I fear failure and have sometimes avoided risk and MY OWN DREAMS. Imagine all the great things that would NOT have happened in the world if so many denied their dreams due to fear. Some of you have expressed your fears in starting to invest. People find change to be difficult and that makes us hesitate to take actions to reduce debt, build emergency savings, fund 401-K plans and other efforts that will lead you to financial stability and security.

A majority of Americans say they know they need to be more financially secure SOON but don’t know how to get there. Here are some potential fears that may be holding some of you back:
• The thought of losing money in a bad investment
• The fear of a coming recession and stock market correction
• The amount of money you believe to be required to invest
• You do not know whom to trust to help you invest
• Just do not know how to get started

OVERCOMING ONE OF MY FEARS

When I arrived at North Carolina State University, I could not swim. I was afraid of the water, for good reason. This thing called drowning! But my college, had a requirement that every student must be able to swim to graduate. CRAP- that scared me even more! {Who thinks of these requirements!} So I had to swim two laps in the deep end (DON”T THINK SO) or take swimming class or tell my parents I was not graduating! As you can probably imagine- I DID NOT JUMP IN THE DEEP END! I was even more fearful of telling my parents I was not going to graduate. So, I signed up for swimming classes. That is how I overcame my fear of the water (well at least enough to get a passing grade).
A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog to help overcome fear: Increase Your Wealth By Increasing Your Competencies.

INCREASE YOUR WEALTH BY INCREASING YOUR $,$$$,$$$ COMPETENCIES

But I am starting to realize reading a blog and getting over your fear, may be as intimidating as telling a college student who cannot swim to read an excellent blog about swimming and then go jump in the 15 foot section. How many of you would do that? NOT ME!!
How did I overcome my fear of water?
• I had an INSTRUCTOR who was a certified life guard (although he did not act like he wanted to save us).
• They gave us safety TOOLS-flotation devices
• I purchased goggles after discovering my eyes are sensitive to chlorine
• I had a BUDDY in my swimming class, who literally saved me from drowning in four feet of water. Stop laughing! Thanks Cliff!!

OVERCOMING OUR FEARS

1. There is little I can probably write in this blog to help you overcome all your fears that are holding you back from achieving wealth. So this week, I want you to think about what you need, to overcome your own fears. Maybe you need a live instructor, or friends participating with you. Both are attainable if you ASK. If you fear losing money or the risk of losing money, you must understand your own risk tolerance. And only invest within that tolerance. Whatever you need to overcome your fears identify it and obtain the help.

2. If competency is keeping you back, you are wise. Without building basic competencies you will probably lose a boatload of YOUR money. Having knowledge is an essential to becoming successful. When you are educated on the market, as well as the stocks within it, and learn what to watch for, you will gain an understanding of when to buy and sell. You will feel much more comfortable making decisions and should become more confident with the choices you make.

3. The way to mitigate risk is through diversification. Investors should look at investing offers that provide a diversified portfolio with a balance based on their overall investing goals. Again I recommend the S&P 500 ETF. You invest in the top 500 U.S. companies. This greatly reduces the risk versus picking individual stocks or mutual funds. Keep in mind the best investors in the world have purchased bad stocks and lost money. Sometimes millions and even billions of dollars. They learn, get up and go back to work to make up their losses.

4. You DO NOT need tens of thousands of dollars or even $1,000 to invest. With some online brokerage and wealth management offerings, you can buy and sell stocks for under $4 per trade, or even free. You can choose also certain automated portfolios for a fraction of the cost of traditional advisers. See below blog.

IT’S TIME TO INVEST IN EQUITY – S AND P 500 ETF INDEX

CONCLUSION – JUST DO IT!

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and jump in before you are 100% comfortable. The more prepared you are, the easier you will find this idea.
Stop being afraid of what may go wrong and start being positive of all that could go right. Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon started out with an idea. What if: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Tim Cook, Barack Obama, all asked “What if I…..” What did all these successful people do with their fear? They managed it, they mitigated it and they controlled their fear. They took a chance, a risk. Some failed before they got it right, but they were NOT AFRAID of failure. Great people are not afraid of failure. People who succeed do not depend on luck. And if you need a buddy, let me know how I can help.

DISCLAIMER
I am a proud nerd (my beautiful wife and daughter told me so) investment and finance blogger, with a Rutgers, MBA and Harvard, Advanced Management. I am a successful investor in equities and real estate and happy to share my personal finance and investment lessons learned with you. I am NOT however, a licensed financial advisor. Please do not construe my suggestions on this blog, as recommendations for your personal situation. For individual finance advice please seek your own licensed CPA or financial advisors.