I Guard My Money With My Life, So I Don’t Really Invest

I was very hesitant to start my investing journey, worried that all of the money I had saved could be lost. 

To me parking my money in savings accounts wasn’t so bad. I thought the interest rates were reasonable and I was happy letting my money grow there.  

It wasn’t as good as potential investment growth, but it was guaranteed and a lot safer.  

But after a few years of leaving my savings in the savings accounts, I realised that the interest rates had dropped to almost nothing. This meant that any money I was saving was losing value, or reduced over time due to inflation.

This pushed me to explore investing and I spoke to a specialist at my bank. They set up various options, always stressing that investments do carry risks but what got me over the line was when they pulled out a chart that showed the surprising returns one can get if they invest for a longer time period, for example over the last 20 years.   

The charts which showed a financial crisis and the upturn that happened afterwards, helped me realise that an investment isn’t a quick way to make or lose money, but a long-term opportunity to grow my money. Although there are risks and the market will have a downturn, it will eventually have an upturn if you can afford to wait. 

I realised that the benefits of investing are possible to achieve. I also realised that it is important to diversify your investments so that if something drops, it won’t impact all of your savings at once. 

This article is part of TSS Confessions, a weekly column where we delve into personal finance topics that are unscripted and genuine real accounts from people.