Regine, Age 47, Showed Me How I Can Invest My Money Without Going Bonkers

Alternative title: We must learn to neutralize life’s distractions.

Investing can be confusing.

Why so? Because it covers money, our spending habits, emotions, and future retirement.

The stakes are high.

Fortunately, we can compound our money, no matter how little we earn.

The financial market does a great job for us… so long as we do not interrupt the hardworking compounding machine.

And that is Regine’s point.

We actively sabotage ourselves.

We, of all people, disrupt our compounding machines.

Want to See a Fool? Go Look at the Mirror.

I kid you not.

This is her exact statement. On fools. On us.

There is truth to it, by the way. Think about it this way.

We know,

• Eating greens is good for us. We choose not to.
• Setting aside some money for investing is a game-changer for our future. We choose not to.
• Spending money on things that serve no purpose is a distraction. Yet, we choose to.

We know all that.

Yet, we are not acting on what we know.

And this frustrates Regine. I can tell from her face.

“I don’t know. I tell others we must care for our money, retirement, and future. I repeatedly chime that investing our money is necessary to keep us going when the lights go off. People would listen, say yup, and walk away blowing $10,000 on a 2-week vacation.”

That is a strong statement.

And that statement revealed a psychological conundrum.

We have competing needs and wants. And we have limited financial resources. Everyone is trying to live a brilliant life with a small wallet.

Regine understood my explanation.

But she is not convinced.

“Really? What is the life purpose of spending $10,000 on a 2-week vacation, returning home dead broke, then slogging our time in the cubicle to earn and blow the next $10,000 by the beach 6 months later?”

I smiled.

I assured Regine that I understood.

And I also told her another thing I understood from my touchpoints in life.

Human beings are emotional, not logical.

She burst out laughing.

“Maybe you are right.”

I chuckled back.

“I know I am!”

The Curious Case of Investments & Distraction Neutralization

Regine is an advocate of compounding her money.

She thinks about it all day. She talks about it the moment a sound comes out of her mouth. Regine is passionate about it. It is obvious.

I decided to pick her brains.

“Tell me one thing, Regine. And before that. Assume that I have an IQ of 70 points and some cash. What should I invest in?”

She was stumped.

“Hey, that is a darn good question, you know.”

Regine went into silent mode. She was busy formulating a response. I offered to go buy iced coffee.

She was ready when I returned to the table with our drinks.

Regine said this.

“Invest in 2 things. Number 1. Financial assets. These are instruments that put money in your hands. Number 2. Noise-cancelling devices. You need to neutralize distractions.”

Recommendation number 2 intrigued me.

I did not want to put words in her mouth.

So, I asked.

“Noise-canceling devices refer to…?”

Regine has a cheeky response.

“Anything that disconnects your ears from this noisy world.”

I chewed on it.

And I thought…

Brilliant.

Hello Distraction? You [Just] Got Cancelled.

Regine is smart.

Real smart.

Here’s why.

We get distracted from time to time.

• We are before we invest a penny.
• We are after investing a penny.

We are our own biggest bozos.

The first thing I think of is canceling traditional and social media.

They feed on our fear. They tell us that a recession is coming, stock marketing is collapsing, bond yields are skyrocketing, and all investors are getting killed.

You know what?

• The big guys are still around.
• They have their money invested.
• They are still trading the markets.

So, what’s missing?

They focus on the markets. They ignore the news.

What about us?

We are distracted by the news. We get in when financial assets are expensive. We pull out after a crash. Buy high. Sell low. We are nuts.

So, yes. Regine is right on point.

And next.

We are emotionally fragile around the people we mix with. All it takes is one [simple] statement from a colleague, mum, or the receptionist, and we will go bonkers.

“Hey, Aldric! Did you invest in “Y”? I made a 150% return!”

You know how that feels. You’ve been there. I’ve been there.

Statements like these push us to buy things we don’t believe in for the returns. Remember the Reddit gang’s pump and dump of Gamestop and AMC? Weird NFTs? Remember Doge?

I, for one, will admit that I bought AMC stock and made a 10% profit because I saw the uptrend.

But I panicked the entire time. I knew it was a bet. And it could sour anytime.

I booked my profits and left. Would I do it again? No way.

Regine is right on the money. We do need a noise-cancelling device.

And a good one.

The Close

We don’t have to go bonkers when investing our money.

We do because we live in a noisy world.

Regine’s recommendations are simple. I wholeheartedly endorse them.

• Step 1: Buy financial assets that put money in our hands.
• Step 2: Buy a world-class, premium-grade noise-canceling device. Wear it daily.

Step 2, to me, is the best investment advice for retail investors.

It prevents us from yanking money out of our investments and spending it on stupid things.

Vacation is okay. Bankrupting ourselves on a 2-week is not.

So, no. Cancel all that noise from traditional and social media.

Stay cool. Be calm.

And allow that magical compounding machine to work its magic.

Our future retired selves will thank you for today’s financial discipline.

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Oh, oh, you can buy me a cup of black too! Thank you!