Good day everyone!!! Happy first day of the year. A few months ago I decided to designate my 2018 word to be ACTION and I couldn’t be more excited to hit the ground running with this new year.
After ‘recovering’ from spending quality time with loved ones last night – I have spent the early afternoon of January 1, 2018 setting actionable – intentional goals for myself for this new year that has started. My intentions for this new year involve health, fitness, wellness, business, personal, personal development, saving and investing!
I am also a strong believer in the power of writing things down.
I emphasized the word “Actionable” above because many of us set general goals and intentions for ourselves that are amazing. However, sometimes we forget the most important part of those goals – understanding exactly how we will make them happen or at least have an idea.
I say that with the caveat that we all know that God, The Universe, our Higher Power (choose what you call it!) might have plans for us to accomplish our dreams that may in fact be far better than ours :). However, I strongly believe that we should also do our part with ACTIONABLE steps that will take us towards our goals.
Considering this is an investing blog, I will focus on the goal of investing and show you in practical ways how to make this ACTIONABLE AND INTENTIONAL for the year ahead.
Let’s do this.
Set up a separate savings account from your emergency fund and call it your “investing fund” – make this AUTOMATIC.
We all know that in order to invest, money is needed. You cannot invest pulling from thin air. And thus, I would strongly encourage you start making this a reality little by little by taking the actionable step of setting up an account solely for investing money. Your emergency fund should never be in the stock market. And thus, you HAVE to set up a separate account for your prospective investments.
Actionable-Intentional Step: Call your bank or log in into your bank account right this second or first thing tomorrow morning and set up a separate savings account with an automatic transfer for investing only. Schedule that $10 to $20 of every paycheck you earn be sent to that account. If your bank doesn’t offer the option, there are amazing apps out there that can help you save automatically. If you aren’t sure which ones, email me: girlsonthemoney@gmail.com.
Find out if your employer offers any retirement savings benefits and whether there is a match.
If your employer offers a retirement plan where they are giving you free money in the form of interest or some kind of match, let this be your first step towards setting your investing goals for the new year: SIGN UP ASAP. Not taking full advantage of these employer plans mean you are leaving free money on the table.
Actionable-Intentional Step: Do yourself a favor and this very week or by 1/15/2018 schedule a meeting with HR or the office that manages these accounts at your employer. At the very least, find out more about the pros, cons, and benefits of the plan and pick up an application. If you conclude is something that can benefit you, make it a goal to complete and submit the application before the end of the month.
Open an online brokerage account if you don’t have one yet.
In order to invest you need a platform. It can be an app or an online brokerage account (there is a difference!!).
Actionable-Intentional Step: Sign up for this free series where I explain the steps you should take before you begin your investing journey including different types of platforms available. Platforms include but are not limited to apps, online brokers, robo-advisors, and the list goes on. It is important to know the difference so that you know which one works best for you, your risk tolerance, and your personal investing goals.
Education is POWERFUL Read more about stocks and investing, take courses, know your options.
I found out about the stock market in the fall of 2004 yet didn’t purchase my first stock until the summer of 2008. What was I doing in between those years? Saving my money and EDUCATING myself on the best way to invest said money. Investing education has been one of the best investments I have ever made and learning to invest has been one of the BEST skills I have learned in my entire life.
Actionable-Intentional Step: Check out your public library, Amazon, or Thriftbooks and pick up some high quality investing books to read this year. Some of my favorite investing books of all time include this one
Walk around with a little notebook designated solely for investing ideas.
I absolutely love writing things down. Investing-related things included. Getting into the habit of jotting down your investing ideas will also help you when it comes to making your initial investing decisions and will support your investing mindset for this new year.
Actionable-Intentionable Step: Get something that looks like this
Take the first small step.
Only when you feel ready and empowered to start your investing journey. Sometimes the only way to get rid of fear is to take ACTION.
“The Journey of one-thousand miles begins with one single step”.
Actionable-Intentionable Step: Check-in with yourself every 3-6 months and see how much money you have in your investing account and whether you feel strongly about a particular stock or investment. Are you confident enough to take that first step? Also, save my email. If you ever want to chat about anything investing-related, I’d love to hear from you, don’t be shy: Girlsonthemoney@gmail.com.
And that’s all folks! Hope you found this post informative and valuable! Thank you for being part of the Girl$ on The Money community. Wishing you an incredible 2018 filled with Health, Love, Success, and a whole lot of Money.
Cheers to profits!
Love,
Mabel ❤$
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New to investing? Check out the following educational resources:
- Enrollment for the Winter 2018 edition of our Investing Boot-camp is now open! Inquire Here.
- Follow me on Instagram and join the Facebook Group!
- Join our newsletter distribution list, here.
- Looking for an awesome book to get started? Check out our Amazon Bestseller: “Stock Market Investing Mini Lessons for Beginners”.
Girl$ on The Money 