1. You do have enough money to start investing, and the best time to do so will always be now. If you are scared about drops in prices, it’s always a good idea to go in progressively by Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) into the markets.
2. Always live below your means. Define a maximum spending budget and make sure the rest is saved—or ideally—invested.
3. Lifting the taboo of money will put you in a better mood to work on your finances. It might even lead to synergies and good outcomes with others too.
4. Always have the equivalent of 3-6 months of need expenses (i.e. expenses you can’t suppress) at your disposal in your emergency fund. This ensures that you can live and afford all necessities for several months if your income suddenly stopped.
5. The investment strategy known as “Dollar-Cost Averaging”, or “DCA”, has often been found to outperform the “buy the dip” strategy. That’s because timing the market is nearly impossible. Buying constantly usually means taking on less risk. It also proves to be less of a hassle.
6. Neobanks are on the rise: they tend to offer greater service than most traditional banks. These may include cash-backs, instant bank transfers, and other cool features to manage your money.
7. Play a zero-sum game with your income: everything that comes in should go in a category: emergency funds, needs, wants, investments. This is the best way to be efficient and stop the leaking.
8. Diversification is key to managing risk, but it’s arguably also a personal preference. There is no rule of thumb, it is best achieved with experience and knowing your personal risk aversion. It is always safer not to put all your eggs in one basket.
9. If you could opt to never sell your investments, you might as well do so. This would ensure a range of perks including less taxation, more borrowing power, sustainable wealth, and more.
10. Remember that when you invest, you contribute to a better future for yourself. If the benefits feel too far away, realise that it will also greatly impact those you love.
11. Understanding opportunity cost is key to making sound financial decisions. Opportunity cost is the cost of a specific choice or behaviour: what you can’t have because you decided otherwise.
12. Being “active” with your investments does not guarantee higher returns. In fact, over-trading is often found to diminish returns. “Going to the beach” is a famous adage advocating for patience when invested.
13. Try to move away from the idea that cash is wealth. Cash, even in your bank account is not truly an asset. True wealth is being able to stand the test of time although cash helps go through storms safely. Assets are the only option to achieve true wealth.
14. Debt can only truly be “good” for your finances if you use it to purchase cash-flow positive assets (i.e. assets that generate more than they cost). If some expenses are too expensive and require debt (ex. A house, a car, …), it might be good for your standard of living, but not necessarily for your finances. Keep in mind that these might be trade-offs.
15. Bearing interest rate, or debt in general can be heavy on your finances. Interest can tremendously slow down your growth. Be careful with debt, especially with tricky small expenses such as consumer loans. They weigh more than you think.
16. Seek to understand the new concepts of decentralisation and true ownership (vs. “I Owe You’s”). Web3, Blockchain, NFTs and DeFi can be decentralised but not by default. If you want to truly protect your blockchain assets, you might want to go that way.
17. Try the ‘50/30/20’ rule. 50% to what you need, 30% to what you want, and 20% to what you save and invest. The more you send to the last category, the quicker and the more wealth you will create.
18. To truly understand the “opportunity cost” of a financial decision, you have to include the actual expense cost as well as how much you could have generated with that amount had it been invested instead.
19. It is always a good idea to take any (financial) decision by first laying out the underlying personal objectives and the time horizon that you have in mind. Personal finance is personal development, after all, it should all be tailored to you.
20. Credit cards are definitely not used the right way if they tend to increase your consumption habits or lead to extra interest expenses. They are most useful for protecting and managing your cash flows.
21. Think about inflation and integrate it into your calculations and budget. Inflation is, unfortunately, a burden that we all have to bear to some extent, best if we learn to deal with it.
22. What actually makes you wealthy is the “compound effect” itself. This not only works with investing, but it also works with all parts of your life too. Keep that in mind: decisions compound over time, good ones, and bad ones.
23. If you hold cryptocurrency, understand the concepts of “public”, and “private keys”. Understand that when assets are not stored on a “hardware wallet”, they are in the custody of the platform you left them on, not in yours. This is very important: “not your keys, not your coins”.
24. Literally all asset classes are susceptible to a crash in value. Different assets might not crash at the same time, and in the same manner, but this shows why cross-assets class diversification is important. Even cash itself loses value, nothing is risk-free.
25. Being proactive will benefit you in all parts of your life. Financial matters are no exception. Planning and anticipation create good luck!
Tune in next week for the second part of our top 50 tips from 2022!