“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” – Robert G. Allen
This is part 5 (the final part) of the “Think like a millionaire series: Reshape your thinking, Visualize and Plan, Start a Business, Save you Money, and Invest in your Future.
Before writing this particular blog article I asked several of my Black relatives and friends what they thought about investing. Some mentioned the stock market and most had no knowledge or interest in knowing how investments work and why they should even partake in it. I wondered for awhile if I was a lost breed. I’ve heard growing up that the stock market was something that rich, white people do (side eye). Black people don’t invest, we save (another side eye). I think as Black people we have a fear of losing and/or given away our hard earned money because we lack the knowledge of both financing and investing. Sure, investing is risky and doesn’t always work which is why I suggest never using your savings to invest but instead creating a savings specifically for investing or using your resources to gain capital to invest.
For the last series, I will offer tips on investing. However, like I always disclose, I am not a professional investor, this is just what has worked for me (I’ve personally invested in all 5 tips and have experienced success).
By the conversation that I had with close friends and family, I noticed a trend. When most people thought about investing, they thought about the stock market. Yes, the stock market is a great place to invest your money but it is not the only way. The tips I’m sharing are 5 alternates to that scary display of numbers and arrows.
- Real estate: It’s the American dream to one day own a piece of America and buying a home is one of the most common ways people invest. Purchasing a home has the potential to give you access to equity, which means a large amount of cash for you. However, instead of spending all of your homes equity on remodeling your entire home, use it to purchase another property and investment opportunity.
- Crowd Funding: Crowd funding, the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet, is the one I am most excited about sharing. We look to fund crowd funding to fund our own projects and never look at the investment opportunity. All it takes is $2500 dollars at the minimum and you can start collecting compound interest on your money.
- Intellectual Property: If you have some serious cash flow (well, it doesn’t have to be serious but you do need decent residual income) and a hungry young artist or author that can really grind, this is the investment for you. Intellectual property is a work or invention that is the result of creativity. Use your money to invest in someone’s project. This investment takes some elbow grease because you have to be more involved to make sure your money is being spent on quality work. However, intellectual property is a great thing to invest in because you get publishing rights. And publishing rights means monthly royalty checks J
- 401K: 401K is a retirement savings plans that most employers offer. It lets workers save and invest a piece of their paycheck before taxes are taken out.
- Someone else: If someone you know has a drive to become an entrepreneur but needs capital, it is okay to invest in their dream. You supply some of the money or all of the money and determine your return on your investment.
Remember with all investments, do your research. Investments should be calculated risks and you should only do it if you see a clear return on your investment.
About Author:
Toni Larue, author and COO of Team Jon Doe Publications
Las Vegas, NV