Tampere
29 Mar, Friday
3° C

The library of essays of Proakatemia

Just invest



Kirjoittanut: Taru Jytilä - tiimistä SYNTRE.

Esseen tyyppi: Yksilöessee / 2 esseepistettä.
Esseen arvioitu lukuaika on 5 minuuttia.

Investing in general – in my opinion

It seems to be hot right now to invest. To invest in what? That was my biggest question. Everyone around me in social media and along my friend groups were starting to talk about investing about few years ago. I had always thought that investing is only for the rich people, people in Wall street and that you must be wealthy in order to start investing. Well, during 2022 I have researched the subject “investing” and noticed that is not the case. Anyone can invest. Anyone who has an extra 20€ month, can and should invest that money into something. Especially now since inflation is arriving, our money in the savings account is getting eaten by it. Obviously, there are always risks when it comes to investing. So, a good tip is to only invest the money you are ready to lose. Maybe if you are spending that 20-50/€ a month to something that is not really something you need, you could rather invest that money. For some people the amount might be 5€ for some it might be 500€. There are many good podcasts, posts in Twitter and YouTube videos where you can find information regarding investing. So what are the different forms you could invest money in? I´m listing here 6 different forms of investing.

 

  1. Stock market
  2. Funds and EFT´s
  3. Cryptomarket
  4. House investments
  5. Forest investments
  6. Noble metals

There are 3 different sections you can divide investing:

Straight investments: Direct contact with the investment such as stocks, debt books, apartments or wood lot. In this type of investments the person investing is in direct ownership of the product/company. There are no other indirect risks except for the product / company itself. This is the most rewarding form of investing but also the riskiest as you are responsible for the actions you make and the products you purchase.

Buying stocks of a company is you being an actual part of the company. Privilege to dividends. Very good choice if you make good decisions. The value is based on the dividends and capital gain of the stock.

 

Cryptocurrencies were blooming lately. Many successful stories was shared where people had made fortunes with these investments. Sadly, recently the crypto market is undergoing lot of uncertainty, since one of the 4th largest exchange companies has signed for bankruptcy. Investing in cryptocurrencies is very risky. One of the largest capital controllers in the world called “Blackrock” has started to offer cryptocurrency services for their customers. They are responsible for 8,5 billion euros worth of equity. Largest currencies in 2022 still are Bitcoin & Ethereum. Some Finnish traders are: Northcrypto & Coinmotion. I personally use Coinbase which is an American listed company.

 

Debt book is a good way for investor who is not looking to get rich but looking for steady income for the investment. Technically the investor is lending money to either the state or to a huge company. Then the investor gets interest of the money loaned usually twice a year.

 

Investment apartment normally means that you take a loan from the bank, buy an apartment and with the rental income you pay the loan and substitution. Average income percentage for Finns owning apartment is 8 %.

( Picture from Investopedia )

 

 

Wood lot – Average income percentage for Finns owning a forest is 5 %. It’s a long-term investment and normally runs in the family throughout different generations. If you are not interested to buy forest for yourself , there are also options to invest in “forestfunds” or purchasing jointly-owned forest.

 

Noble metals – When investing in noble metals , there is no risks that the company might go to bankruptcy.

If buying for example gold  the benefits are that it protects your money from the inflation and it has a form to follow the price levels in general.  Different noble metals can be: gold, platinum, silver or palladium.

 

Investment solutions: This type of investing is typical for a smaller investor. These might be different funds or Exchange Traded Funds ( ETF ). Exchange Traded Funds aka ETF, differs from the typical funds in a way that they are listed in the stock market and you can do business with them as with normal stocks. Both of these are quite “passive” investments and do not require so many actions from the investor. You can easily invest a small amount monthly in either of these and they will be decentralized between different stocks. EFT’s are easy way to get in touch with companies working abroad or in different side of the world. There are ready made lists that you can choose your products from. You can safely buy ETF’s and normal funds trough banks online website. Example OP ( Osuuspankki ) has over 700 different ETF packages you can invest in. Here is an example of EFT showing the different sectors your money will be invest in this ETF:

( Picture from OP’s ETF page )

In this example this spectacular ETF is decentralizing the money between different Chinese companies who work among internet services.

 

Normal funds – you invest money to several companies by investing in a fund created by the dealers. The difference between typical fund and ETF is that the typical fund is not in stock, so you can not buy it from the stock market. If you are just starting to invest the normal fund could be a good way for you. It does not require huge familiarization with the business, as long as you get the basics of index and stock market functions.

Ways to invest in funds or ETF’s :

Nordnet – Not a bank , but considered safe

Osuuspankki – Trough your online bank

Nordea  – Trough your online bank

 

 

Investment products: Products designed by banks. These are called EPT, Exhange Traded Products) are bonds that you can do business with in the stock market. The value of EPT’s might vary 100% during a day. You could double your investment or lose it all in a day. You should be advanced in trading business to get started with this investment style. They were created in order to make more flexible way than mutual funds system.

 

Observations are that you could start to investigate where could you invest. I personally invest today in :

  • Cryptocurrencies
  • Investment apartment

During my research, the different funds and ETF’s gained my interest and I believe I will find out more regarding these types of investments.

I am also opening an equity savings account. Remember that in Finland you can only have one of these accounts!

I am also quite interested in the wood lot investments and noble metals as they are steady investments especially now in these uncertain times.

 

References:

https://fiksusijoittaminen.fi/jalometallit/

https://fiksusijoittaminen.fi/kryptovaluutat/

https://viisasraha.fi/Markkinat/Mets%C3%A4-on-pitk%C3%A4aikainen-ja-turvallinen-sijoitus-%E2%80%93-%22Pikavoittojen-mets%C3%A4st%C3%A4j%C3%A4lle-mets%C3%A4-ei-ole-paras-sijoituskohde%22

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/090815/buying-your-first-investment-property-top-10-tips.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/020916/etfs-can-be-safe-investments-if-used-correctly.asp

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/exchange-traded-products-etp.asp

https://www.op.fi/henkiloasiakkaat/saastot-ja-sijoitukset/saastamisen-ja-sijoittamisen-sanakirja

https://www.sijoittaja.fi/149510/indeksirahasto-vs-etf/

https://www.sijoittaja.fi/355389/kryptovaluuttoihin-hajauttaminen/

https://www.sijoittaja.fi/sijoittaminen/mihin-voi-sijoittaa/

https://www.summarum.fi/sijoittaminen/rahastosijoittaminen/

Comments
  • Katrina Cirule

    Thank you for the essay Taru! I am really interested in the topic and this was useful to see what is the overall picture of investing, practical action points and your own experience.

    14.11.2022
Post a Comment

Add Comment
Loading...

Cancel
Viewing Highlight
Loading...
Highlight
Close