Is everyone as confused as I am about what to do with my money and just how to make the most of it?

Financial management and investing seems hard, it seems scary not to be on top of it but also a big responsibility to manage it.  I was educated in an era where solving complex, and quite frankly useless, equations was more important than understanding taxes! Investments and financial planning for females wasn’t something that was talked about much (other than setting up a savings account which at the time, to be fair, was probably the best place for making money!)

In fact, money is always a tricky subject so feels like it’s never openly discussed; it holds so much emotion for people which can bring various feelings from freedom and security to stress and anxiety.  It’s a teeny bit uncomfortable even writing this….

Where money is concerned, I have somewhat aimlessly moved through life – earning, spending, and saving a little bit as I go. You could say I’ve been fairly sensible, but at the same time somewhat risk averse.  Could I have been more savvy in investing and made my money work harder for me and could I still? 

This year I’ve established a finance club with a friend after discussing the lack of knowledge and confidence in making sound financial decisions and investments.  We’ve both signed up to Female Invest – an app which aims to close the financial gender gap by providing easy to follow financial learning specifically for women. (There are other apps too, like Your Juno).

At every opportunity you are advised that money is at risk, which it is, but right now the risk of taking no action feels worse.  We’ve ventured into the world of trading stocks and shares, set up an online account through a trading platform – there are many to choose from here – and committed to £100 per month as an investment.  Taking the advice from the team at Female Invest, we’ve researched companies on the FTSE, had some sort of view of their stock performance, considered if the companies we want to invest in align with our values and then bought some shares.  And so time will tell…

So far I’ve learned you still need to put some work and effort into this way of earning money and it’s not easy to understand if something is worth investing in.  Female Invest give this valuable advice:

    • Know your appetite for risk
    • Invest gradually.
    • Do your homework – understand how the company you plan to invest in makes its money, or it might be an industry you believe in.
    • You don’t need to be able to understand complicated financial statements – but its good to know if the company is invested in diversity and sustainability – companies who care are apparently proven to have better returns in the long term.
    • Keep track of how your investments and money is performing in general on a regular basis. I use this Financial Planner.
    • Diversify your portfolio – we all know the saying ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket!’
    • Set a strategy and stick to it, even in the event of an interruption!

    Oh and I did some crypto investments – not my smartest move so far, but in reality I’ve lost the equivalent of a night out.  So…only invest what you can afford to lose.