Saving money is extremely important. As a matter of fact, I’d say is one of the key pillars of investing. If you don’t have any money saved, you can’t really do anything in the stock market – or anywhere else for that matter.
However, saving is just a step in your journey towards an upgraded financial life. In order to reach the next levels when it comes to wealth creation, investing is paramount.
I clearly remember the exact day I realized how powerful investing can be.
It was back in 2008 when I purchased my first stock. I was so terrified of the stock market that I allocated about $600 from my savings into an investment account. I had been saving money diligently for about 3 years because my goal was to start investing.
However, even with all the research, I had done, and my enthusiasm, I was still skeptical about the stock market.
For that reason, I decided to allocate a small percentage of my savings into that investment account.
I bought a few shares of stock from my favorite company at the time and called it a day. I wanted to see “what would happen” with that money. It was some sort of “experiment”.
Fast forward a few months after that, I happened to receive an email from my bank letting me know my savings account had earned $0.25 in interest.
Yes, that’s cents in case you didn’t see the decimal.
I was shocked and very offended. This is an account where I had the bulk of my money and I was literally getting pennies.
I then decided to take a look at how my investment account was doing around the same time.
I clearly remember seeing that +$50 in the “gains” column. Meaning that in just a few months, my investment account (where I only had a small percentage of my money) had generated 128X more money than my savings where I had the bulk of my money.
This was so shocking to me.
As you can conclude from this story, it is not about the “$50”. It was my realization of how much further my money was going and how much more efficiently it was growing while invested as opposed to sitting pretty much stale in savings.
Since that day, I’ve made it my point to invest in companies and funds of HIGH QUALITY and see my investments grow over time.
When it comes to ETFs and Index Funds, here is a general overview of how some of my favorite ETFs have performed over the past 5 years alone:
Some of the reasons why I love investment vehicles like ETFs:
(1) They allow individuals to buy amazing companies all at once
(2) They offer automatic diversification – you’re aren’t putting all your money in one single stock
(3) ETFs (and index funds) are a lot more conservative than individual stocks while still offering amazing returns.
…so many other reasons!!
If you are curious about the names of the funds I am listing above, this is something I share exclusively with my students and clients
For FULL details regarding what the program includes and to enroll, click here.
Understanding Your Investing Options: Starter Guide for Beginner Investors: New to investing and not sure where or how to begin considering all the options available?! This guide is for you! Check out details here.
Girl$ on The Money 
Hi Mabel,Thanks to you, I am working hard to provide better financial opportunities for my babies (great-niece and nephews)! I wish I had someone to provide me with such opportunities when I was much younger. 😦 I know you shared your portfolio with us in the stock investing class, but I can’t remember if you provided it in the ETF class. If so, I have researched my notes and can’t locate it. I finally created the custodial accounts in Stock Pile and waiting to purchase stocks. I accidentally transferred money twice in one of the accounts and now I have to transfer money into the other account. 😦 Plan to pick stocks next week once the money transfers to the other account. I know there are NO guarantees when it comes to the stock market, but do you mind sharing 2 or 3 ETF’s that I can research? I want to include at least one in their portfolio. Thanks!
Hi Fannie!! Thank you for this great testimony. You have been such an amazing, dedicated student! I will email you directly regarding the ETF examples since you’ve completed this class already :).