To Save or to Invest
When I was a kid, my dad used to encourage us, his kids, to save no matter how little it was. It got to a stage where he had to organize a little saving competition between I and my siblings, a fun competition that I had won by the way.
But as time went on, as we got older, the advise shifted from telling us to save, to telling us to invest, an advise that obviously wasn't a bad one. But speaking about investment, is it really better than saving? That is the question of today.
Back then, I remember my dad had told me the story about some shares that he had bought. If I remember the story correctly, he had thought about getting himself a car with the money but opted to invest it instead, a decision that he felt was a good one at the time.
Unfortunately, something happened and he lost all of that shares, he wasn't even given a penny back, and all of a sudden it felt like he had made a terrible decision investing that money.
Fast forward to the present and just some few days ago, I was having a conversation with one of the younger guys at the hostel and we were talking about saving and investing, and the conversation got to a stage where I saw myself thinking about the risk that comes with both option.
With savings, there's zero possibility of you losing your money, as long as it's kept in a safe account or location. The only downside to saving your money is that you probably will get no interest or gain with it, but then you have the assurance that your money is intact and there is no fear of losing it.
While with investing, the upside to it is that if things go your way, the money invested will end up yielding you some positive results, but then again, there's also the possibility of you losing all of your money or some of it, it all just depends on what you invested in.
Looking at both scenerio, the best option would be to save your money, but for someone who wants more for themselves, investing will be the better option for them because they want their money to work for them and hopefully make them richer than they are.
So both options can be good, it all just depends on your point of view and what you want for yourself. But, if you have to advise someone younger than you on what path to take, what would it be?
