[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou’ve probably heard about traditional investing and how it’s the one sure way to secure your financial future, right? But what if I told you about another form of investment? One that’s not spoken about a lot, yet it could change the trajectory of your life and have you living the life you’ve always dreamt of.
I’m talking about investing in yourself.
Investing in yourself is great, but a lot of people don’t realize that. So, today I want to tell you all about it and, hopefully, encourage you to start moving in the right direction.
You may be wondering what investing in yourself means. Well, to put it simply, it’s all about using your money and time to learn something that’ll generate more money for you down the line. The tricky part here is that you may not always see the benefits immediately, which is probably why some people may avoid it at all costs!
But then again, investing is a long-term game. You seldom reap the benefits right after you get started, so hang in there.
How to invest in yourself
There are many different ways to invest in yourself, and the biggest sacrifices that you’ll probably have to make are your finances and your time. Don’t be stingy, otherwise, this won’t turn out too well for you. Trust me, I know.
I’m quite big on constantly upskilling myself and exploring different ways of making money, so this comes naturally to me. But that’s not the case with everyone.
Think of it like this, when you invest in yourself, you create a bag of tricks for yourself. The goal is to have tools – in the form of skills and capabilities – that nobody and no market conditions can easily take away from you.
Now, before you tell me about podcasts, blogs and YouTube tutorials, let me stop you dead in your tracks. That’s all good and well, but it’s always better to learn from an expert, while getting the necessary guidance, and then putting those steps into practice.
You’re more likely to be more attentive and actually take something away from the sessions when you’re actually paying for them. Whereas, when you watch a YouTube video or podcast, you don’t necessarily have the liberty of asking questions or focusing on a particular part that you may be struggling with.
Once you’ve got that sorted, you can start using your new skills to make bucket loads of money!!! It definitely won’t happen overnight, but you’ll start seeing the difference – financially that is – over time.
Not convinced yet? This is why you should invest in yourself.
Why you should invest in yourself
1 – You create a bag of tricks for yourself
Don’t get me wrong, this is not like trying to be a Jack of all trades and master of none. Far from it. Instead, it’s about developing a varied skillset that will allow you to either excel at work or improve your business acumen. Everybody loves working with a dedicated and knowledgeable person, mostly because it just makes things easier!
On the other hand, when you are self-sufficient and are able to apply different skills when necessary, it makes you more adaptable and relatively less vulnerable to situations that you have little to no control over.
We’re living in a digital era, so, investing in skills that can make you more appealing in that regard is a pretty good bet! I, for one, have tried it. I use my finance knowledge and lived experiences to connect with people online, which is great! I guess you could call me a financial expert that managed to retire early because of investing in myself.
2 – You become more confident
One thing I know for sure is, when you know what you’re capable of, you tend to be that much more confident! That’s the type of attitude and boost you need to get ahead in life. When you’ve taken the time to invest in yourself, you’ll probably have a better sense of self because you become more aware of what you can and can’t do.
Being very clear on your strengths and weaknesses is good. You’ll know which money-making efforts would most likely work for you and which wouldn’t. Think of it like this, if you want to explore investing in farmland, for example, there are different ways to go about it.
If you know absolutely nothing about running a farm, and have never worked on one before, then you definitely don’t want to take on that responsibility on your own by going ahead and buying one! If you know that you’re a numbers person, you could opt for a collective investment and leveraging off your co-investors expertise.
3 – It keeps your mind active and healthy
Just like continuous exercise keeps your body fit and strong, continuous learning keeps your mind active and healthy. If you’re a medical practitioner, you probably know all about this from a medical perspective, but as a self-proclaimed number cruncher, I’ll focus on it from a financial angle instead.
I’m always looking for ways to turn $10,000 into $100,000, and of course, to grow millions into billions. You can go through as many case studies of how the greats did it as you want, but if you don’t put in the work yourself, you won’t get very far.
That’s what investing in yourself does for you. You develop different perspectives on life and finances, you see opportunities where others see obstacles or a dead end. I love it! In fact, it was Warren Buffett who said, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
4 – You can diversify your portfolio
I’m sure we’ve all heard it being said before, that you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Never has that been truer than in investment. When one thing isn’t doing too well, you can at least fall back on something else.
That’s why it’s extremely important to invest in yourself and strategically have your hand in various income-generating endeavours.
When I was starting out in my investment journey, I bought a $410,000 rental home that’s now giving me an annual return of 26% with very little effort from my side. When you invest in yourself, the payoffs can be massive. In fact, they can be way more than 26% because you are leveraging your money with brain power.
This is quite similar to why real estate is amazing – because you can leverage your money using a mortgage. Basically, if you invest in a skill, then you can probably make more money. That way, it pays off relatively quickly.
Exhibit A: If you take up a useful course that costs you $2,000 and end up getting a 10% raise, that’s already a really great return on investment!
In a nutshell
Investing in yourself can be lucrative, but you shouldn’t go into it blindly. Think about it, you wouldn’t pour all your life savings into the stock market or cryptocurrencies (I would NEVER do this) without sufficient knowledge on it. That wouldn’t be a very smart decision. The same applies to investing in yourself, prepare yourself sufficiently!
