4 lessons I learned in investing at the age of 18 š š
The very first asset I ever bought was bitcoin ā in the spring of 2020. After a while, I saw the hype around breaking the ATH (all-time high), at the time around $20k. I was also taking an economics class in school (I was learning about economic fundamentals ā the business cycle, inflation, the Fedā¦ but nothing about investing, and I found investing super hard and unteachable, so I decided to dive into it. And the lockdown was supposed to be the perfect opportunity to learn something new.).
When I learned about bitcoin, I spent hours and hours watching explanatory videos on YouTube and bought an investing course on Udemy. For a few months, I was kinda super-involved in the cryptocurrency world. Literally, the best deal I made was on coin Cardano. I bought a position at 0.230115 USD Then also, I bought other coins: ETH, LINK, DOT, UNI, LTC. Anyways ā BTC still has more than 80 % of my portfolio, I do really believe in it. For most transactions, I used Kraken, CoinBase, or at the beginning of my journey Revolut.
After spending some time in the crypto market, I got used to high losses and earnings. So after seeing an average return on SPY500 I was shocked :D. But luckily I spend even more time learning and was able to understand the risks + found out cool tricks like compound investing so then I partially moved on to this field as well. With an account on eToro and Degiro, I bought my first stocks. Currently, on eToro I hodl (long story short: hodl = hold) growth shares and on Degiro mostly ETFs. You may wonder if I have a favorite stock ā yes, I have, it's a BRK.B. And wondering if it's worth it to buy some Czech stock like CEZ (I opened an account on Fio Brokerā¦ it looks like a film in 80s)
And after 9 months, I'd like to share 4 key lessons I have learned and still follow.
ā ļø Before I dive into it, I must warn you that these steps may vary ā depending on age, life and investing experience, your current situationā¦ And it's not financial advice! I am not a professional investor. This is just a random article. You have to make your own research (not to invest based on random tweets, even Elonās). ā ļø (It's weird that disclaimers like this one are still in need)
1. Invest in yourself
I still have (or at least I hope :) ) around 70 years to live. And retiring at 30 seems to be silly. So based on this fact, I will always need to do something ā create something. And investing in myself seems like a worthwhile investment to me.
What do I mean by investing in myself? I mean acquiring new knowledge, practicing English, learning new skills (like investing or entrepreneurship), or skills that may come in handy in 2030. Or buy a book. My tips for life-changing books: Never split the difference by Chriss Voss, Atomic Habits by James Clear, or Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Remember, money is not everything. Lost money can be found, lost time is lost forever ā I always want to use my time effectively. I heard a simple example of investing your time. Imagine you have a child at the age of ~3. You can spend 2 mins every day tying shoes. Or you can learn your child how to tie shoes.
2. Keep learning and trying
Before you send all of your money to a broker, I strongly recommend you making research. Start with why ā why do you want to invest your money? To make more money? To beat inflation? ā¦ Once youāre sure why you want to invest, then you should give virtual money a try. For example, eToro offers a virtual account with a virtual $100,000. And youāll find some useful mobile investing apps too. After that, you can buy your first stocks/commodities/cryptocurrencies on Revolut. It's fast and easy to do.
Personally, though, I havenāt gone that route. I just took some money and put it on eToro. Why? I wanted to try it for myself, to get a feel for losing money. Of course, I donāt mean sending all the money to the broker. I believe that the combination of theory and practice is a winning stroke. Last but not least, investing is about constant research and learning. Itās not easy.
3. Choose your style
This bullet point builds on the previous bullet point. You should be clear about what kind of investor you are (want to be). In the world of cryptocurrencies, investors can be divided into several categories based on the % of bitcoin worth in their portfolios. For example, if your portfolio is composed of 75+ % bitcoin, you are considered a more conservative investor. Also, you can be a speculator investor or trader. I can suggest a great book to learn more about ā The Intelligent Investor. Personally, I am a super long-term investor and I don't trade, am not really interested in technical analysis, and don't care about meme coins/stocks.
4. Leap of faith?
People are generally afraid of risk, afraid of loss. Losing $1,000 seems worse than the possibility of making $1,000. But I believe that (at least at age 18) I have nothing to lose. I believe that every generation has its opportunities ā bitcoin, real estate in Prague (the capital of the Czech Republic), or maybe the dot-com bubble. And you need to look for the next bitcoin. What about NFT?ā¦ maybe a topic for another article.
To sum it up, I would like to write down a few names of Czech investors? who a super useful content or it's worth it to listen to a podcast with them. And don't forget about taxes, they vary from country to country.
