The best investment mistake I ever made

Let me tell you about the best mistake I ever made. To view this email as a web page, [click here]() [IWT Header] The best investment mistake I ever made Let me tell you about the best mistake I ever made. We have to go back to when I was in high school. [Ramit in high school] My parents told me that if I wanted to go to college, I'd need to pay for it with scholarships. So like a good Indian son, I started applying...and applying and applying. In the end, I applied for about 60 scholarships and won hundreds of thousands of dollars. (That's how I was able to pay for undergrad/grad school at Stanford.) Anyway, the best scholarship I received was the first one — an award for $2,000. The organization wrote a check directly to me. I was thrilled! And since it was 1999/2000, like everyone else, I thought I was a genius. So I took it and invested it in the stock market … and immediately lost half my money. Oops! In hindsight, I made a number of critical errors, including... - I tried to pick individual stocks - I invested money that I needed in the short term - I thought the market only goes up (sounds familiar, *cough 2021*) These aren't the only mistakes you can make with investing. Here's another: [21.11.30 NL 2.png] Once you move money into an investment account (like a Roth IRA), you still have to invest it! If you don't, your money will just be sitting in there, not earning interest and not growing for you. Some people have lost $50,000+ from this mistake alone. Oops! What if you decide to hire a financial advisor to help you avoid costly investing mistakes? Are you willing to pay a 1% fee for that help? That's what many financial advisors charge to oversee your "assets under management." That doesn't seem like much...right? Actually, over a 35-year outlook, that 1% annual fee can reduce your total returns by 28%! That’s 28% of your returns going straight into their pocket. Ouch! There is a happy ending to my story. I call losing that first $2,000 the best mistake I ever made because, while I lost that money, it did spark my interest in personal finance — and led to me starting IWT. What's the biggest financial mistake you've ever made? Reply to this email and let me know. --------------------------------------------------------------- The best solution to many big money worries? It is disconcerting how difficult it was (and still is) to find straightforward, no BS, no "hidden fees,” plain English advice on investing. There are thousands of books, podcasts, and articles about investing, but for most people, investing is still overwhelming and confusing. - How do you get started? - How do you know if you did it right? - How do you know you're not being scammed? No wonder so many people put off investing and just bury their heads in the sand! In reality, many of life's biggest problems can be solved with early, consistent, long-term investing. That's not an exaggeration. Just look at how many of our biggest worries go away as our net worth grows: - How to pay for your retirement? Done - How to make sure inflation doesn't eat up all your savings? Not a problem - How to handle FOMO? Done - How to build passive income? Keep growing your investment portfolio and one day it will pay you more than your salary, automatically - How to live your Rich Life — and do what you want to do, when you want to do it? This is much, much easier with more money The best solution to ALL of these is early, consistent and long-term investing. Why? Because if you have a problem that money can solve, you don't actually have a problem! Few people are born with this kind of money, but that doesn't mean you can't get it. Your investments can grow to huge amounts because not only do you earn interest, but you earn interest on your interest. Or as Ben Franklin said, "Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money." This is the magic of compound interest. It's so powerful that the average person can become a millionaire given enough time and consistent investing. So powerful, in fact, that many of you reading this right now are going to be millionaires. You just need TIME. I'll say that again: Many of you reading this right now are going to be millionaires. You just need TIME. --------------------------------------------------------------- Podcast takeaways: “What is it about rich people and blueberries?” Charles and his wife, Michelle, are worth $10 million. He earns over $2 million every year — but Michelle is on the brink of divorcing him because he’s so cheap. They’ve been married for 21 years and she’s sick of waiting to see if things will ever change. In this week's I Will Teach You To Be Rich podcast episode, Charles realizes he needs help, but whenever we start to talk about money, he reverts back to old invisible scripts. This is a haunting, complex episode involving money psychology, relationships, and trust. Here are some things to listen for: - Charles admits he’s been selfish and cheap. How does Charles define that? Is it the same way you would define it? Charles says he’s “cheap” and “frugal.” Those two words have different meanings. Which would you say best characterizes Charles? - Charles and Michelle have very different ideas on the Tesla Charles bought. It’s a great example of how they think differently about money and spending. What do you notice about the way they describe it? - Charles and Michelle are both confident in their perspectives and are not shy discussing money. How does confidence and knowledge factor in to how I talk with them? How does it factor into your approach to money? - Michelle nails down a