In the first part, we dealt with, where can free money come from for investment. Today we will try to answer the question, how to set financial goals and invest money so, to make these goals easy to achieve.
Financial plan
Now, when free money appeared, it's time to get a personal financial plan. To do this, abstract desires must be translated into concrete goals and the amount of money must be estimated., which will be necessary for their implementation. The resulting list must be sorted by priority - the more important the goal, the higher its priority.
Next, we evaluate those assets, which are already in stock and which can be sold. For example, for the sake of buying a new car, an old one can be sold. But this is an obvious example, but unnecessary gadgets and furniture are often forgotten, although you can also earn some money from selling them. Here you need to take into account already existing savings., if any.
Finally, estimate the amount, which are ready to save monthly. Do not be upset, if it is not enough for that, to achieve all goals within a reasonable time frame. At first, you can limit yourself to those goals, which have the highest priority. Distribute between them the value of assets to be sold and monthly savings. During the distribution process, you will be able to clearly see, in what time frame at the current rate of savings you will be able to achieve certain goals.
As a result, you will have a personal financial plan., under which investments will be formed. This plan can be put on paper., in spreadsheets, in notes on your phone or, if it's simple enough, in the investor's head. Main, so that such a plan is understandable and convenient for the user himself.
We invest in science. Different tasks, different portfolios
Details about, how to invest depending on the goals, we already wrote in a special material. Here we will keep the information concise.. Almost all financial goals fall into one of the following categories, for which certain classes of financial instruments are suitable.
– Financial cushion – the most reliable and liquid instruments, e.g. short OFZ or OFZ-PC
– Short-term savings (up to 1.5-2 years) – short and medium bonds. Possible small proportion of low risk stocks
– Long-term savings (over 2 years) – stocks and a small share of bonds
– Passive income - safe dividend stocks and medium-term bonds
– Pension savings and inheritance - reliable long-term stocks and bonds, including with inflation protection. For example, OFZ-IN or shares from this list.
– Aggressive investment (increased risk for the sake of high profits) - stock, futures, options, high yield bonds.
For each goal, you can get a separate piggy bank, let's call it a foundation, which can be attributed to one of the listed categories and invested in the corresponding financial instruments.
For example, after cost optimization you see, What can you easily set aside monthly? 10 000 rub. Let be 5000 rub. will go on a financial cushion, and 5000 rub. - on vacation, new smartphone, or other purpose, which will inspire you.
In this case, the separation can only exist on paper - physically, both funds may well be stored in one account., invested in short highly reliable liquid bonds. It is most convenient to keep records of different funds within one account as a percentage.. In this case, each fund will have 50% and investment income will be distributed in accordance with these shares.
When one goal is achieved, monthly contributions can be directed to the following tasks within the personal plan. For example, when the financial cushion has reached the right size, освободившиеся 5 000 rub. monthly can be sent to a personal pension fund, quality stock. Or you can try more aggressive investments, to, in case of success, get a full-fledged source of passive income in a few years.
Even simpler
In the early stages, the above classification may be complex and redundant.. Then you can simplify and break the piggy banks into just three key categories.:
- capital, which is used for current consumption and short-term purposes. Can be placed in short bonds, savings accounts, deposits and protected structured products.
- financial cushion and long-term savings. Part of this money should be placed in OFZ-PC, OFZ-IN or on deposits (including currency) for quick access to them, and the other part - in long-term reliable instruments, for example stocks of large companies.
- money, which the investor is willing to risk to obtain increased income. They have no specific purpose.. They can be used for speculative transactions in stocks., high yield bonds and other financial instruments. To the extent, как инвестиционный капитал будет расти, part of it can be transferred to reserve or current.
The quieter you go, the further you'll get
When you save money regularly, sports excitement may appear - you want, so that capital grows even faster. Reasonable desire, but it's important not to go to extremes. Typical mistakes: too large contributions and too risky investments.
If contributions are affordable, but they make it a little shrink in spending on pleasure, then they will be a good motivator to increase income. In conditions of a small deficit, entrepreneurs begin to vigorously look for points of business growth, employees are more actively interested in career opportunities and try to improve their competencies.
But too much savings can lead to a decrease in the quality of life., deteriorating health, tensions in relationships with family and other problems. Therefore, it is important to strike a balance between investing in the future and spending on the present..
At the other extreme, in the pursuit of capital growth, there may be a desire to invest more aggressively, to get high profitability. It's important to remember here, that the tools should be adequate for the purpose.
As you gain knowledge and experience in the stock market, you can naturally increase the return on your investment.. There is only one way to speed up this process - through education. A wide selection of interesting and useful materials on the topic of investment and not only you can find on our website in a special section.
