By Raymond Smith
Hang On To Your Money
I’m glad you kept reading this series, because part 4 is an important one. Important enough that it could be the final installment, but I’ve moved it way up the list for an important reason: it can’t wait.
Here it is in a nutshell: learn to save and invest your money. Each week – from your first paycheque to your last one about 40 years from now – save and invest 5% of every single paycheque.
Now, it’s important that I caveat here by saying I’m not a credentialed financial advisor or planner, so this is not financial advice per se. What it is, though, is a strong suggestion to do two things: 1) learn the basics of saving and investing and 2) find the discipline to apply what you’ve learned.
Why? Because one day you won’t want to do this anymore, and if you’ve been diligently investing 5% (or 7% or even 10%) of every single paycheque over the past 10, 15, 25, 30 years…you’ll have the financial power you need to walk away on your own terms. And the earlier you start doing this, the better. Trust me.
Advertising, in exchange for a lot of hard work and crazy hours, tends to pay pretty well. Over your career, you stand to make some good money. And wouldn’t it be a shame to find that, after forty years of making significantly more than the average Canadian, you forgot to hold on to a some of it? So, start early, save and invest, and then just leave it be.
Don’t know much about saving and investing? Find someone who does and tap into their knowledge. Read, listen and learn. Honest conversations about money are rare, but they’re valuable, so watch for opportunities to have them. This is especially important for women; find a money mentor who will speak openly and honestly about what you earn and how to make it grow. At a bare minimum: buy a second-hand copy of The Wealthy Barber by David Chilton and read it cover-to-cover, twice.
Why did this get moved up to Part 4? Because you should have started saving and investing weeks ago. You’re late. Get going.