The Biggest Investment Myths That Need to Be Debunked
It can seem like investing and trading is a pretty exclusive club when you’re on the outside looking in. There are so many different investment options to choose from with their own rules and quirks. It doesn’t help that you’ll get conflicting advice. Everyone’s got their own sure thing, and they want you to know that doing anything else would be extremely foolish. This kind of gatekeeping is what keeps a lot of people from giving investing a go. And it seems like there must be a lot of folks who could really use benefit from it given how tight money is around the world. So, let’s bust some of the myths that have hovered around investing for as long as anyone can remember.
Investing is for the Elite
One of the oldest myths about investing and trading is that you already need to be incredibly wealthy to do it. Well, you don’t need to be a wolf of Wall Street to play the stock market, and you don’t need to be able to buy and sell whole companies to buy gold values either. You, and you alone, set the terms of how much or how little you want to put in when you invest. You can rest easy that you’ll be able to find something in your price range if you’re heading online to buy stocks. Of course, some investments are going to cost more upfront, such property.
Property Only Appreciates in Value
This myth is one of those inherited ideas that tend to be passed down from people who have inherited property before to their children. There is no denying that property can absolutely increase in value. However, it’s not something that happens automatically. It takes a lot of research and hard work to succeed, there’s no getting around it. You need to understand what the market’s been doing and the trends that are in play. You need to think about what kind of people will be wanting to buy the property later on and the budgets they’ll have. You may need to do a lot of work restoring the property to get it to a saleable point, let alone a profit-making one. There will always be a demand for property. But the amount that buyers are willing to pay to get it will vary dramatically.
Investing is a Huge Risk
There’s a kernel of truth to a lot of long-established myths. There is always going to be an element of risk. After all, you’re putting your money into something that could go up just as easily as it could go down. However, there are a lot of ways that you can offset them and sleep a little easier. Diversifying your portfolio is a great way to ensure that any losses that you may have don’t break the bank. The old “don’t put your eggs in one basket” rule is one of the first lessons that any new investor learns, and with good reason. You can also keep your risks low by doing your research and keeping a close eye on the market. For example, gold is traditionally seen as a low-risk investment, but it’s still prone to occasional fluctuation. By understanding the market forces and by keeping an eye on the XAUUSD live chart, you can plan for those fluctuations and understand whether you need to be alarmed or whether you should hold steady. You can view the markets on TradingView and learn much more about how you can keep your risks to a minimum. They can teach you the best tips and tricks.
Investing is Time-Consuming
This is another one of those myths that need to come with a qualifier. You can absolutely spend all of your precious time monitoring your investments and keeping your finger on the pulse of the stock market if that’s what you want. In fact, it may be the smartest approach if you are investing in risky stocks that you know are going to fluctuate, especially after a tough 2022. However, if you are worried that you don’t have enough time in the day for that kind of stress, relax. That doesn’t mean that you can’t think about investing at all. The tools that have already been discussed can save you a lot of time by telling you exactly what you need to know. There are finance apps that can ping you notifications when they’re important. But if you do want to put your money into something that you can leave alone, there are plenty of those options too. The best approach is to decide how much time you are going to have before you invest and to choose your investments accordingly. It would be reckless to assume that you never need to check how the market is doing, but you don’t necessarily need to set endless market alerts.
