Earlier this year, the Ignite Baltimore Conference Organizers selected my pitch for the 13th Ignite Baltimore Conference. Ignite Conferences are similar to TED talks – both provide a medium for passionate presenters to share their ideas. The format of Ignite is very rigid, and certainly lives up to the tagline, “Enlighten us, but make it quick.” Each speaker has five minutes to present 20 slides which advance automatically every 15 seconds. As a speaker, planning and practicing with this format in mind is essential.
My presentation, Investing for the Average Person, covered some misunderstandings, intimidation factors, and a simple investing example using index funds. The internet provides a multitude of ways to invest instead of leaving money to grow at a snail’s pace in a bank savings account. However, lacking financial education at all levels leaves many young people unprepared to navigate the countless number of investment products available to them. For the most part, much of the investing world focuses on more information than the average person needs to know. For basic investing, many people can disregard terms like derivatives, options, futures, shows like Jim Cramer’s Mad Money, and worries about large risks. The average person can largely ignore many of these distracting terms and media that is mostly focused on short term market news.
The example I presented demonstrated how an American named Sally could plan, save, and invest in index funds – a type of mutual fund – to finance a purchase of a new car. This example is not exclusive to a car, and could be applied to support retirement, a property, or savings toward a degree. Sally’s first step is to plan her investment. How much does she need for her car? Are there investment minimums she must save up to before investing? Questions like these will help Sally shape her investment planning. Once she has saved the needed funds, she invests her money and largely relaxes.
Sally planned to put half of her dollars into a stock index fund (such as ticker VGTSX), and half of her dollars into a bond index fund (such as ticker VBMFX). This plan is called a target investment allocation. Instead of picking a few stocks, investing in index funds diversifies Sally’s investment over hundreds of industries and sectors, which lowers her potential risk. For an average investor who does not care to analyze detailed earnings reports and study financial news, index funds are ideal. The only action Sally may need to take as her investment matures is to re-balance her investment back to the 50/50 target she initially planned. Sticking to her plan will help her stay on track and achieve her goal of a new car.
As I wrapped up, I touched on a few important concepts an average person should be familiar with: capital gains taxes, keeping a personal financial ledger, and inflation [Investopedia links]. With this basic knowledge, an average person will gain the confidence and organizational skills to invest their money and achieve their financial goals.