The best way to invest money in 2019

Investing used to be a difficult task for many people and viewed as a practice that only highly educated people participated in. With the uprising of technology and the increased accessibility to the best investment products, investing is available to anyone who has an eye on their future.  

When investing your money, there are certainly a few things worth noting to ensure you don’t make mistakes that could cost you financially. This Financial Literacy Month, we’ve put together some timeless investment management tips. 

Here we’ll discuss some of the best practices that have been taught by leading investment professionals such as Warren Buffet. Consider this your ultimate guide to the best way to invest money in 2019.

Three best practices for financial investment in 2019

The best way to invest money this year is the same as it was last year and the year before that — there are some timeless tricks to the trade that have been proven over and over again. These three best practices may just be your tipping point to your financial freedom.

1. Time is your best friend
   
   Compound interest is often said to be the 8^th wonder of the world. Why? Because mathematically, your money grows exponentially. You gain interest on interest on interest, etc. With that in mind, the earlier you begin to invest, the quicker you will see the benefits of compound interest.
   
   The difference between a 25-year-old investing R5 000 per year for 10 years and a 35-year-old just starting and investing R5 000 until age 60, is about R215 000. Guess whose portfolio is bigger... the 25-year-old! (Check out our blog post on Compound Interest to learn more about how compound interest works.)
   
   Don’t delay your entry into the compound interest phenomenon! Start investing today with African Bank’s investment products. Choose how much money you want to invest and for how long — we offer various products to suit your needs.
   
   

2. Put your investing on autopilot

   It’s human nature to make impulse purchases and spend money we know is available on worthless items. But if you put your investing on autopilot, you don’t have to decide between purchasing that item on sale and investing for your future because the decision is already made. 

   You put your investing on autopilot by setting up automatic transfers on a regular basis into your investment accounts. Regardless of what you’re investing for, set up a debit on your account to automate your investing.

3. Invest for the long term

   This goes hand-in-hand with the first investing tip we discussed. Guess how many of the market recessions have ended up rebounding back to surpass the former down market? 100%! Yup. What does this mean?

   Market fluctuations are going to happen and if you keep your money invested for the long term, chances of you losing money are slim to none (when looked at for the long term). When looked at for the long term, emotion is taken out of the equation so you don’t make impulse decisions. Combine that with the compound interest discussed in principle one and you may just be the next Warren Buffet.

Advice from the greatest investor of all time

Warren Buffet is perhaps the most well-known and successful investor of all time. Here is his advice to investing:

“If you aren’t thinking about owning a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” – Warren Buffet

“Our favorite holding period is forever.” – Warren Buffet

“An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.” – Warren Buffet

 In other words, time is your best friend when it comes to investing. By following these three tips and the advice of Warren Buffet, your investing track record for 2019 will no doubt be a successful one.