A lot of people have a fear of investing in the stock market, particularly Millennials. The 2008 downturn led to an inherent skepticism and downright fear of investing for people who should be investing right now.
Millennials are starting their careers and lives, and if they want to build wealth, the time to invest is immediately, but there tends to be a sense that they’ll wait until later. This desire to wait is based on that fear they developed during the Great Recession.
If you’re a Millennial, how can you overcome your fear of investing and start creating wealth for yourself over the long-term?
Learn Everything
One of the biggest reasons we fear things is because we simply don’t know about them. This is true not just investing but throughout life, so for people who have a fear of the stock market, learning can be a powerful tool to alleviate anxiety.When you understand something, it helps you make more informed decisions based on facts and reason, rather than emotion.
Get Inspired
There are plenty of get-rich-quick stories floating around, and these aren’t what are necessarily valuable in terms of finding investing inspiration.Instead, look to people who have successfully invested, particularly in a niche setting, and share their experiences, both good and bad. One example is Timothy Sykes. He’s someone who’s taken on a highly risky area of investment: penny stocks.
He’s created an abundance of resources to help guide people through the process of investing in penny stocks and making money. He offers free resources, stories from people who have used his program and more, and the Tim Sykes challenge costis relatively minimal compared to many other similar programs.
If penny stocks aren’t your thing, there are plenty of other inspirational stories and courses offered across many niche investment strategies that can help you get started.
Start Slow
Often new investors will feel like they have to do everything at once. They feel like they either have to invest a large amount of money or nothing at all, but that’s going to create more fear and anxiety because it’s an all-or-nothing strategy.
Instead, start small. Invest a small amount of money using an automated investment platform like Betterment, and then see how that goes.Give yourself time to work up to investing more money, and make sure you have a substantial amount of cash reserves set aside.
Don’t Follow Financial News
Having a general understanding of sector trends can be valuable, particularly if you’re investing on your own and not using a robo-investor, but beware of following financial news daily. There are a lot of scare tactics used to generate clicks and draw in viewers, and you’re better off creating a strategy and sticking with it over the long-term, rather than letting every headline influence your decisions.
Investing is intimidating if you’re new to it, but it can also be extremely rewarding, particularly if you’re willing to take a long-term outlook and follow tips like the ones above.
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