Get Rich While you Sleep with the Magic of Compounding

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Categories: investing, stocks, saving, mutual funds 

“Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it.”
Peter Lynch   

One of the greatest investors of our time attests to the simplicity of investing in the stock market. Read this post and find out why. Following is the “Cliff Notes” version of why you need to put part of your long term investment dollars in the stock market. 

Main Topic  

 Stocks  

The historical long term growth of American business is amazing. American business is frequently represented by the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index (S & P 500). This index of 500 stocks is considered a barometer for the complete US Stock Market. 

Forget about the recent recession and downfall of the stock markets for a minute and take a peak at some historical returns of the S & P 500. Although historical returns do not guarantee future returns, take a look anyhow. When looking at these returns, think about the stock market as a collection of U.S. businesses, not mutual fund or brokerage account statements. Then ask yourself if you think U.S. businesses and the economy will grow over the next 20, 30, or 40 years?

The first time I really studied this type of data was in 1993.  Although I had been investing for a while prior to that time, my husband was still skeptical. I wanted to convince my husband of the importance of putting money into the stock market so I prepared some data for him. Fortunately, for us he was convinced by the historical information, so we boosted our investing at that time and have watched our investments grow over time while continuing to contribute regularly to our investment accounts. 

 But what does this return mean in real dollars? 

Consider this, if you are in your 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s you have many years until retirement. You can stick some money in a brokerage account at one of the discount brokers (like Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, or  TD Ameritrade), invest that money in an S & P Index mutual fund or ETF and forget about it. Fast forward 20, 30, or 40 years, it is highly likely that your investment will have grown substantially! Even Rumplestilskin could try this and probably wake up a rich guy after sleeping for a really long time! 

Certainly, it is better to INVEST REGULARLY and not just one time! 

Now, I don’t recommend that you run out and stick the money into the account tomorrow unless you have a bit more financial knowledge. Continue to read BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance and before you know it you will have the skills to grow your net worth. 

Practical Application    

Here is the takeaway from this post: 

ü      The more time you have, the greater chance you have to get wealthy. 

ü      Over time, the stock market has been a wonderful way to accumulate wealth. 

ü      Since the stock market is very volatile, only put money into the market that you can leave there for 5 years or more. 

ü      Invest only in stock index mutual funds or exchange traded funds (ETF’s) unless you have a lot of money and want to devote hours per week to researching individual stocks. 

ü      For the best low effort long term returns, AUTOMATE! 

ü      Have a regular amount automatically transferred in to a brokerage account each month from your paycheck or bank account.    

Action Step: 

Get a notebook and label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it to keep all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans. 

Grow your emergency savings to 6 months of living expenses in a bank savings account or money market fund by transferring automatically from your paycheck or checking account to a savings account. 

CAUTION: This post if for educational purposes and is not advice to run out and buy a stock mutual fund! Before investing, it is really really important to gain some basic financial education. And before sticking any money in investments you need to have savings for emergencies and no consumer debt! Think of this post as part of your lessons in “financial literacy.” Read this blog regularly, try out the action steps, and learn the basics before you start investing. Soon, I will cover other investing topics such as: Bond investments, international investing, dollar cost averaging, diversification, and asset allocation. Keep reading and become financially smart!