I hope I am not speaking for myself when I say it’s quite a struggle to start an investment as a young person. This may be as a result of a series of different other struggles including saving money or even planning for it.

Come to think of it, I have been meaning to invest some of my savings for a while now, and let me tell you, the thought did not come up just the other day, it has been years. So then I wondered, why not get to it, there’s never a better time or opportunity. Therein in that thought, began my journey to financial literacy. I needed an in-depth understanding of money management and especially knowledge of investment products.

So, you want to invest? Here are a few take-homes that I find will be useful:

• Figure out your goals and risk tolerance. Taking on risks has the potential for greater investment returns. A person investing in assets categories with greater risk like stocks or bonds is more likely to make more money than someone investing in assets with fewer risks like cash equivalent. One has to figure out whether they are doing a short-term or long-term investment. A savings account is a good place to keep your money if you have a short-term goal but for a long-term goal, one should invest the money so that it grows at a rate that is faster than putting it in a savings account.

• The sooner you begin the better. Where to put one’s investment and how much to invest can greatly be affected by age. Young people who do not have a lot of responsibilities have an advantage here because they can wait as their investment bear fruit. They also have more time for compound interest to accumulate not to mention it is easier for them to pick themselves up when they make mistakes. I would greatly encourage my fellow young people to make those investments, wait no more and you will reap big. This is the time to make mistakes, learn and most importantly, secure the bag.

• Have a preferred maturity date in mind. Eventually, an investment turns into cash. It is essential to consider the time it takes before an investment can turn into cash. One should make sure they do not need the money before the prescribed redemption period as redeeming before a holding period attracts charges/penalties.

• Research: research the market, both domestically and globally, for factors that may influence your investment. Understand how things like growth, unemployment rates, interest rates, inflation, and even political events may have an impact on your investment.

As we might know, investment is a broad area to tackle, and obviously, there are more key factors to take into account. These I have shared have been quite the eye-opener for me.