There has been quite an increase in questions over the last couple of weeks, which is not at all surprising given how much uncertainty is out there. And this week, having answered so many emails, plus I was finishing writing and recording my final podcast episode of this series, I’ve not quite gotten around to a new blog post. So this week I’ve decided to republish a post I wrote back in 2017 because I feel that it’s still very relevant today.
Today I have created an overly simplified and pretty straight forward life plan to follow, because there are key milestones in life where many of us do exactly the same thing and my thoughts are that we know what’s coming up, so why not plan for it? The Life Cycle of an Investor: From Birth to Freedom
There has been a sudden interest in the share market and it has me worried. I am noticing that there is a cohort of investors frantically rushing to invest in shares to “make the most” of this current crisis. I, on the other hand, have resisted all instincts to DO SOMETHING, to rush around and find those one or two companies that are at what I believe to be rock bottom prices so I can buy low and sell high. Instead, I have calmly followed the advice of John C. Bogle when he said: “Don’t look for the needle - buy the haystack”. That’s what I’m doing, I’m just buying the entire market.
I got a message this week from Joe. He said that he is after some “relevant situational budgeting help” and would like to see me help out and offer thoughts on “the most basic of budgeting for the families in severe need now”. So I thought I would reach out to someone else to help me write the blog post this week, someone who I consider to be a bit of a Budgeting Queen herself. It’s none other than Bradie from @kiwigirlonabudget
So, together we have worked on this blog post for you this week.
Do you think that now might be a good time to start investing for the first time? I think so. It’s as good a time as any and if you are new to investing, I want this to be the first blog post you read, because it’s going to save you a whole heap of heartache in the long run. And that is a promise.
I asked you last week what I could help you with and I received a lot of emails with questions on various topics. I have pulled a couple of themes out of them and have shared them in this post, because my guess is that they are pretty common questions right now.
I thought I’d keep a diary for this week, so you can see what we are doing to prepare for the months ahead in this rapidly evolving situation. Take from it what you will and discard the rest. But first and foremost when it comes to money at a time like this, whether your job is secure or you have just lost it, the absolute key thing to keep in mind is to: Always spend less than you earn
If there was ever any doubt about what an emergency might look like, well this is it, folks! I hope that each and every one of you is coping well and today I wanted to let you know what Jonny and I are doing, in the hope that you might gain a few pointers about what to do with whatever situation you may find yourselves in.
In February 2020 I went to Dunedin to spend the day with the PocketSmith team. I asked my audience if there were any specific questions they had about using the PocketSmith budgeting software and I put those questions directly to the support team in the office. PocketSmith has answered all of your questions and I’m the first to admit that I’ve learned a thing or two by reading them.
