Can Anyone Invest or Do I Need Some Secret

Can anyone invest or do I need to be a fancy business person to invest? Like do I need to have a degree and speak a fancy investing language in order to be successful? Or is there a secret that “regular” people don’t know about?

These are all questions I have wondered about and felt foolish asking in fear that I’d be laughed at. But here I am writing these thoughts down as if I wondered about them, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. And now I have some answers to them:

Anyone can invest.

You don’t need to be a fancy business person to invest.

The secret is you need to learn about investing.

I’ve come to learn that investing, like most things, it’s a learned skill. This means if you have the ability to learn, then anyone can invest. Investing isn’t reserved for fancy people, though the word can be thrown around to make it sound intimidating. When I first started reading about investing, it felt like I was really leaning into adulting, which if I’m being honest, still feels like that some days as the idea of investing has intimidated me for most of my life.

Here’s another thing I’ve learnt about investing - if you don’t have an interest in learning about investing, there’s people who will happily do it on your behalf. This means that they’ll take your hard earned money, invest it and expect to be paid for doing that (whether you make money on your investment or not). Be forewarned, you are paying a premium for this service, like all services but you may decide that the costs outweigh the downside. The cost will be less money in your pocket from your investments but you will have to consider if this means of investments is better than having no investments.

So like most skills, people can go to school to learn how to invest (I would hope those who invest on behalf of other people have done this but I don’t make the regulations). These people will get degrees (certifications, diplomas, etc.) and might even make a career out of it. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only way to do it. It’s just one way to do it. 

We all acquire skills throughout our lives. I can surf, albeit not good but I can do it. Do I spend all my waking hours dedicated to surfing, heck no! But some people do as they have a bigger interest and/or a different goal in mind than I do and that’s cool. Investing is the same way - you can learn how to invest in a variety of different ways.

I value life long learning and find it fascinating that I can pick up a book, hop on the internet, ask a friend and learn something. The possibilities of what you can learn are limitless theoretically. There can be limitations. Resources, the support, the time we each are willing to dedicate to learning, the sociodemographic environment we live in all play a factor in the possibilities of what you can learn.

I’m sharing my knowledge of what I’ve learned about investing as I’ve now peeked behind the curtain and it’s not as scary or overwhelming as I once thought it was. Do I know everything about investing - heck no and I never will! But we all start somewhere, so if you have a desire to learn about investing, welcome. I’m happy you’re here. I bet you’d like my other blog post on “So You’re Curious About Investing”.

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