How I’d Create Wealth if I Started Over

Imagine waking up one day, knowing you don’t have to work again, and still having enough to retire with a very comfortable life. What if you didn’t have to imagine?

If you follow me on my socials, you know that I plan on retiring in the next decade. But if we’re being honest, I give myself a hard time that it has to be that long from now. Because if I had learned what I know now, back when I was a fresh 18 year old adult just entering the workforce, I could have probably been retired by now.

In fact, I didn’t learn it in school either. Most of this finance stuff you hear me talk about has all been picked up from YouTube, books, or podcast. The tax stuff has all been formal education, I have a Bachelor’s in Accounting and a Master’s in Tax.

While it’s not possible for me to go back in time and teach myself this stuff, I can create a platform to help teach others everything I wish I could. If you’re here, you’ve already got the ball rolling on getting financial literacy. You are seeking the knowledge!

Step One: Assess Your Situation and Identify Your Goals

Do you know exactly how much money is coming in and going out every month? Is there more money coming in than going out or vice versa?

Is there a lot of high interest debt you’re paying? It’s usually a good idea to tackle this debt first, otherwise, you have interest working against you!

Do you have an emergency fund? Do you want one? If so, how many months of expenses would give you peace of mind? Once you know that number calculate what your expenses for 1 month are and multiply it by the number of months you want the emergency fund to cover! Personally, I would worry about building at least a small emergency fund before starting to invest.

What are the goals you are working towards? Consider every goal from short term (vacations), to mid term (new car), to long term (retirement). I think it’s important to know what your objective is before you can begin your journey there!

One you know your goals, you know where you’re starting and what you’re working towards. This can help you figure out which types of accounts to use. A 401(k) can be a great account for investing for retirement, but it can be a horrible account for saving up for a down payment on the house or for an emergency fund.

Step Two: Understand the basics

For a lot of people that I talk to, one big reason they don’t start investing in the stock market is “what if it goes down?” It probably will go down at some point since the stock market doesn’t move in a straight line. Most things you buy can go down in value too, think about buying a new car that loses 20%-30% of its value the first year you own it. When I invest in the stock market I do it because I believe in the LONG RUN the things I’m investing into will be going up in value. If the stock goes down, like it has been recently, I see it as a great thing because I’m able to buy the same quality assets for less money.

Step Three: Start Investing

The next big reason people don’t get started is because they are waiting until they have more money. The thing is though, you don’t need much to get started. These days you can start investing with as little as one dollar, so if that’s all you have to invest today just do it.

You see, creating wealth in the stock market is a little more about how often you invest and how long your money is invested, not quite so much how much money you invest. I’m the daughter of Mexican immigrants and money wasn’t exactly an appropriate thing to talk about in our house - like EVER! So of course I didn’t learn financial literacy growing up.

But what account is the best account to start with? What’s the best place to open one? What should I be investing in? Where do I click? These are questions that will still keep people from getting started. If this is you, and you’d like to get a free consult with Jaime Ramirez, a former financial advisor I work with you’re in luck! I’m the CPA on Jaime’s team, and he gave me some free consults to give out to my audience. There’s limited time slots available, so if you are interested sign up NOW! Here’s the link 👇

I hope you found this information useful as you are on your wealth building journey. See you next week!

-Neyra

*** Please remember that while I am a CPA, I am not YOUR CPA. This content is for educational purposes only, please seek the advice of tax, legal, and finance professionals on any financial decision you contemplate***