Goodbye 2023, Hello 2024!
Don't want to beat the dead horse again but as I have always preached "everyone should be invested!" Gone are the days where one can hold a job diligently and work till retirement. These days, it is common to find side hustles or some form of passive income to fund your regular salary. Investing happens to be a great choice. I am saying this because I have done it, experienced it and I profited from the returns so I know what I am saying and it can really work.
According to the many market predictions from financial articles, 2024 is supposedly going to be a year of volatility just because the Federal Reserves (Fed) has announced in November 2023 that interest rate hike will pause and eventually cut. With volatility, the stock market will present an opportunity!
History has shown that whenever something "huge" has happened to the stock market, there was always a counter effect. What goes up must come down and what goes down must come up! With the Fed declaring its triumph over inflation in November 2023, interest rate will eventually fall. When interest rate goes down, corporations will start making plans for innovation by borrowing again, news of future growth will result in the rise of equities and the stock market will BOOMZ! GO CRAZY and yes, go crazy! People who got in on the right side will become extremely wealthy!
But seriously... if someone can predict which direction the market is going to go, quickly run away as far as possible from that individual because no one and I say again, NO ONE can predict the stock market. Then why am I still saying that the stock market will rise in 2024?
The answer is simple: Preparation
While no one can predict where the market is going, having a plan is better than having no plans at all. What do I mean by preparation? Imagine if I were to tell you that the stock market is going to rise as soon as the Fed announces its first interest cut in 2024, what would you have done? Are you prepared to enter the stock market? Do you know which stock to buy? How do you execute a buy order? How much do you need? How many shares should you buy? How do you know your order is filled? Questions, questions, questions... more questions lead to more questions. When was the last time when you spent your hard earned money on something that you had hardly no idea about, even if you know it is good for you and you are going to be right about the decision?
2023 has been a relatively decent year for me, my portfolio became lesser red and I picked up a great deal of things about the stock market. I am no longer FOMO-ing my way through, buying into everything I see. Believe me when I say that every stocks look extremely attractive to a beginner investor. Every stock and every price seem reasonable to any beginner investor. These days, I am more patient, knowing that if I have missed a chance to buy into a position, there will always be another better opportunity in the future. For the first time, I have also allocated a huge chunk of savings for my retirement while getting some tax reliefs for 2024. I am really looking forward to the amount of tax which I am going to save!
For some strange reason, 2024 can turn out to be an amazing year for me as new ventures and partnerships start to take shape. I am also excited to deploy my more funds into other asset classes hence a more diverse investing portfolio.
What I really like about the new year is that everybody starts setting new year resolutions for themselves. "For better health, for more time" but hardly anyone say "for more money"... please don't get me wrong, money is not the meaning to life. There is more to life where money can't buy such as love, time, relationship, happiness, good health. But why can't we include money into the formula?
While we all know that money can't buy love, relationship, happiness and good health... on second thought, they literally can! "To make as much money as I can!" I can build better relationship with my colleagues and friends through gifting, I can buy myself something that I have always longed for, I can buy supplements to better my health, I can even buy... well... "fake" love. So, why is the word "wealth" hardly mentioned in our new year resolution?
How much is actually enough? This answer is really subjective.
People come from different upbringing, we have different cultures, we have different beliefs and values so naturally our goals to life will be different.
A few years ago, I was preaching to a friend about managing his finances and planning for his future retirement but the reply which I got was: "We will eventually die... so why worry?" Technically, he is not wrong. Dying is a natural process, we come to this world with nothing and we will leave this place with nothing. It is a fact. But it doesn't mean that we don't have to eat, sleep and play while awaiting death. If life is a process which has an eventual outcome, why can't we make this process a little better while waiting for mother nature to take us away? I respected his views and many others like him who thinks that money is not so important. All I know is that we need money for our basic essentials and that too is a fact.
My final shot for 2023 and heading into 2024:
1) Be proactive
2) Be decisive
3) Be confident
4) Be fearless
5) Be responsible
6) Be true
7) Be open minded
More reading, more trading, more investing, more saving, more exercise.
Ben is not financially trained. He is not a certified financial planner and he does not sell any insurance or investment plans. He is not financially motivated by any entities to produce this blog. He just want his friends to know more about money management and not have anyone fall between the social cracks. Nope, he is not a millionaire though he aims to be financially free before 50 years old.
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