re you keen to start investing but find that fear is holding you back? Perhaps you feel that it’s just too complicated to figure out. Maybe you’re worried about potentially losing money. Or do you think you don’t have enough money to invest in stocks?
The truth is that it’s perfectly normal for you to feel anxious about investing in the stock market. Anything unfamiliar or new can be scary at first. But to avoid investing entirely means that you could be denying yourself a brilliant opportunity. An opportunity to gradually build wealth over time, and move closer to your long-term financial goals.
And we want to help you do just that.
So, next up are our top tips for putting that fear of investment aside, and get you investing in stocks!
6 steps to beat investophobia and start investing
1. Accept that investing is risky
The first step to overcoming fear is to face it head-on. So, yes, investing is risky. And yes, there’s a chance you can lose money. Ironically though, the fear of losing money could actually be losing you money. This is because you miss out on potential benefits of compounding and dividend payouts, which can help grow your wealth.
2. Educate yourself
We're not saying you need a degree in economics here, but a basic understanding of general financial concepts and typical investing terms is important. It’s through knowledge that we can boost our confidence, and quash those investing jitters, as we feel more empowered and informed. Here at Nemo, we’re on a mission to help people build their financial literacy. Nemo offers bite-size explainers of common tricky terms, and we love sharing engaging investing information on our social media channels too.
Follow Nemo on IG or TikTok for more from the entertaining Han, our resident market analyst.
3. Set your financial goals
Goals are a great way to replace fear with motivation. What does financial success look like for you? A beautiful home? A well-ticked bucket list? A comfortable retirement? Write down the monetary value of your goals and a time-based ‘deadline’ for each. These financial goals, together with your current financial status and risk appetite, will help shape your investment strategy and asset choices.
4. Start small and build up from there
If you think you don’t have enough money to invest in stocks – you're wrong! Modern investing platforms offer low-cost entry to the market. With Nemo, for example, thanks to fractional shares, you have access to more than 8,000 global stocks and ETFs from only $1. Yes, you read that right - One US dollar! Decide the amount you’re comfortable with and start with that. As your portfolio balance and confidence start to grow, so too can your contributions.
5. Start with stocks you love
Are you vegan? An eco-warrior? A proud patriot? All three? Your values are core to who you are, and often define the types of companies or brands you’ll feel more aligned with and support. We consider global trends, lifestyle preferences, popular interests, and social media mentions, then group stocks into collections based on these categories. These collections are called nemes, and make it easy for you to discover the stocks available for the things you care about. Explore ‘Vegan & Plant-Based’, ‘Green Energy’ and ‘Made in the UAE’ nemes and much more.
6. Diversify to dilute potential losses
Are you familiar with the saying, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? It may be an old one, but the wisdom is timeless. If your investment funds are locked up in a single stock, your risk is going to be much higher, as your returns are based on the performance of only one company. If you’re invested across multiple companies or markets, the returns of well-performing stocks can offset any underperformance of others. Nemo’s ETFs (that stands for exchange traded funds, btw) ETFs track industries, sectors or indices, so for a single investment, you’re getting shares for a collection of companies.
Feel the fear, and do it anyway …
Ready to shed that fear? Follow the steps above and it won’t be long before you’re confidently investing in stocks.
Don’t miss out on another day of potential earnings! Check out Nemo now.
