In 2019 when I started Personal Finance Club, people were scared to invest because the market was at an all time high and a drop MUST be coming. In 2020 people were scared to invest because of the pandemic. In 2021 people were scared to invest because of political unrest, or international issues, or market volatility, or interest rates, or whatever. In 2022 it’s inflation or global reserve currency concerns. EVERY YEAR, there are reasons why it might be a bad time to invest. But EVERY YEAR there’s a simple truth. Companies will continue to operate, profit, and grow. And the shareholders who own those companies will be the recipients of that growth.
By the way, if you started investing $500/month in an index fund in 2019 when I started PFC, despite ALL THOSE CONCERNS you’d have over $28,000 today.
Speculators are trying to guess what will happen next. And despite how good of guessers we might THINK we are, humans are generally terrible speculators. Investors are going with the sure thing. Live below your means. Acquire more shares over time. Let the market grow and profits come back to you!
So next time someone at a dinner party puts on their tin foil hat and tells you how martians are coming to earth to turn US dollars into space biscuits and you should be panicking, remember to think like an investor.
As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.
-Jeremy
