5 Investments You Can’t Afford NOT To Make
Most serious investors know that there is no such thing as a sure bet. However, I am about to share with you five investments that you can’t afford NOT to make…
Start where you are and grow!
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- Invest in yourself – Knowledge is power! The more you know, the more you grow! I have a million of those sayings that I can use to encourage you to become informed. It doesn’t matter what but invest in depositing some knowledge about something into your mind. The brain is a muscle and you need to exercise using it for more than posting on social networks and watching reality television You ever fill out an application and you get to the part where it asks for your skills and you can’t think of anything to write? That’s a problem. There should be some things that you know that you know, something that will actually help to advance you in life. Even if you have a skill or two, consider investing in continuing education to stay abreast of the latest advancements. You should never stop learning.
- Invest in your health – If we truly believe our bodies to be temples then why do we treat them so poorly? Some of us treat inanimate objects better than we treat our bodies. The body that we have is the only one that we are guaranteed to receive so why don’t we treat it better? Why don’t we invest in eating healthier foods (I say invest because in our society it costs more to eat healthy than to eat junk food)? Why don’t we invest the time and money into working out? We can think of a million excuses not to do something good for ourselves when all we really need is one excuse to do it…
- Invest in your passion – Not every passion turns into profit but that doesn’t mean that you should not pursue it. There are some things in life that simply make your heart smile. Even if that thing, such as baking, gardening or sewing, can’t be your full-time job; you should still invest in it. Personal happiness leads to personal success. Why is that? When you feel as though you are doing something that gratifies you then you are not as concerned with what others think. When you are doing things to please others then your success is dependent on their definition of how well you are doing. Don’t know what you are passionate about? Try a few things out that you think you might like and keep trying until you find something that you love. Just remember that you are always one try away from success. If you never try then you are guaranteed to never succeed.
- Invest in your community – As government officials are constantly debating which social programs will receive a reduction in funding; it is time for us to start investing in our communities. Many people complain that they want lower taxes but the reduction in tax revenues will directly correlate to a reduction in government services. Many organizations such as after school programs, music and art programs and even some sports programs are likely to see further reductions in their budgets. Take some time to evaluate which programs in your community are effective and serving a need then assist with their fundraising. You could donate $10 per month and encourage a few other like-minded persons to do the same. I have several friends that host fun events and donate a portion of their proceeds to causes that they care about. It’s time for us to start taking personal accountability for supporting the things that we say are important to us.
- Invest in your assets - We know that it takes money to make money but it also takes money to manage money. It’s tempting to look for the cheapest and easiest way out but when you purchase an asset, you need to do so with a mindset of what it is going to take to maintain it. It doesn’t matter if you buy a house or a car, you need to think about the maintenance and upkeep of your asset so that it can retain market value. Some homes lose their value, not only because of a decline in the housing market, but also because the owner did not properly maintain it. The same is true with cars. You may want to sell your car but if it has not been properly maintained then you could end up getting less than what other similar cars in better condition are valued at. When I look at people’s budgets, I rarely see a line item for maintenance or home repairs and that is very unfortunate, especially if they don’t have a savings account or cash reserves.
When most people think about investments, they immediately think about money but time is also an investment tool. Some of the investments that I am suggesting will require a reallocation of your time resources while others require you to look at how you are managing your financial resources. We all have our lists of priorities but when we look at how we invest our time and money; many of us are not investing in the things that we say are most important to us.
