Poll: What, if anything, stops you from investing?
- 22%: Not earning enough
- 26% Not knowing how
- 26% Fear of losing money
- 6% Paying off debt instead
- 20% Can’t stop me!
This one hit a nerve! We just ran our most interesting poll ever and the results were incredible. The Invstr community opened up on what factors impede modern-day investing, and for the first time, we declare a tie!
To not invest because of a fear of losing money is no better than investing because of a fear of missing out (FOMO). In truth, all emotional thinking in the markets belies a lack of education, and this syncs up well with the other most popular poll answer; 26% of users claiming not to invest because of “not knowing how.” But don’t worry!
Even Warren Buffett, as a teenager, was unsure how to approach the stock market. He read a lot of books, started trading signals, lost some money, and only found his breakthrough when he found Coca-Cola and Ben Graham. We all start somewhere. Fantasy Finance and the Invstr Academy is not a bad place to start. There was nothing like it back in the Oracle’s day.
This isn’t to say that a professional hedge fund manager achieves consistent outperformance and never gets cold feet. This business is monstrously hard. Be skeptical of those who try to give it away in pithy tweets. Just acquire gradual knowledge, showcase discipline, understand the downside more than the upside for a given stock pick, and go for sensible position sizing.