Good Afternoon Ladies and Gents!
October is now upon us. That means pumpkin lattes, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin pie.
The air is crisp. And it’s also sweater weather. Time to break out those pullovers.
For those of you who grew up in the 90’s, you probably remember the yearly reruns of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, that would come on every Halloween.
I miss those simple days.
Even though things have changed since then, some things can still remain simple. Meaning you can keep your investing simple.
I know tons of fortunes have been made in real estate. Even my home has gone up in value.
See my post on How Supergirl inspired me to buy property
However, real estate is a very active investment. I am always looking for passive income. And stocks provide the passivity I am looking for.
I didn’t spend all that time in my youth slinging hash and serving customers for nothing. I did it to buy my freedom. To say adios to corporate overlords.
And watching the government enter another day in the shutdown, just made me want to work harder to exit the rat race sooner.
Although index funds are the best way to invest, the market has been moving up and down so much it’s enough to give you whiplash!
However, please stay the course.
Jim Cramer from CNBC show Mad Money gave his listeners a reason why years ago.
Host Jim Cramer believes that there is always a bull market somewhere, you just have to keep investing to get to it.
He was homeless for about six to nine months in 1979 after a thief stole everything from his apartment, leading him to live in his car, a Ford Fairmont, spending nights parked at highway rest stops. After graduating from Harvard and working as a crime reporter, Cramer’s apartment in California was robbed, leaving him with nothing.
And as if that wasn’t enough, they also cleared out his checking account, which held the money he needed to pay rent. He ended up getting evicted. Poor guy!
He used this time to develop a consistent saving and investing discipline that he credits with helping him become a millionaire.
He decided to invest $100 per month. He said his car insurance costs that much. His rent costs that much — and I’m saving on rent. Basically, he used the money that would have gone towards the rent to invest.
Investing during hardship: Even when he was at his lowest point, Cramer continued to invest $100 a month into the Fidelity Magellan Fund. He said that this consistent investment discipline, even when he had very little, was a key factor in his becoming a millionaire.
Lessons learned: Cramer described this period as a difficult but foundational experience that instilled in him a lasting commitment to saving and investing.
This was during his 20s.
He thinks that people in their 20s have no excuse for not putting more money into their investments — even if they think they’re broke. He says he hears from people in their 20s say they are broke all the time.
He was literally homeless! As his finances became more stable, he increased the contributions he made each month, and by the time he was 45, he had around $1.5 million. He attributes that success, in part, to starting early and consistently investing each month.
After approximately 20 years of continuous saving, Jim was a millionaire.
He says investing in the stock market is a good long-term bet.
I concur.
After hitting $500,000, I am working on my next rung on the investment ladder, which is $750,000. I estimate I can get there with consistent saving and market returns in about 2 years or 24 months.
But who’s counting.
Miriam started Greenbacks Magnet in 2016 to keep a scorecard of her goal of $1M in investable assets. Armed with a Master in Management (MiM) and a calculator, she teaches readers how to achieve financial independence while also helping them learn how to smell the roses along the way. The palpable response she got from sharing her personal finance goal in a public speaking course at Georgetown University encouraged her to share her story and teach finance on her website. She invests in AI companies as artificial intelligence is the new iPhone of the moment as she likes to invest in companies that are disruptive.