How to know if you're able to invest

“It's easy for you to invest. Because you work in finance. But I'm in another field, and I don't know a thing about investing."

That's what my friend Caroline told me during a dinner party several years ago.

And she is far from being the only one to think this way. I keep hearing it all the time.

Myth #2: I need to be good with numbers and all things financial

Like Caroline, you may think that you need to be a financial analyst, wealth manager, or an accountant to get into investing.

At the very least you should be good with numbers, right?

Would you be surprised to hear that this is not true whatsoever?

And that the vast majority of people have no clue about the best ways to invest.

Even most of the people who work in banks and insurance companies.?

And I know that last one for a fact because I used to work there.

And most of my colleagues didn’t know much about investing for themselves (even when their job was to invest on behalf of wealthy clients).?

It's so easy to fall for the trap of what we see on TV. Or what we hear from the people (usually men) around us.

"I'm investing in this company because it's undervalued" or "The moving average and inverting yield curve means that the stock market should crash in the next few weeks," etc.?

The truth is you don't need to get into all of that to be a successful investor.

Because times and times again, research has shown that the best way to invest is a lot simpler.?

And that means investing consistently in a low-cost and well-diversified portfolio over the decades.

And there are many ways you can do that, without getting a master's degree in finance or working at a bank.?

You can do that with a robo advisor, for example. Or you could do it with a German savings plan.

You could also do that all by yourself: just invest in the same set of ETFs on a trading platform over and over again (but this requires a bit more knowledge and a lot more discipline).?

Should you know about the principles of investing?

Yes.

You don't want to invest in something you don't understand.

But no need to know all the nitty-gritty statistics, fancy names, hedge funds, and trader-like vocabulary and concepts.?

Which means absolutely anyone can do it…

…as long as you can count, read and write (and I am pretty sure you got that covered!)

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That’s all I had for you?today!

?? Are you still waiting to start investing? Let me know in a comment below.

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