carey or all those actors on the show but what if we could duplicate something like it on a smaller scale. Not millions of pounds but enough to live off. Enough to cover our expenses and to live…
Now that's a world I want to live in.
My brain almost blew up at that point and It allows me to perfectly move onto my next reason for investing!
Becoming Financially Free
I went through a bad patch in my life… I won’t bore you with the details but I broke down. I stopped working as hard in school, I drank and smoked too much. I hid my pain from those close to me… A long story short. I went into a rut. I came out the other side and realised. If I was working a 9 to 5 (and not a teenager who depended on his mother to support him) I would have been fired slowly become homeless or not be able to buy food and that scared the living shit out of me.
If something in my life happened or is going to happen I need to know that I have enough money to take the time off that I need and not fear for my financial security or security in general. That if I do fall into a little bit of a rut I have time and energy to fix it.
Even traveling. If I want to go somewhere or travel I want to be able to just get up and go without worrying about my next paycheck or what money is coming in and when…
Security and control
I want to have that retirement as early as I can. I want to be able to live off the work I did in my 20s and be forced to do a job I hate or mildly dislike because I need the money. This one is quite self explanatory but I thought i should mention it.
This is more about saving than investing. I want to have enough money to not worry about anything.
As a… human… I don’t have much to any control over my life. I could get hit by a car tomorrow. The earth might be like ‘screw the Uk’ and send a uncontrollable storm our way and there would be nothing I, or anyone else, could do about it. I want to have control over the things that I can or want to within my life. Who I hang out with, what I do with my time (I talk about this more above), what I do with my time… the things I can control.
I’ll be the first to admit i’m not that controlling and I don’t have full control of my life yet but I’m taking steps in that direction and it was one of the things which pushed me to invest.
Life has more to offer than stress and pain
Yes, Life has pain, stress and shit but money, freedom and work shouldn’t be one of them. We already have enough to worry about, we already have enough pain and shit and we don’t need to add extra onto it.
Hope you enjoyed my Article
Peace
