Greed Is Good: How To Shift Your Spending Mindset And Gift Yourself Investing – Forbes
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Unpopular opinion: Greed is good. Investing in your financial future is good.
In his address to Teldar Paper in the 1987 Wall Street, shareholder Gordon Gekko said: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
This holiday season, people are spending serious dollars. In fact, the National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will spend upwards of $859 billion this year, marking the highest holiday retail sales in history. Americans are spending so much that a LendingTree survey suggests some 41 percent of people anticipate that they’ll dive right into debt this season.
Some are gr
Why? Most people are buying gifts—often material things. The next JBL speaker or some Apple Airpods or another Xbox or PS4 game. Gifts that are exciting to unwrap and use—until the next speaker or headphones or games come out.
A gift that’ll keep on giving? Investments.
Here’s how to shift your spending mindset to give yourself the gift of investing this year.
1. Investing is a gift that doesn’t stop at the holidays.
An investment isn’t something that’s only nice when it’s new and shiny. In fact, the older it gets, the shinier it can get, too. That’s because, the longer you leave your investments, the more money your money can make. That’s thanks to increased capital and compounded interest over time.
Investments may even be passed down for generations through inheritances. So whatever you earn, your family or future family can earn and so on. It’s a gift to yourself, as well as your future self and beneficiaries that doesn’t stop at the holidays.
2. Investing can provide another source of income.
Investing typically sees annual returns of about 10 percent. This offers you a lot more than a traditional savings account, where your money would likely be otherwise sitting. Why not empower yourself with the potential of a passive income if you could?
Just remember that it’s ideal to leave your investments for the long haul. Again, your money can earn more with time, which is why it’s not typically recommended that you dip into your investments too often or too early.