Save, invest or trade

Before you do anything with your money, you need to figure out your goals: Do you want money for next month, next year – or for retirement? Do you want massive returns or just a little extra change?

You also need to figure out your risk tolerance: Would it be a disaster if you lost some of your cash? Are you willing to gamble for a shot at better returns? 🎰

Putting your money to work is a trade-off.

You can have low risk, good returns, or a short time horizon – but not all three.

If you have a low-risk tolerance and want a bit of extra money in a year or two, savings may be the place to look.

If you can wait a bit longer, investing may be a better choice: you’re taking on more risk, but over a long enough period of time (five to ten years, say), you should see gains that’ll beat anything you can get from savings accounts.

If you want a high return quickly, trading may be your thing – but as we’ve said, this is extremely risky.

Saving & investing?

Of course, you don’t just have to stick to one strategy – in fact, you probably shouldn’t. As with superheroes, combining the strong points of two is a really smart 🧠 idea.

Consider maintaining an easy-access savings fund for occasional big purchases but regularly paying into a larger long-term investment account that will hopefully fund your retirement. If you really want to, you can also set up a small trading account for a bit of fun on the side. 👍

These shouldn’t be set-it-and-forget-it decisions. Your goals will change over time, and so will the economic landscape (if savings rates are really low, you might want to put more into investments).

Adding regularly to your savings and investments may help your cash to grow over time: so it may be a good idea to set up small weekly or monthly payments into your savings and investment accounts.

Congratulations!

You’ve learned about the differences between saving, investing, and trading and figured out how you can strike a balance between the three when putting your money to work.

If you’re now ready to kick off your investing journey, we’re here to help. After all, we’re building Wealthyhood for long-term and beginner investors! 🚀

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Keep in mind that when you invest, your capital is at risk. This learning guide is for information only and is not intended as investment advice.