Brilliant Investment Moves

I think one of the biggest reasons businesses fail is the inability to understand numbers. Many people have great ideas, but not everyone understands finances. This is why we have business owners and then we have serial entrepreneurs. Business owners tend to own one company and they tend to struggle for the first 10 years (if they make it that far) because the financial end has a learning curve. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, own many companies because they understand numbers and are more engaged with balance sheets than the products or services they are selling. neither option is great for both the development of a company and customer service, a balance has to be struck!

So, all this said, I figured I would offer a very basic lesson in investing. You need $100 to execute this practice, but it will teach you a valuable lesson. With your $100, buy one share of a stock market Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). I suggest you Open an account with TD Ameritrade. Opt into the commission-free ETF program. Buy one share of the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT). This means you are buying into a pool of companies (about 5,000) from around the world.

Now what? Wait. You can loose money, but you can gain money. The key is to focus on the numbers and understand how commerce truly works by using your own money. Worst case scenario is you lose $100 dollars. Best case scenario, you grow that same $100 dollars and learn the balance between owning a business and investing in a company.

Until tomorrow,

Twyla Garrett

Investing Small Money 101

You don't have to have tons of cash to invest wisely. You can use "small money" to become wealthy. There are a few tricks. Make sure to consult with your financial adviser before making any rash decisions with money. However, I am listing my tricks of the "small money" trade below.

Start with paying yourself. We all pay bills and have financial obligations. But, we often forget to pay ourselves. Take 17% of your net pay or profit and put it aside for yourself. Don't touch this money. It can help you gain a line of credit or act as collateral later down the line.

Look into buying stocks using Dividend Reinvestment Plans ("DRIPs") or Direct Stock Purchase Plans ("DSPs"). These plans are easy to use and only require $50 dollars to start. You also want to seek out mutual funds with a low minimal purchase. Some mutual fund companies will allow investors to start investing with small deposits, but you'll have to agree to an automatic investment plan whereby you let them deduct a fixed amount from your bank account every month for the purpose of buying additional stock.

If you can afford to set aside a thousand dollars (or more) consider a CD. This stands for Certificate of Deposit. The concept is to loan your money to a bank. The bank has a certain amount of time to pay you back with a higher interest rate. It is like a savings account but you can't withdraw the money during an emergency. The plus side is the interest on a CD is larger than that of a savings account.

You can use "small money" to grow major wealth for yourself.

Until next time,
Twyla