At this point you probably wished you could travel back in time to 1990 to start investing then. Unfortunately time travel doesn’t work yet. The good news is, in 30 years someone will make a post showing a millionaire emoji who started investing in 2024. And this emoji can be you! (If emojis are still a thing by then)

We have been asked a lot recently if gold is a good investment. Every time there are fears about the dollar and people lose faith in the government, gold gets talked about a lot more. But it’s not where you want to put your money to build long term wealth. Over the history of the modern economy, gold has kept up with inflation. A gold bar 100 years ago buys about the same amount of stuff as that gold bar today. Since 1990, gold had a slightly above average return compared to other 30 year periods of time in history.

To build long term wealth, you need to invest your money in the stock market. Which stocks do you buy? All of them. And you can do that easily by buying an index fund. Owning them all will guarantee that you own the winners.

If stocks are SO good, should you always own 100% stocks and not worry about anything else? Probably not. Stocks earn the most but the journey is very bumpy. As you get older and plan to withdraw money for retirement, you’d want some more stability in your investments. In that case you can diversify by holding bonds as well.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Vivi & Shane