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Investing has become a huge part of today’s financial landscape. While investing does not entail a great deal of money or a degree in business or finance, many individuals shy away from it.

In an interview with Our Today, business journalist and financial educator Kalilah Reynolds explained what is investing and everything that comes with it.

When it comes to investing, there are those individuals who tremble at the mention of the word, but the reality is that investing is a simple process.

Once you equip yourself with the basic knowledge, you’ll be confident enough to make that move.

“Investing is simple putting your money into assets that will grow,” Reynolds said.

When it comes to investing, you’ll often hear terms such as stocks, shares, dividends and stock market.  But what’s the meaning of all these terms?

According to Reynolds, the stock market is just like any other market, it is a place where you go to buy and sell.

Therefore, the stock market is where you go to buy and sell or trade stocks, stocks are units of ownership in companies.

Companies are listed on the stock exchange, and you can buy and sell shares or ownership in these companies, and this is done on a stock market on stock exchange.

So, you want to make some extra money and you would love to start investing but you just don’t know how to start.

Contrary to popular belief you don’t need a lot to start investing, the regular Jack and Jill can become investors.

But before you even start to invest, you need to have knowledge of the fundamentals.

Reynolds recommends individuals go online and do research. She encourages individuals to watch her YouTube videos in which she educates her viewers about investing.

“Just start learning as much as possible because you don’t want to get yourself involved in something that you don’t understand,” she said.

Once you have educated yourself of the basics and you understand the terms, and how things work – you can then take the next step and that is to open an investment account

There are 15 licensed investment brokers in Jamaica and all you’ll need to do is choose one and open an investment account which is very similar to opening a bank account.

“You’re going to need your TRN, proof of address, source of income, etc. Once you open your investment account, you’re going to make an appointment with an investment advisor, most of which are available at investment firms,” Reynolds shared.

An investment advisor will help you identify your investment goals, what your timelines are, and they will make recommendations based on that for you.

 As soon as this is done, you have just about started your investment journey.

Reynolds pointed out that it is essential you remain consistent when it comes on to investing, especially if you are a young person who is just getting started.

“Another important thing is to be consistent, so every month you are going to put money into your investment account, and you are going to add to your portfolio and build your portfolio and its good when you start young because you have time, to learn, make mistakes and if you lose some you have time to recover, you have time to build and grow. So, the younger you start the better,” she noted.

As far as investment is concerned, it’s recommended to start at a young age as the sooner you start the better.

Reynolds pointed to American business magnate Warren Buffett, who started investing at age 10 and is now one of the richest men in the world.

There is this myth that if you don’t have money you can’t invest, it takes a lot of money to invest.

You’ve probably heard it before or even believe this but, as Reynold puts it, that’s not the case.

You don’t need to be filthy rich to invest, you just need to be tactical.

“If you have even $500 you can open an investment account at Sagicor and there are a few others that the amount is very low, like $2,000 or $5,000. It all depends on the firm that you are using,” Reynolds said.

Whenever you start investing, there will be days when you win some and when you lose some.

Reynolds reinforced this, saying: “You can gain, and you can lose money. The objective of the stocks just like any other business is to buy at a price that is lower than what you’re going to sell. So, in essence you want to buy low and sell high.”

She pointed out that a lot of people often make the mistake of buying high and then panic whenever they see the stock price dropping and therefore sell at a lower price and end up losing money.

However, if you approach it wisely, you’ll buy at the lowest possible price and then, when you are ready to sell, you’d want to sell at a higher price, that way you make a profit between what you bought for what you sell at.

It can take some time for you to see returns on your investments, and that is why having a diverse investment portfolio is key.

“Give it time. It also depends on the stock that you are investing in. Some are going to make more than others, some are going to lose. So, it’s important to have a diversified portfolio so don’t put your eggs in one basket,” the financial educator noted.

She added: “Over time you invest in several companies, so in the months when some stocks do well and others don’t, hopefully it balances out and the ones that do well make up for the ones that didn’t do well.”

How do you select a company to invest in?

You do want to look at the future, you want to make intelligent guesses now as to what will be profitable in the future.

 If you can predict and make an educated guess as to what companies are going to be profitable in the future, you will definitely reap your rewards.

“Stay abreast of the news, keep current of what the waves of the future are, what are the technologies that are going to take over in the next 10 to 20 years. As a young person, these are the things you’d want to be looking out for and try to invest in,” shared Reynolds.

See, that was pretty simple, right? Now that you have a better understanding of what investing is, you might want to make your money grow instead of just letting them lie dormant.

According to Reynolds, there is no right time to start, she encourages individuals to start now and start with what you have.

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