FinPocket

How to start investing young?

Written by: InvestKaar

We often complain about the lack of investors especially young investors in Pakistan. SO why is it that young Pakistanis – almost half our population – are not INVESTING.

Is it because of a lack of vibrancy at PSX (read up our blog) or lack of interest? Definitely not the latter – I mean why wouldn’t one be interested in growing wealth. 

I don’t blame the youth completely – back when I was in my 20s, I hardly ever thought about managing personal finances and investing. While I was being taught financial concepts and the time value of money in my graduating years, no one really emphasized the NEED to invest. Secondly, the majority of people my age had no idea about such concepts and it seemed too hard.

Now, after spending a decade in the investment industry and making good returns, I wish I had started earlier. Don’t believe me? I have worked out the numbers and the difference in income (assuming retirement at 60yrs), had an individual began investing in his/her 20s rather than 30s is startling!

Assuming you start today and invest Rs1000 in PSX, your return will be 2.6x higher as compared to starting 10yrs later.

Need we say more?

That’s why I would want our young readers to start investing as early as possible and take on the journey of being financially independent with InvestKaar.

The pre-requisites to investing

There is no ideal age to start on your first investments, but the younger you are, the better chances you have of building a future for yourself.

The key is developing good habits. Follow these 5 steps to get into the zone:

Know your expenses:

By knowing I mean to quantify your expenses. You should actually be able to put a number on how much you need to sustain your existing lifestyle. We are not suggesting that you track every minute detail but you should know the total monthly expenditure. Once done, set aside some money usually 3-6 months of monthly expenses in case of any unforeseen event.

Start saving:

Saving money and investing it are closely connected (see our infographic video here).

If you have never been a saver, we suggest starting by saving small amounts anywhere between 2-5k every month. Believe me, once comfortable, you will consciously make decisions to swap KFC nights with a homecooked meal and save some more.

You can also take help from apps like Hysab Kitab, PocketGuard, Home Budget, etc to keep track of your savings and purchases.

Make money in your sleep:

What we mean here is creating passive sources of income – earn money for committing the least possible time. There are plenty of ways of doing so but we are highlighting the easy ones for our young readers:

 

Dividend paying stocks or regular income certificates

Create online content – Find what you are good at and share digitally

Online advertising – do this if you already have a blog/channel in place

Renting out unused items – clothes, household stuff or even a room (if available). These days you have groups on FB and Whatsapp dedicatedly doing this.

Sourcing products to Daraz, Amazon, eBay

Stay away from debt of any kind:

I know this is easier said than done. Everything has become so expensive – be it health, education, weddings or even cars. But try not to carry debts forward rather plan on paying it off asap.

It will be easier to stay out of debt in your young years rather than when age catches up and you have major expenses like raising kids, taking care of parents, and your own health issues.

Also, control your credit card spending – you will end up losing a lot more to the bank if you are not careful.

Know the importance of investing:

Check out our 2 min long bite-sized video to understand the amount of money you lose to inflation if you don’t invest.

Conclusion

We all agree that kick-starting our retirement planning at a young age is extremely important. But it may seem overwhelming in the beginning – how to start, where to look, what to consider.

Don’t worry! InvestKaar is here to help. We are working on bringing a 4 week long how-to-begin-investing journey for our subscribers. Your very own step-by-step guide to everything, starting from choosing a brokerage house to account opening to making the first investment.

Sounds just about what you need right! Head over to our website and subscribe to not miss out on your most important first step to a bright future.

Subscribe to InvestKaar:  investkaar.com

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