key point with her discussion of Charles saying “in my mind.” She says that his ideas of what things should cost is not always based on rational decision making but more on his own internal compass. How does this affect their relationship? Is Michelle approaching money from a rational perspective, or does she also have internal beliefs? What about you — are your views of money more emotional and internal or rational and external? [Click here]() to listen to the latest episode of the I Will Teach You To Be Rich podcast. New episodes are released Tuesday mornings. Subscribe on [Apple](), [Spotify](), or anywhere you get your podcasts. --------------------------------------------------------------- Brand new program: Invest Your Money One of the defining characteristics of successful people is that they know how to cut through the noise and get the basics consistently right. This is especially true in the hype-riddled, fee-infested waters of investing. Simplicity is your friend. There are many areas of life where we want to be better than basic or average, such as in health or work. But in investing, average is great. (This is a very hard lesson to internalize because in our culture, who wants to be “average”?) The truth is, regardless of how hard to believe it might seem, almost everyone would make more money from low-cost index funds over the long term than investing in anything else. Not private equity. Not hedge funds. Not managed accounts. Not art. Not random alternative investments. Yes, even with millions of dollars to invest. Get started, get the basics consistently right (even 85% right), and let it keep building automatically — that is the recipe for financial success. And one that lets you still enjoy your Rich Life along the way. That's why, this week only, I'm launching a brand new program: Invest Your Money. This program will walk you, step by step, through the investing process. Everything you need to know is here — explained in a straightforward, no BS, no hype way. You'll learn how to get started, how to make sure you're doing everything right, and how to manage your portfolio as you go. Learn how to: - Set up your retirement savings and start investing — even if you've never invested before - Double check that your investments are optimized and that you're doing everything right - Navigate 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and many different kinds of investment options - Create your own portfolio from scratch (if you want) — or pick the right "done for me" investments for your situation - Automate your investing - Avoid hidden fees and unexpected tax surprises And best of all, you can relax knowing your retirement investing is taken care of...and get back to your Rich Life! [Join Invest Your Money today]() --------------------------------------------------------------- Investing coaching...with me With this new program, I want to try something special. [I Will Teach You To Be Rich] I get how daunting investing can be. Even financially literate people earning six figures who've set up their own portfolios often stop and worry, "wait...did I do this right?" I also know how hard it can be to learn investing from a book, even a good book. You might understand the broad strokes but get stuck on a tiny detail. Like should you use a Roth or traditional IRA? Or a 401(k)? What's the difference anyway? (I love bonsai and have a book about it that I just can't bring myself to read! I just want someone to help me through it.) When I was starting out, I would have loved to have an experienced, trustworthy expert to whom I could ask questions. I want to be that resource for you. Everyone who joins Invest Your Money this week will receive investing coaching with me. That includes: - All of the step-by-step instructions in the program (which I've already tested with tens of thousands of people). - An online investing workshop where I'll help people with their investment challenges — live. (Plus a recording for anyone who can't make the event.) - An investing calculator demo. I'll show you how to use these tools, plus common mistakes I see. - "Ask Ramit" Q&A sessions. I've already filled Invest Your Money with no-nonsense Q&A videos, but I want to be sure I'm answering as many of your questions as possible. That's why I'll be taking new questions from students throughout December. I'll answer as many as I can in the live workshop, and I'll be recording more Q&A videos to cover the most common and thorniest questions. Plus some other videos and surprises I've baked into the program. If you've been meaning to get started with investing — or if you've built a portfolio and want to know if you've done it right — this is for you. [Click here to join](). The doors to this program close this Friday, 12/3. I hope to see you inside! [Join Invest Your Money today]()   [Signature] WHAT TO DO NEXT - REPLY TO THIS EMAIL: What's the biggest money mistake you've ever made? - LISTEN: In this week's I Will Teach You To Be Rich podcast episode, Charles and his wife Michelle are worth $10 million. He earns over $2 million every year — but Michelle is on the brink of divorcing him because he’s so cheap. This is a haunting, complex episode involving money psychology, relationships, and trust. [Listen here](). - JOIN INVEST YOUR MONEY: If you've been meaning to get started with investing — or if you've built a portfolio and want to know if you've done it right — this is for you. [Click here to join](). --------------------------------------------------------------- What did you think of today's newsletter? 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