Imagine that you are now about 35 years old, you make good money, pay your mortgage, transfer a little to a bank account, and invest the rest in yourself - you buy good clothes, accessories, jewelry. At the same time, you have a dream - let's say, buy a house in France and finally stop working 50 hours a week. How to realize such (or any other) dream, learn how to invest and get rid of investment fears, says Vladimir Kreindel, FinEx executive director, Yammi partner.
Risk hormone: why there are few women among investors
In Russia, and all over the world, there is still a myth that finance and investment is a purely male matter. It takes acumen, courage, confidence and a willingness to take risks. However, research shows that, firstly, women also have these qualities, and, secondly, not all of them improve investment results. For example, the overconfidence inherent in men rather than women is destructive to your investments - men are more likely to make deals and, as a result, receive worse investment results than women.
Women, on the other hand, tend to make more balanced decisions, are less subject to excitement and are more prone to discipline.
Recently in America, they studied the profiles of 5 million women who have invested in the past five years. The analysis showed that most of them have medium and even high willingness to take risks.
Why is risk so important? Any investment begins with an assessment of the client's attitude towards short-term losses. In the securities market, fluctuations are inevitable, this is a common practice. A suitable set of assets and a strategy for managing them depends on the client's willingness to put up with this. And, as it turns out, women not only know how to do this, but also cope with emotions much better than men.
Stereotypes aren't the only reason women invest less often than they could. There is also an objective factor. According to statistics, women still earn almost 20 percent less than their male colleagues (see also: "This is sexism: how modern society humiliates women"). Don't forget about gender roles. Often, for women, family and motherhood come to the fore. And the decree is hardly the time when a woman is ready to actively engage in investments.
However, it is investment, when done right, that can provide passive income and free up time for the family. After all, for women, this type of earnings is also relevant because of the longer life expectancy, because even small, but regular investments will allow you not to worry about how to live in retirement.
Not all that is expensive is an investment
The fact that women rarely invest in Russia for various reasons does not mean that they are not trying to achieve financial stability and comfort. But to preserve capital, many quite often choose more understandable material things: cars, apartments, expensive jewelry or accessories. In a word, what you can touch, what you can independently dispose of.
In practice, it is very difficult to own such assets profitably. Take, for example, the most common scenario - buying an apartment. The maximum income from such an investment will be 3% per annum, even below the inflation rate, and the invested funds will pay off no earlier than in a couple of decades. And it is extremely difficult to dispose of such an investment. In the event of an urgent sale, for example, you run the risk of making even less money than you spent.
In fact, when investing in real estate, we fall prey to thinking errors.
It only seems to us that material things are stable and their value, unlike stocks, does not change - there is simply no service at hand where it would be possible to track how the price of an apartment fluctuates online. And this happens all the time: along with fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, news of harmful emissions in your area and even the appearance of unpleasant neighbors.
Life hacks: what to do?
We will analyze step by step where to start if you still decide to invest.
Define a goal
The more accurately you formulate it, the easier it will be to decide on a strategy and come to terms with the need to invest every month. Let's take the same house in France. For example, now it costs about 280 thousand dollars. If you are about 35 years old, and you want to celebrate your retirement somewhere in Provence, at the first stage you will need to invest about 50 thousand rubles, and then replenish the balance by another 10 thousand monthly. So in 25-30 years you will be able to save about 18-20 million rubles (read also: "Latte principle": 7 financial mistakes that prevent us from being richer than we are ").
Forget about "trendy" promotions
Surely you have a favorite brand of clothing, accessories and cosmetics. If so, it might seem right to buy their stocks - successful and loved ones. In fact, this is a huge risk, because neither large-scale advertising campaigns nor expensive collections yet speak of financial stability.
For example, the stock of a very famous fashion house has lost 42 percent over the past five years, and a company that includes everyone's favorite luxury brands has lost nearly 30 percent.
You don't have to chase fashion houses or invest in one or two favorite companies to reduce risk. It is better to spread the money in different places - that is, buy stocks and bonds in baskets. In the stock market, these baskets are called ETFs. Each ETF can consist of several hundred stocks of a particular industry or, say, a country.
Don't be afraid of complicated terms - they are not needed
Polls show that the main reason women find it difficult to start investing is fear of confusing terminology. There are really many terms, but knowing all of them is not at all necessary. Now, to invest, you don't even need to contact brokers or install a complex trading terminal on your computer. Even start-up capital is not required. You can start investing from five thousand rubles.
You can buy and manage assets using special services - robo-advisers. Using them is no more difficult than using a mobile bank. The automated advisor will ask you to indicate the purpose of your investment and suggest the optimal amount you need to invest in order to achieve it. Then you will need to take a survey for risk appetite. Based on this information, a smart algorithm selects a suitable portfolio of assets. The robot also takes over their management for a small commission.
Treat your investment easily
Remember, neither rates nor stock quotes should be more important than your happiness and peace of mind. Do not treat it as a sacrifice - do not invest every penny, invest only free money. Want to buy a new fur coat - buy it!
And if one day you suddenly change your mind about saving for a house in France, and decide to go on a round-the-world trip now - no problem, withdraw money at any time and buy tickets. After learning how to invest correctly, you will understand that if you want, you can save money for any dream and whenever you want.
About the author:
Vladimir Kreindel
Photo: Getty Images
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