Time up: Secure your financial future by investing

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you decide it is time to invest some extra money.

06:52 12 December 2013

We sometimes want to wait for the perfect time to begin our investments but there is really never a “best time”. When you have some savings built up for potential emergencies, it is a good time to think about investing money that you save above and beyond the funds you need for immediate access.

Here are a few things to think about before you put your money down into something:

• Decide the amount of money you want to invest that won’t be part of your emergency funds, and that will not cause a great amount of inconvenience if you lose some of the money.

 

• You should have a financial goal in mind before investing. You’ll need to know how much to invest, the type of investment you are looking for in terms of yield expectations, and your ultimate savings goal.

 

• Decide the level of risk you are comfortable with and seek investments that will suit your needs. Ideally, investors seek a low-risk, high-yield fund but they can be difficult to find, or may require a large sum of money for the initial investment.

 

• Figure out if you would like to dedicate money out of each pay period towards investing. Once you have decided upon your initial investments you can use the money you set aside each pay period to funnel into the funds that are doing well.

 

• When possible try to purchase when the stocks are at a lower cost and hang onto them until they rise in price.

 

• Determine whether or not you want to join an investment fund which spreads the risk between many people who have pooled their money through a fund manager to get better deals on stocks that will usually pay out more, while also minimizing the risk to your own wallet. Another benefit is that the fund manager locates good investment opportunities.