The year 2022 was difficult for many Brazilians. The number of defaulting consumers – that is, those with overdue debts and bills – reached 68.4 million in September, according to data from Serasa Experian. But there is a portion of the population that lives a different reality and seeks ways to understand how to invest their own money.
In the third quarter of 2022, the number of individuals (CPFs) on the Stock Exchange grew by 15% compared to the same quarter of 2021, and has already reached 4.6 million, according to B3 data. The number of CPFs that invest in fixed income grew 31% in the same period and totaled 12.6 million. And these investors don’t invest thousands of reais. The average monthly amount invested in the Exchange is R$ 288.
For those whose goal is to enter these statistics in 2023, Eduardo Perez, investment analyst at NuInvest, separated some tips on how to invest and, above all, maintain consistency in investments throughout the year.
How to invest in 2023? First, assess your budget.
Understanding how to invest and get started doesn’t require millions, but it does require some planning. For those who still don’t have an organized budget, the investment can be postponed, according to Perez.
“The focus should be on zeroing overdue debts, which will always have higher interest rates than fixed income investments. After that, you need to start making your emergency reserve, which should be six to 12 months of your cost of living.”
Understand how to reorganize your accounts before you understand how to invest.
With debts paid and bills organized, watch the video below to learn how to create your emergency reserve.
After your reservation has been created, now you can start planning your next steps in the world of investments. See the tips below.
Tip 1. Define your goals
Understanding what to do with the money being invested helps when it comes to staying focused and following the plan. But this is precisely the step most neglected by those starting to invest, according to Perez.
“The objective needs to be clear. It could be to monetize assets, have income to retire, take a trip at the end of the year. With a goal, you can better direct your efforts and focus. And it’s okay to have multiple goals at the same time. It all depends on your income. But the ideal is not to have so many with the same deadline.”
To understand how to create realistic goals, learn about the SMART method.
And to find out what makes your goals fail, listen to the Weekly podcast below:
Tip 2. Choose an investment to start with
The financial market has hundreds of investment options. So it’s normal for those who are starting now to get lost. A tip to understand how to invest is to look at your goals and the deadline set for achieving them.
If the idea is to travel a year from now, it makes no sense to choose an application with a maturity longer than that period. But if the goal is retirement, for example, long-term options are ideal. In addition, you need to consider the risk of the investment. At that time, your investor profile weighs.
“When you choose an investment, take into account your profile. But for those who are starting out, the best thing is to go little by little, even if you have a bolder profile, to get used to the market.”
Eduardo Perez
But what are the investment profiles and how to know which one is yours? Listen below to the Weekly podcast to understand.
Tip 3. Know how investments work
To choose an application that makes sense, you need to know how it works. In the financial market, many investments of the same category can have different dynamics. A good start to know how to invest is to understand the differences between fixed income and variable income. See explanations in the videos below.
What is fixed income?
What is variable income?
How does the Stock Exchange work?
Tip 4. Create strategies to maintain consistency
One of the biggest difficulties when investing is maintaining consistency in applications. The market consensus is that it is better to invest R$ 10 every month than R$ 100 once a year.
“Before, I found it extremely difficult to make start-up contributions, when the salary fell into the account. Nowadays I am adept at this technique and it even forces me to control unnecessary expenses throughout the month.”
Eduardo Perez
The analyst says that the frequency of contributions will depend on the financial reality of each one, but he believes that putting in a little bit every month helps people to create the habit of investing.
Listen, on Semanada, to other strategies that help create the habit of investing.
Tip 5. Review your investments and goals
“Once you get into the habit of investing a portion of your income, it makes sense to compare your goals with current market conditions every three to six months. It is at this time that we decide whether it makes sense to invest a little more in one type of investment and less in the other”, says Eduardo Perez.
This portfolio review is necessary to adjust choices with objectives, which may change over time. But Perez points out that care is needed in this evaluation: changing investments at all times and without much criteria can affect the final profitability of your portfolio.
Read here how to create an investment portfolio.
And learn how to start diversifying your portfolio the right way.
This tip is one of the most important for anyone who wants to understand how to invest. To be realistic in the world of investments is not to expect high returns in very short terms.
“Many investors are discouraged when they discover that the path from zeroing out of debt to making more advanced investments is neither short nor fast. Being realistic and understanding that everything has its time is very important. Opportunities appear every day in the financial market and no decision should be made irresponsibly”, says Eduardo Perez.
Learn how to escape the herd effect of investments.
In the video below, learn about the worst decisions when investing.
Read too
Passive income: where to invest to live on income?
8 Investment Books to Read Before You Start Investing
Investments for beginners: know 5 options to get started
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