When you’re in your 20s, society will make you believe that you can live wild and free, without facing the consequences. The pros of investing in your 20s totally outweigh the cons. There are worthy investments you can make in your 20s to secure your future.
In your 20s, you always hear the rhetorics like “…this is the right time to invest”, “invest while you’re young”. However, you’re hardly told what you should invest in exactly. It’s one of the reasons we published 35 booming business ideas with step-by-step guides on how to start them.
I know you have been told to start saving; right from school days, and even from your first job as a salary earner. Fantastic idea. However, saving N100,000 in the bank doesn’t increase the value of N100,000, except you invest it. Saving is, indeed, a good habit and can instill financial discipline, but starting to invest in your 20s is indeed a sure route to financial freedom.
When you save, the interest in your savings account does not amount to much, therefore, it’s important that you start investing immediately.
Case Study:
Let’s say you’re 20years old, and you decide to save N10,000 every month for 20years, by the time you turn 40, you would have saved N2.4m. Rather than saving, imagine you were investing N10,000 in an asset class that yields a 10% interest rate per annum. You would have N7.627m. Compare that to N2.4m. The difference is a whooping N5.2m.
I hope with the example, that you understand the importance of investing. If you have financial goals to achieve, investing is the way to go.
Your 20s is an opportune time. In your 20s, you don’t have many responsibilities, expenses, etc. The question now is, how do you take advantage of this period and build financial freedom?
Investments To Make In Your 20s
1.) Develop And Deploy Good Personal Financial Habits
Investments in your 20s start with your personal financial habits and discipline. You have to set goals and remain disciplined if you want to save money for investments in your 20s. These habits are not only needed in your 20s, but they should also be your day-to-day financial habits.
For example, you want to build a consistent record of paying your bills on time. When you pay your bills on time, you will be free from debt and the interest that it accrues. This leaves you with more money to invest in your 20s.
2.) Stock Market
Start safe, start simple, and start immediately. Investing in the stock market means you have to start early and buy shares of companies that have the potential to appreciate. Investment is about taking risks and in your 20s, your risk threshold should be high since you have time.
Reaching a million would require a reasonable allocation toward stocks. While investing in stocks can be riskier than say, putting your money in a savings account, but over the long run, stocks have shown to be a more rewarding investment. This simply means you own a piece of the company, whose shares you bought.
The most beautiful thing about it is that you necessarily don’t need a broker (middle man, that connects you to the counter where you buy shares). Technology has made it so easy for you to explore different types of investments in your 20s. There are a lot of online platforms where you can buy shares from the comfort of your home. We have the likes of Chaka, Bamboo, Ziing, etc.
3.) Index Funds
The stock market can be a little demanding as you have to keep an eye on your portfolio. You need to constantly check the individual stock to see which of the companies is doing well and when to sell or buy. However, if you want to have stock investments in your 20s and can’t keep up with following the updates, then you would have to stick with the periodic index fund investing approach.
An index investment is only as good as an index fund, and an index fund can be only as good as the index behind it. So what’s an index? It’s a standard measure of the changes in performance within a grouping of stocks. This group serves as a benchmark for the stock market as a whole or for particular parts of the market.
Examples of indices include the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 in the United States. Also, Japan’s Nikkei 225, and the British FTSE 100. (The numbers represent the number of stocks within that particular index.)
4.) Mutual Funds
A mutual fund is one single investment product that you can buy shares in, which is made up of a carefully chosen portfolio or collection of stocks in many different companies. Some funds also contain bonds and other kinds of investments as well as stocks. And, each fund has been assembled by someone with expert knowledge.
The components of a mutual fund are chosen carefully to balance each other out so that you have the best possible chance of seeing some profit from your investment. Done in a way that you still remain profitable in a worst-case scenario, a strategy also known as diversification
5.) Starting A Business Or A Side Hustle
Jobs are a great way of earning a living, however, they’re not very much reliable when it comes to building real wealth. One of the perks of starting a business, if you have the right mindset about entrepreneurship is that you stand a chance of building sustainable wealth.
Some of the Fortune 500 companies and huge startups we hear of today were started by people in their 20s. All they had to do was, invest their time, resources, passion, and energy on that great idea.
This journey comes with a lot of hurdles to jump. It is never an easy road, never has it been, even in the most developed economies. You have to invest your blood, sweat, and tears, for you to get the best return on your investment.
Conclusion:
One of the perks of investing in your 20s is that mother nature has given you the great gift of time.
However, it does take discipline, patience, and require you to make some sacrifices along the way. Refraining from keeping up with the ‘Joneses’ and building an investment portfolio in your 20s is one of the surest ways to creating financial security, both in the short-term and for the long haul – when you’re going to need the money most.
If you’re in your 20s and actively investing, what are you investing in? Are you in your 30s, 40s, or even 50s? It’s never too late to start investing. The best time to start was 20 years ago. The next best time is now. What are you investing in? We want to hear it in the comments.
Thinking of investing in a side hustle? We have 35 booming business ideas and step-by-step guides to start them. It’s a strategic and financial breakdown of the most lucrative businesses in Nigeria. Get it now and start building the business of your dream.
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