Why Choosing Goals Before Investments Matter

Why Choosing Goals Before Investments Matter

Sean: From Erika. What should I invest my money in – insurance, stocks, et cetera?

Toni: You know that’s probably my most asked question even on TikTok. And the reason why I cannot always give a direct answer is that I don’t know what your goals are. So, you know, the word best investment or perfect investment is relative. So it really depends on what your goals are.

Okay. So the first thing that you need to do is to set clear goals with achievable targets. So that’s very essential when it comes to financial planning. When I ask people, okay, what is your goal? Sometimes they’d say, okay, I just want passive income, but you need to be more specific. How much do you want to earn on an annual basis? Or at what age do you want to retire? And from there on, you’ll be able to identify what investment strategy is suited to get you or to help you reach that goal of yours.

And then the first thing that you can also consider is your timeframe. So there are many different investments that they’re suitable for short-term investors, for midterm investors and for long-term investors. So let’s say, if you’re going short term, then the options are money market funds, their bonds, government bonds. And then if you are looking for midterm, there are balanced funds. And then if let’s say you want to go long term, then there are stocks or even crypto. Right?

And then of course, another thing that we have to consider is your own risk appetite or your risk profile. So you need to identify if you are a conservative investor, meaning you’re more suitable for low risk, low return type of investments, or are you moderate or are you aggressive. So from then on, if you’re able to assess your own profile, then you’d be able to identify which investment vehicle suits you best. And you can seek out credible experts who can help you out with the financial process of that or simply do your research.

Sean: Perfect answer. I mean, I couldn’t add so much more to that. Maybe I’ll take on the personal growth route in answering this. I’d say you should also invest your money in yourself, growing yourself, and paying for more education. I always say during my talks, when people hire me to speak about how I became CEO at 22, I say, do not let your schooling interfere with your education.

A lot of people when they graduate, they think that’s it. This is as much as I could grow and school has helped me and I have the diploma to prove it. And that’s it. Finally, I get to work and make money. That’s a problem right there. Education, learning, it never stops. And if you stop with school, then you are actually leaving a lot of money on the table because there’s so much to learn. There’s so much to invest in when it comes to knowing more about it.

I have had a lot of investment paying for things that I learned, public speaking, leadership, some certifications, profiling people, being able to read them better, being able to lead and coach them better as well. And it has paid off in dividends for me. So at the end of the day, it’s not all about money. It’s not all about passive income. It’s not all about retirement. It’s also about, how much growth did you have as a person? How many moments did you have in life? Because life is made out of moments, not really of a balance sheet. So yeah, I hope that helps.

So we have one from Sora No Hoshi, should I start investing or start my business?

It would depend if you have a really good idea for a business, low capital, low risk, good idea, definitely go business. If you’re really good with numbers, if you’re really good with analysis like Marvin Germo, he went straight to investing and he killed it there. It would depend, it would depend.

I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. If you ask me, I would prefer to just jump to investing. If only I can be an investor right away because that’s the end goal, right? Every businessman would want to be just an investor someday and retire. The reason why we build businesses is so that someday someone could take over and run it for us and provide us with passive income, dividends, or profit shares after the fact, after the year. That’s what every businessman hopes for.

It’s kind of like we’re investors already, but we’re investing in our own business and we control the output better. That’s how business people do it. But really, if we can just go jump and become an investor right away, that’s actually much better. So if you think you can do it like Marvin did in investing, definitely go invest. That’s a better route in my opinion.

From Pam. Should I invest my money in the stock market?

For me, invest first in Marvin Germo’s Stock Smarts.

Toni: I agree.

Sean: Honestly.

Toni: And I think that should be just the answer.

Sean: He is not paying us to say this. Both of us. He’s not paying us to say this, but oh men, when I went through that workshop, it blew my mind. Like all of the things that I didn’t understand about the stock market and I did lose money in it, trying it out. Because I’m that kind of guy where I would just fire and then aim afterwards. So I fired and lost bullets, lost money in the stock market before I finally said, okay, you know what? I’m going to go and attend Marvin Germo’s Stock Smarts. And I really enjoyed it. He’s a really good teacher. So I would invest there first before investing money in the stock market.

Toni: I agree. I agree. And I never failed to promote even his books or his YouTube channel, even on my own TikTok, because I would say that a lot of the things that I know now about investing, especially the stock market, I learned it from his YouTube channel and it’s free and it’s at your disposal. So if you really want to grow or you want to be familiar about this type of investment vehicle, go ahead and consume his content. And you know, you’re doing yourself a favor by doing that. Again, we’re not paid by him to also say this.

Sean: If you want to learn how to grow your money 3000% in one trade.

Toni: Follow Marvin Germo. He’s also on TikTok by the way.

Sean: What should I learn first? Fundamental or technical analysis?

Both. I would say you could learn both. So Marvin Germo’s stock smarts is like two or three days. Back to back or every week. Every Saturday, I think that’s when we did it. And yeah, we learn both. We learn both. He taught fundamentals first, and then the week after he taught technical analysis. So you could say almost at the same time, I learned that.

And both are very, very important because if the fundamentals are bad, no matter how good the technicals are, you know, it’s going to drop and that’s going to be a risky investment. But if the fundamentals are good, but the technicals are not where you want them to be, then it’s also not a good investment during that time. So I think you have to learn both. It doesn’t matter which one you learn first, to be honest, but you have to learn both to be able to invest and trade well and make a lot of money in the stock market.

Here’s a question from Erika. Should I be investing and taking risks in the pandemic?

Toni: So again, as I said earlier, it’s situational. So before you start investing regardless of what the market condition is, you need to establish your foundation first. So Sean said it earlier, his five tips to basically building your wealth. Like, you have to ask yourself three questions. Okay.

So the first one is, do you have income? What does your cash flow look like? And then number two is, do you have an emergency fund? And if you look at the people who were doing it, I would say, okay, during this time are those who actually had that safety net. Right? They were able to build their emergency fund to help them get by during this pandemic. And then the last question would be, are you knowledgeable about the stock market or the investment that you’re planning to get into? Do you understand its risks?

If your answer to those questions is a yes, then I would say, go ahead and take the opportunity to invest in this time, because we’re seeing companies that are fundamentally doing well, but are low in price. So in a sense, you know, if you’re quite knowledgeable about the stock market already, then you would already know that now is your chance to get in and to invest. You could take advantage of the sale, of course, while doing your research.

But, you know, for those who are still hesitating during this time, you know, I can only say that no matter how much time you spend, considering your strategies, watching the stock markets or planning which funds to put your money in, until you place those investments, they can’t start working for you. So time really is your best friend when it comes to investing. Because it’s time that’s going to help your money grow. So that’s my take on it. What’s your Sean?

Sean: I think that’s perfect already. And I’m just going to share. I’m just going to share that I know people who are really killing it during the pandemic in their investing. There’s one person I know who’s a really good friend of mine. 3000%. One trade, 3000%. I couldn’t believe it. Crypto trade. 3000%. I’m not going to say the first letter of his name. Let’s just keep the name as Arvin Germo.

Oh my goodness. That guy is really, his risk is, you know, just wow. And also, his greatness is on a different level. So I couldn’t believe it. But yeah, personally, I am also taking risks, but very few, I would say a lot fewer than I would like, because 50 people are relying on me and my decision making. I don’t want to risk their lives. So I cannot risk like that.