3 ways investing changed my life.

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

I originally posted this article on Medium.

Money - the fuel of economy.

We all use it, we all want, we all need it. It is the backbone of our society. It is a tool we can use to fulfill our dreams. For some it’s an adventure like climbing mount Everest. For others driving the fastest car. And for some just getting by and having access to basic necessities is a dream come true. None of these are possible without the involvement of money. So what is money? Money is the means of exchange used in our society. With the use of money, we are able to exchange goods or services for an abstract form of value, that we as a society have agreed upon. How do we acquire this abstract value (money)? The simple answer to this question is — by trading our time in the form of work for it. Either getting a regular 9 to 5 job and acquiring money in the form of a salary. Or by starting your own business and making a profit. Nonetheless exchanging your time for money.

But this is not the only way. And once you discover this, you will never see money as you did before. It changes your approach to money and your financial habits. You will begin to value your time more. And you will choose how you spend it more wisely. At least that’s what happened to me when I learned about investing and actually tried my hand at it. And these days it’s easier than ever. You can start with as little as you want, but that’s a topic for another article.

How investing changed the way I look at money

1. It got a lot easier to save.

It is a lot easier to reduce the amount spent on unnecessary things if I look at money not only as something that I can exchange for goods or services right now but as something that can grow in value over time. I look at each dollar as a potential worker that can go out there in the world, and bring more dollars to me over time. It’s much more difficult to spend 100$ on something I am not sure I will need if I know that these same 100$ could be worth 1000$ some years down the road. And what if I am lucky? Then maybe even more than that. And when the money is already invested. I am a lot less likely to spend it because it involves extra steps to pull it out of investments. In case I really, really need it, I can get to it. But it is not just laying around in my bank account waiting to be spent on the newest gadget. Investing helped me save up more money than I ever had and even make some profit on top of that.

2. It motivated me to discover new ways of generating income.

The moment I realized that it is possible to live off of investments. I started to find more and more ways to make money do the work for me. By generating extra income from investments I bought myself more free time. And I used this newfound time researching even more ways to generate passive income. This notion that money can work for me made me more motivated than ever to branch out, find new passive ways of generating income and get me back some more time in the future. It helped me see that there is an escape from the rat race. As a famous investor Warren Buffet once said:

‘If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.’

3. It made me realize that we are living in an age of opportunity.

Technology has changed a lot of things. It has made life a lot easier. We get stuff delivered to our homes. Almost anything is accessible on-demand these days. And so is investing. You can invest in stocks, crowdfund real estate, or even art. And if you are up for it invest in cryptocurrencies. And the crazy part is you can start doing so in just a couple of minutes without leaving your home. What’s your excuse not to? And if that’s not enough you can start a business by setting up an e-commerce store using one of print on demand or dropshipping services. You can become a part of the creator economy, by sharing your ideas, your passions with people all around the world. you can do it by sharing videos online, or if that is not your thing you can write. And yes, you can also make a living doing so. All of this not leaving your home. Isn’t it crazy? And that’s just scratching the surface. What a time to be alive.

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Thank You for reading!

Have a great day! :)