You’ll find them all over, but you don’t notice them.
Who?
The people who want to invest in stocks but never do.
They’ll read business news, hang out in Facebook groups about stock market investing, and some of them might even read this blog post. They’ll do anything to make their money grow.
Expect one thing.
Actually invest.
Wanting to invest but not doing it is a pretty common ailment.
They’re like the person with tons of cookbooks on the shelves but with takeout food on the dinner table.
They’re like the person who loves watching do-it-yourself programs about people who built entire houses with their bare hands, but who never get around to fixing that handle on the bathroom door.
What’s actually stopping them?
There are ten reasons why people stop themselves from investing.
If you haven’t invested yet and want to, do you recognize yourself in any of these ten points?
1. They Don’t Understand the Value of Time
Richard Branson says that any successful entrepreneur knows that time is more valuable than money.
When you invest, time makes a big difference.
The sooner you get your money invested, the sooner it will grow exponentially.
Here’s an example.
Let’s say you invest $5,000 for a child’s retirement. You get an average return of 15 percent for 60 years. How much does it turn into?
Hold on to your chair. It turns into $19 million.
Let’s say you wait until you have $500,000 and invest with an average return of 15 percent for 10 years.
How much does it turn into?
It turns into 2 million.
In other words, get at it.
2. They Make It Too Complicated
They think it’s super complicated to invest, and they believe they have to read half a library before even signing up for an investment course.
Maybe they even have the idea that it will ALWAYS be too difficult. They might make excuses to themselves like not being good at math, not being good with money, not having the right mindset.
3. They Procrastinate
They know they have a tendency to put things off, and somehow they are almost proud of it.
They tell themselves that it’s just who they are.
It becomes their excuse for not getting it done.
The real reason they hide behind a shield of procrastination is that they think investing is dangerous and overwhelming, and that’s the real reason they push it off.
4. They’re Afraid of Making a Mistake
What if they fail? What would people think of them? How would that feel?
The human mind is actually more motivated by avoiding pain than by gaining something new.
These people spend time thinking of all the negative consequences.
But if you don’t begin, you really fail. Remember that.
5. They Don’t Live According to Their Values
Either they aren’t aware of their values, or they just don’t live according to them.
They might want financial freedom and a feeling of peace and security, but they don’t take action to get it.
They’re like the person who worries about the environment but who keeps eating huge steaks and driving to work in a big diesel car.
If you want financial freedom, but you don’t invest to make your money grow, you’re not living out your values.
6. They Try to Time the Market
They think the stock market is too expensive and wait for it to dive.
The problem with that is that none of us knows when that will happen. Not even Warren Buffett can time the market.
When the correction comes, they still hesitate, because they fear that it will dive even more, and they still don’t invest.
They miss the opportunity. Every day.
7. They Fear Getting Rich or Too Successful
Sounds unlikely?
Well, take into consideration that this isn’t a very conscious point. It’s a subconscious fear of what your family, friends, and neighbors might think if you “have too much”.
A lot of us have been told that we were “greedy”, “selfish” or simply just “too much” when we were children.
I grew up around left-wing politicians, and as an adult who took up an interest in investing, I was always afraid of being called “a capitalist”.
When it finally happened, it felt like a relief. It wasn’t that bad.
Yes, there will be people who will think badly of what you do and who you are, but it’s better to get them out of the way early on, so they don’t hold you back any more.
Shrug and move on.
Be honest about what you do and who you are.
8. They Want to Be Rescued
This is also a subconscious mechanism.
None of us would be proud of having an almost childish need of being seen and being “saved”.
It might be the woman who wants a man to take care of her.
Or it might be a man who wants mom and dad to show their love by helping him financially.
It can also be the person who plays the lottery and daydreams of a big win.
9. They Lack a Strategy
They think that buying shares is just buying, and they don’t have a strategy or a plan.
This reminds me of myself as a teenager when I tried to make my first meal.
I went to the store to look around and buy something on the fly and “just” cook it.
I bought chicken hearts and cream.
The plan? There was no plan, I just remembered that eating the heart of the chicken was my favorite part of the chicken as a child (yes, the chicken came with all the parts). My second favorite thing was a cream-based sauce.
I went home, fried the chicken in a pan and put cream on top.
Let me tell you, chicken hearts in cream is a nasty dish. I still get nauseous just thinking about that meal.
For years after that, I told myself that I simply wasn’t good at cooking. As if my destiny was determined by that one experience.
How would my first cooking experience have turned out if I had found a recipe, made a shopping list from that, and simply followed the recipe?
You can do the same with investing. You can follow a simple recipe so you know what to put in your cart.
10. They Think They Have To Figure it Out Alone Without Help
They think they have to do it all alone at the kitchen table without getting any help.
They don’t even know that they can get help.
Think of something you have learned and mastered in life. How did you learn?
I learned to read and write in school. I learned to knit with the help of an older relative. I learned to drive by taking driving classes. I learned to swim by taking swimming lessons, and I have even taken some as an adult to get better.
How come many of us expect to figure the money stuff out at the dining room table at night?
What To Do If This Is You
If you recognize yourself in any of these points, congratulate yourself.
You have just become aware, and now you can do something to change it. If you hadn’t become aware, you would have continued on the same path.
The first step is to get some knowledge.
I have condensed my 20 years of experience as an investor and financial journalist into my e-book, which you can download here.
Once you are on the email list, you’ll get a weekly tip or blog post to keep you on track.
You can join the investing community I’ve created on Facebook right here. You are no longer alone.
Don’t forget to read my free e-book that explains my whole investing process. You can get it here.
