Yes, you should start investing

So this year let's learn more about it.

Hello and Happy New Year to those who celebrate it. It’s day four of 2022 and honestly, it’s looking a lot like 2021. 

Anyway, this is usually the time we all focus on goals so let’s talk about them. I’m not going to give you a list of things to do as I think we know those: pay off your credit card, get your spending in check, pay off mortgages and save more. There are a ton of articles about how to do all of that.

But I have one goal. If there is one thing I’d like all of us to do this year is to learn more about investing. 

(Not you, Gen Z, I know you’re already on it.)

Not to invest if you’re not ready. Learn about investing. This crossed my mind when I was chatting with my friend Chloe last year who said, casually, that she should really start investing. I responded with an empathic, “yes, yes you should.” 

Why do I have all the feels about learning to invest? 

The first reason is that education is always good when making decisions. It’s your money and you should at the very least understand where it’s going. That’s even if you choose to use an advisor. You want to understand the terms, rates, fees, what is short-selling (see GameStop), your risk tolerance, r/wallstreetbets, fintok, whether you want growth, income or both, etc. So read up to understand the conversation.

The second reason is that investing can grow your money. Look, most of us here are single and need our money to do some heavy lifting. Savings and compound interest are great, we love them, but saving money barely gets any interest, as you can see from this Wealthsimple article. Investing makes your money work and can provide income as you get older and think of retirement. 

There are other reasons including that investing can give you more control of your money and your life but the next question is where do you start? 

Good question. I’ll start with what I read, watch and listen to with the understanding that these are a small part of the financial information out there. 

MoneySense glossary of terms. (Disclaimer, I wrote about half of these.)

Investopedia (U.S.-based)  

Wealthsimple (They have an investing webinar series)

Globe Investor

I am also a huge fan of Planet Money and The Indicator, their shorter, daily podcast. They just did an episode on how to keep your new year’s resolution. Take a listen.

There is also fintok, finstagram, Reddit and Discord. There are also a ton of books, articles and blogs out there. There’s a lot of information about how to and what to invest in so read critically. Then start when you’re ready. Get some of that wealth.

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This week’s readings:

Btw, these are not a tax, despite what you’re reading on Twitter. CPP premiums are getting a bigger bump than planned. Here's why. (Yahoo Canada)

If you qualify, apply. Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit now open for applications (Yahoo Canada)

This is more legal information but if you’re investing in NFTs. Non-fungible tokens the next trademark challenge on the horizon (Legal Matters)

Debt Statistics: What Happened to Debt During the Pandemic & Recovery of 2021 (Doug Hoyes)