Investing The 12-Minute Way (Revisited)

The 12-Minute Series was originally posted in 2012.

We’ve decided to republish it integrally because we believe it can still help as everyone aspires to make things better.

Let’s hope it stirs up the discussion and stimulates you to change the world 12-Minute at a time!

This article was originally posted on September 12, 2012

Keep It Simple

You should only use financial products you understand. So, stick to the basics. Complex and complicated products often only serve those who sell them.

Same goes for stocks, only invest in solid companies you know and understand.

In this great Internet/Information era, it’s relatively simple to get data on any public company. To stay effective, we recommend you only take 12-Minute when you first analyze a potential candidate for your portfolio or watch list.  

Enjoy the Pleasures of Budgeting

Many view the budget as an ugly nagging beast they will never be able to master. Because it only reminds them about the frustration of being in the red, they prefer to ignore it instead of trying to tame it.

In the same fashion, many other persons not completely averse to budgets still find it utterly dull. In that sense, a lot of people resign themselves to accept the sad truth that money matters are a reality of our modern life and nobody can really get around it.

For us, keeping a budget is quite the opposite. It’s much more fun and to some extent, it rhymes with excitement! We get those pleasant vibes perhaps because we mostly associate budgeting to having dreams, realizing projects and the freedom of making choices.   

From our standpoint, a budget is an easy-to-use tool to understand where your hard earned money goes. It helps you regain or keep control over it. It can also point out interesting opportunities to improve.

An effective budget can be set-up on a single piece of paper, using the most sophisticated software or with many possibilities in-between.

Next time, we’ll talk about How Budgeting Can Be So Simple and Easy.

So today, let us expose our unique point of view on this simple yet extraordinary tool. Let’s hope you’ll see how powerful it can also become for you!

Risk Getting Poor with No-Risk Investment

When it comes to their investment, some people are literally obsessed about protecting their capital. They are so afraid to loose money that they will never be able to make any.

They sometimes brag about not losing money in the last big stock market correction. But they forget they also missed out nice market runs before and after the dreaded correction.

For one thing, the only guaranteed fact about no-risk investment like GICs is that they will leave you poor if you count on them in the long run. Most of the time, GICs won’t even get you enough to just keep up with inflation. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t recommend speculating in stocks in the short-term; GICs still can have their use and may be better suited if you know your money will be needed within a couple years (for instance, for a down payment on your house).

Oftentimes, the price you pay to protect your capital is simply too high and paying for that useless guarantee on a long period of time doesn’t make any sense. As an alternative, on top of interesting returns, a diversified portfolio constituted of solid companies should provide for free that long-term intrinsic guarantee.

Trying to avoid short-term loss of capital at any cost, you will ultimately miss out on significant long-term returns. So avoid overly protecting your capital because in the end, it will only help you stay poor. 

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