I want to eventually start publishing content about investing and maybe start a new business venture there.

Currently my ideal is like ah ju, talking about basic investing concepts and economic trends to people who want to increase their wealth, work less, achieve freedom.

So I’ll start putting down my ideas with posts like this one as well to keep track of my ideas.

This one advice, I wish I could’ve given myself many years ago – or at least 8 years ago when I started making and saving a decent amount of money with my business.

And that is, you must invest if you are going to save.

Fear of losing money

obviously the biggest reasons many people still don’t invest is, being afraid of losing money when they invest.

It’s true that might happen.

And in recent years saving rates or US treasury rates have become more attractive than say 2008-2022.

But the reality is – if you save, you ARE INVESTING in HKD (or USD).

And the value of USD diminishes over time. Most likely at a rate faster than what you get paid in interest.

It’s possible to win investing in dollars. But it’s unlikely and it’s only during short periods usually.

So by not investing you are likely losing MORE money by investing in USD.

Not knowing what to invest in? Start here.

Easiest place to start – gold.

An alternate currency that isn’t controlled by any central bank and cannot be printed.

Sure it does not produce interest but again think about why USD does produce interest – to compensate you for the debasement.

Gold is valuable because people trusts it, just like why USD is valuable.

The world is moving to distrust in USD. Link to another post.

Need to have the “alternate currency” mindset then the short term ups and downs you can ignore.

In that sense investing doesn’t really take much knowledge, unlike short-term trading.

By the way bitcoin is also an alternative which I invest in – more in another post.

What about stock investing?

Also great but more exposure to volatility.

Start with choosing the country to be exposed to. Personally I invest in US and JP.

Then start with ETFs.

Then pick companies you know about and believes in, want to support them.

Avoid ones that looks good but you don’t understand and can’t hold on during turmoil.

Be clear whether you are “investing” or “trading”.

Don’t try to time the market if you are investing. If you try to time it, learn how to trade.

(more on trading vs investing? another post?)

What about real estate?

Great if you can use leverage – your loan will get debased and again faster than the rate of your mortgage.

So free rent + potential gain from debasement of loan, at an expense of tying up your down-payment.

Or for an investment property, whenever rent comes in, invest into gold or stocks soon and don’t keep cash around.

When to sell if I invest?

There are 3 timing to sell your investment.

1- when you need the cash

2- when you think a particular investment has lost its medium-long term prospect

3- when you want to “rebalance” (another post concept of portfolio distribution?)

Start all at once or bit by bit?

Say you having $500k cash.

Invest it all right now? that’s okay but can be mentally challenging if you are a beginner.

Can also choose to do dollar cost average over a period of time.

Or cost average it by price changes.

Either way set out a plan and follow it no matter what. Get rid of most of your cash.

Keep enough around for 3-6 months of expenses.