Minimum Effort, Huge Rewards

I recently surveyed a group of 50 college students. Out of that group only 3 students had ever done any type of investing in the market. Many expressed interest in learning. When I asked them what has been keeping them from getting started, many of them had the same answers. A big factor for these students came down to fear of the unknown or afraid of the time commitment needed.

Luckily I had a very simple solution for them to get started. This Christmas season I am here to give you the gift that truly keeps on giving. A simple option that requires almost no time, or hard work. For even the smallest amount of effort, you could see healthy, strong returns. Can you guess what it is?

Speaking to the group of college students who had no active investing experience, their best guess was: Bank CD’s. Now that is a fair guess, a bank CD ensures your money, is almost no risk and can net you a much better reward than leaving your money in your savings account. However today I am here to tell you to leave CD’s for a more favorable and still low risk option, ETF’s. Specifically, ETF’s that follow the broad market for my readers with little to no investing experience. For the person who wants little to do with the market but would love to make more money each and every year, I highly recommend an ETF that follows a broad sector or index of the market.

Today we are going to look at SPY. SPY is an ETF that follows the S and P 500. Choosing to invest in something that follows the broad elements of the American stock market generally ensures a nice rate of return. If you went with Chase bank this year and invested 1,000 dollars, their CD rate for the 1,000 dollars is 3% for the year. SPY this year in the same 12 month span has climbed over 15%. That means your first year invested with the ETF will have grown your money at a rate that would take a bank CD numerous years to net the same result.

Investing is a long term venture, and if you look at any decade, the American stock market continues to go up. By leaving your money invested in the market for a long term you will see growth at a rate that far out paces bank CDs, Savings accounts and inflation. The general rule of thumb for an ETF is 6 to 9 percent annual growth. With a 6 to 9 percent annual growth, your investment will be out pacing bank CD’s by many years over. So many people don’t have any investing plan currently in place and this your tool to pass by your coworkers and colleagues and set yourself up for success.

For many of my readers, I hope that this is just the beginning of your investing journey, however I know that for some of my readers this will be the farthest step they will ever dare to take. Even if investing in the general market is the only investing you ever do, I guarantee that in the long run it will benefit you. Investing is a game measured in years, so there is no better time than to get started than now. This Christmas give yourself the gift of more money, start investing now so that someday you may use to vacation, retire or help your children.