When it comes to money, investing it wisely and consistently is key to growing your wealth. Just sitting on money in a savings account only offers you wasted years of financial freedom or early retirement.
And people who do invest money, will take various avenues.
Many will choose the stock market, others choose real estate, others may choose to invest in businesses.
What you invest in is a matter of what your life goals are, the money you save to invest and understanding how to make your money work for you.
While there are differences, there is one asset we all have in common that everyone should invest in first: yourself.
Investing in yourself will pay huge dividends for you throughout your lifetime. Whether that is monetary value or just improving your overall happiness.
And for your financial investments to succeed or anything for that matter, you need to be invested in four key areas that apply to you.
What Does It Mean to Invest In Yourself?
Investing in yourself means you are putting time, money, and other resources into better your current life and also your future. Instead of primarily just focusing on material things, you instead look for opportunities and assets that will raise your knowledge that can make huge impacts for you.
The goal is that you are always improving and building a better life for yourself and your family. By investing in yourself first, you can see an impact on your finances, career, hobbies, and just overall happiness.
Why is it important to invest in yourself?
When you are Investing in yourself, you start to acquire knowledge and other various skills that will greatly impact the ROI on anything you pursue. It’s important because it helps you diversify your knowledge, improves decision making, helps you be more prepared financially, maximizes your career or business choices, and more.
Learning should never end, especially with personal finance and investing your money.
Investing In Yourself Is The Best Investment
If you recall from the intro, I mention four key areas that will be important for you as you begin investing in yourself. There might even be more that you can think of, but these stood out to me.
Invest Your Time
If you want to succeed in finances, money, and investing you first have to understand how to invest your time. Time is limited and what you do with it and you manage it is critical.
By not understanding how to best organize your time for maximum ROI, you may be wasting your efforts on things that add little to no value.
So many people want to be rich overnight, think having a $1,000,000 retirement portfolio is impossible to achieve, or figure that learning about investing is just too hard.
Those are pretty common among a lot of people I know, but it’s because they do not understand how to invest their time.
- Getting rich overnight could technically happen, but extremely unlikely.
- Compound interest, starting right away, and staying consistent will get you to a solid retirement portfolio. It can also get you to a million dollar portfolio.
- Learning about finances and investing is not too hard, but you have to willingly spend some time to learn. In fact, you can teach yourself about personal finance pretty quickly.
All three of those scenarios relate to time and all pertain to various degrees of it. Master your investment in time, understand it, value it, and manage it.
Certainly, some people have more free time than others, but you’d be surprised how much time we waste. But you alone control how to spend your time and it can make all the difference in your life and financial future.
Invest in Knowledge
After a long day of work, family, and other adulting things, sometimes the last thing you want to do is study or learn. Netflix, Hulu, video games, and other forms of entertainment can help you unwind.
And I’m with you because I certainly can fall into the rabbit hole of binge-watching The Office or some other show.
But in order to succeed in a better financial future, you have to dedicate yourself to expanding your knowledge. Why?
- Schools are not heavily teaching investing or finances.
- The media can give you mixed signals and false information.
Without investing in your knowledge, you are blindly following information and can easily make costly mistakes.
Learn to invest in your knowledge, what books or blogs to read, and improve your mind. Even if you become quite the expert in something, still read or listen to others in the field.
For example, I often re-read most personal finance books that I have consumed. Even though must of it I now understand, there always seems to be a nugget of information I missed. And if anything, the insights are good reminders too.
Some quotes I found interesting from highly successful and wealthy people:
Elon Musk (when asked how he learned to build rockets): “I read books.”
Oprah Winfrey: “Books allowed me to see a world beyond the front porch of my grandmother’s shotgun house…[and] the power to see possibilities beyond what was allowed at the time.”
Bill Gates: “Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding.”
Invest in Your Physical Health
If you want to be around to enjoy financial freedom and see the results of your investments come together, your physical health is very important.
This means exercise, eat well, have routine doctor visits, and generally pay attention to your body and what it might be telling you.
It’s easy to fall behind and out of a groove on this one, especially when life and family take up more time.
Compared to a few years ago, my workout regime is now pretty weak. I’m slowly getting my act together, especially as I recently crossed into the 30’s and realizing how important it is to keep up a routine.
But start investing in your physical health, as this can greatly affect your attitude and choices in financial investing too.
Money is important, but it is not greater than your personal well-being.
Investing in physical health allows you to feel better, be motivated in life, and ensure you don’t become a potato on a couch.
Invest in Your Emotional Health
Just as important as physical health, you should first be investing in your emotional health too.
While working hard and learning are important for your future, none of it matters if your emotional state is in distress.
This means while you want to invest in your time, knowledge, and physical health, you also need to relax, reduce stress, and find some “you” time.
Get the proper sleep, take a step back if you feel overwhelmed, meditate, anything that can help you find a balance. Find a routine that works for you and lets you find inner peace.
Emotions also play a big role in decisions you make financially (especially investing in the stock market) and by not having clarity, it can lead to some pretty rash and poor money decisions.
It’s good to have emotion, but know how it can affect your mind and financial decisions in life.
Note: There is more to it than above as mental health is a huge challenge and there are greater discussions needed in the world about it. It’s okay to seek help and a great first step in improving your mental and emotional health. More information on mental health here.
Final Thoughts
I find that the above four areas are the most important investments that you can make during your lifetime, but also where you should start.
Investing in yourself first is key to helping you improve financially, but it has to start with YOU.
Of course, unexpected situations can come up that may stall or affect any of these areas above. No one is perfect nor will everything always stay balanced. Life happens and things can change in an instant.
But, valuing your time, investing in knowledge, and improving your physical and emotional well-being are key to a happy life and ensuring a stronger future you.
How are you investing in yourself? What have you found was the best learning moment for you? How did it impact your own finances, career, or business?