We all know that the best investment is in ourselves.
Taking the initiative to learn, make mistakes, be okay with embarrassing ourselves, and have endless curiosity will lead to the farthest results.
As a college sophomore, I have doubts about how long this can actually last.
Once I graduate, I’m dropped into the workforce and have to put all my time and energy into bettering a company, leading them to prosperous sales and acclaim, assuming that 17 years of schooling has justified my readiness to excel at a career.
It would be ideal if we all valued learning and religiously read a book every week, but life gets in the way.
By life I mean our jobs.
Knowledge can never disappear but your job can.
The other day I was speaking with my high school neighbor from a top IVY league school.
He worked his butt off to get to this school.
Hiring tutors, asking his parents to donate a building, played expensive, privatized sports such as lacrosse and golf, and aced his ACT after trying 12 times.
He used the money to his advantage to get into the school of his dreams.
Yes, money does buy things and happiness, to a certain extent.
The reason we are still talking is not that I admire people like that or I want to know his secrets, but rather understand what he is thinking because we are polar opposites, especially within this case.
We met in high school in investment club.
Of course, he was the co-chair or some fancy high position on the team, and I on the sidelines as a general member, with no position but still ended up doing all the work.
I asked him, what is thinking of doing over winter break starting in a few weeks since in college, the accumulation of all the breaks including winter, spring, summer, and those three day weekends scattered throughout the semesters total to be longer than the amount of time we spend in college.
Typical.
College is a business.
But that’s not what surprised me.
This is what he said he will be doing for the 8-week break: “I’ve worked my butt off this semester and it’s time for me to take a break and do absolutely nothing. Maybe play video games, hang out with friends, and just chill all day on the couch. I deserve it.”
And maybe he did.
Who know’s how hard he worked all semester or Zoom fatigued he was but what stood out to me was not that he responded in a typical teenage fashion, but his frame of mind.
He assumed since he went to a great school and deemed to be learning throughout the semester (even though you can learn more via Google or Youtube), when the clock strikes winter break, no more learning is required.
He believes he is set and learns during a certain period of time intending that school got his back.
The earlier you can realize what mentality you have and view learning as an endless opportunity to grow not a destination, that will lay the groundwork for what you will achieve, earn, and accomplish.
So at work, is there an opportunity to learn?
Throughout school, we aren’t able to afford to make mistakes because that will lead to serious consequences for our GPA and down the road what path we take. Spoiler alert, everything will always work out.
As long as you have a positive attitude and patience, especially during the toughest times.
When we get to work, there are even higher stakes.
If you make an error, you either try to cover it up and pretend it never happened so you don’t get embarrassed or hope for the best until that mid-Friday afternoon talk with the boss.
Learning isn’t taught in the way learning should be.
In order to utilize your skills as an investment, your curiosity must arise beyond 9-5 and for the professor’s liking.
With those skills, you will be able to make decisions, feel calmer, and more collected since you’ve gone through the experience of experimenting, taking chances and being excited to grow yourself outside of work.
And while you’re at it, have little fun at work.
You spend 1/4th of your life there so might as well enjoy it.
It doesn’t have to be considered work.
Call it play and the opportunity to learn.
No one stays at the same job anyway.
By the time you are 30, you would have already had 7 to 8 jobs estimated by CNBC.
So besides the biggest return on our investments: education, there are few other less common investments that aren’t discussed in the finance world because they boost returns for the long term and require patience, not expertise.
Why does expertise not work with stocks?
Becuase as much as you known derivatives and when to bet on your shares, soft skills are far more profitable long term.
Big picture, not be a close-minded specialist.
I find our world so grounded in wanting to always be right, have the perfect IQ, and fake it till we make it.
Be different becuase everyone else is doing that.
You will be more personable, relatable, have more connections which equates to more luck and experiences that way.
As with investing, it is always important to remember that:
1) The stock market is not a game or gambling. It is your money on the line for the long haul not short term gains through trends in the news
2) The stock market is always futuristic. Although we are trading on the exchanges at the moment, it is really predicting 5-12 months down the road for the economy. THat’s why the DOW hit a record high of +1500 points this past Monday on Pfizer vaccine news.
3) Deal with volatility. It happens and will continue, especially into this dark winter we will have with COVID. Get used to it and trade for the long term, never short, unless you are a day trader.
T-Bills
First, let’s break down what the treasury offers for your portfolio.
As a refresher, treasury bills(t-bills) for short, are short-term debt obligations backed by the U.S. Treasury Department with a maturity of 1 year or less.
The treasury department operates the IRS, where our taxes get processed.
There are 3 types of investments that are one of the safest, but returns are low compared to most investments.
Bills: Maturities of a year or less
Notes: Issued with maturities from 2-10 years
Bonds or T-Bonds: Long-term investments with maturities of 10-30 years
Pros for Treasury:
-Virtually no risk, great to take charge of for a long period of time, especially starting when young
-Safe and reliable
-Low investment deposit and a bit higher return
-During a recession, bonds do better than stocks. Whenever there is a high, there is a low. As a result, there is always a recession/depression upon us at some point.
Not too much information here becuase this is all you need to know.
They are short and sweet for a reason.
I wanted to point out that treasury bonds are the most underappreciated investments because they grow slowly and work in your favor long term.
You need to have the patience to seek beneficial, non-volatile returns in the future.
You don’t have to be a grandma with less cash and more risk tolerance to do this.
As a 19-year-old, I’ve invested some along with the rest in a ROTH IRA, a compounding interest beast machine.
Without taking advantage of the no risk treasury department, you put yourself on the path every other investor takes.