One of the most compelling reasons for you to invest is the prospect of not having to work your entire life! Bottom line, there are only two ways to make money: by working and/or by having your assets work for you.
If you keep your money in your back pocket instead of investing it, your money doesn't work for you and you will never have more money than what you save. By investing your money, you are getting your money to generate more money by earning interest on what you put away or by buying and selling assets that increase in value.
It really doesn't matter how you do it. Whether you invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options and futures, precious metals, real estate, your own small business, or any combination thereof, the objective is the same: to make investments that will generate more cash for you in the future. As they say, "Money isn't everything, but happiness alone can't keep out the rain."
So here we have it - investing can be a lonely journey whereby at certain points in time you have to stick to your guns with conviction and dare to do things differently. Herd mentality is what makes most people seem "ordinary" while returns might be deemed as "mediocre". Of course to most people, having a 3% - 5% returns to beat the inflation rate is good enough and the purpose of investing is to protect against inflation and preserve wealth.
Hence I will end with a quote: "Tutte le strade portano a Roma"
which is an idiomatic expression to say that there are many different ways to reach the same goal.
Many roads lead to Rome and it doesn't matter which one you take as long as the objective is the same.
JR
