I wonder what another angry comment has this been.

Nothing wrong with investing so long as you avoid unethical companies. But I have to admit it’s a needle in a haystack. And even good ones eventually enshitiffy.

Student loans and medical debt isn’t so much of an issue here in Europe because education and health care is either subsidised or fully government funded. But we are also still dealing with inflation and housing crisis like the rest of the world. Increasingly more young people still live with their parents in here. And that should be taken advantage of to save money if possible, although I understand some people don’t have a great relationship with their parents so they have no other choice. In some cultures, however, still living with their parents is still very much a taboo without considering the housing situation.

Edit: I should also mention, it also saves a lot if you have a partner to live with, not just with parents.

Those who go bankrupt typically put money without doing research and ride the hype on a bullish stock without good fundamentals, or trade in penny stocks. That’s rookie mistake or those with gambling problem. Most advisors would say invest in ETFs for those with low risk tolerance. Anyone can do so with however little money.

Not my own words, is all I’m saying. Most advisors will say investing is the best way to build wealth.

Some investment platforms usually don’t charge fees like Trading 212 (they make money from speculative trading instead).

Penny stocks are usually riskier and their positive return on investment could take years to come depending on the business.

My guess is that people thought I am inconsiderate of people’s financial situation. I didn’t mean offense. As for the simply pessimistic, I think they are looking for confirmation bias. Of course for those on poverty, $10 may mean a lot, but for those who are relatively well to do, $10 is not even a lot.

And don’t just take my word for it, most financial advisors will say investing is the best method to grow wealth. I implore people to read comprehensive books to start in investing. The best book for beginners is The Investor’s Mindset by Ben Le Fort. And you are right with the calculations, I also wish I have started investing much earlier. Saving alone is not enough with the growing wealth inequality and rising inflation.

No one has gone bankrupt from investing in stocks, unless you didn’t do your research well.

1940s don’t mean boner the same way we mean boner. It’s like the word gay. I had a boss who grew up in the 1950s and mentioned they say “gay” to mean happy and it’s an everyday word, like they would say “we’re gonna have a gay time.”

Sorry to be flippant, but the stock market always goes up. Economic studies analysed data going back to 1600s showed that, and along those years, major turmoils have also occured. And yet the stock market always recovers afterwards every time. The only turmoil that would invalidate that thesis is a nuclear war.

That’s not to say to gamble everything on the stock market. Put in only what you can afford to lose. If you can’t then don’t. Sorting out personal finances is more important. My comment is to dispel the notion you have to be rich to buy shares. Owning a fraction is still better than nothing. After all, investing has proven to outpace inflation every time than saving alone.

I have no idea where you got the 6% returns. If you invest in S&P 500 alone for the past ten years, the average yearly returns is 10-11%. Investing in stocks would yield far more if you pick the right ones.

Ronald Read was already and still living frugally in spite of living in a post-war economic boom and already having millions. I’m aware that we are in a cost of living crisis and younger generation got left out of that economic miracle, although there is still a point to be made about living within the means. I have a friend who keeps buying a new car every two years, and another who keeps buying junk food and going to restaurants. And they complain they can’t afford a house (the latter did eventually have been able to afford a house mortgage but frankly, it’s because he has a partner who earns a higher income). A third friend travelled far and wide, but have no savings towards buying a house. I have been able to afford a house because I had to sacrifice all those (and not out of volition, truth be told). Boomers could live travel, party, and then buy a house, raise more than three kids under a single household income and then have a comfortable retirement, and most boomers did not even invest.

People still have the outdated notion that saving alone is enough to afford what one wants to achieve because that’s what our grandparents and parents did and taught us and it worked for them; but not for us anymore. Most people these days still don’t realise that we have to sacrifice plenty of our goals and desires to achieve only one; and we are living as if we are in post-World War 2 economic boom so a person don’t realise what they have to cut so much more expenses. With cost of living crisis and widening wealth inequality, inflation degrades the value of interest savings account, while investment typically outpaces inflation. And even possessing fractional shares, there is still some returns that wpuld be much higher than savings interest rate. That’s still better than nothing. And the stock market always goes up in spite of turmoils and subsequent aftermaths. That has been proven by study of economic data going back from 1600s.

People seem to push back and say investing is useless with $10. Like I said and another commenter mentioned, most financial advisors would say don’t worry about an economic crisis, worry about personal financial crisis. If a person really need $10, then don’t invest and settle any outstanding debts first before investing. But to say you need to have plenty of money to invest is bonkers, and earning profit of $100 after investing $10 is still better than nothing. In Japan alone, the number of people investing increased from 12% in 2012 to about 18% in recent years. An EU official even encouraged more Europeans to invest, acknowledging that saving alone is not enough (as we speak, there has been significantly increased in trading volume in the US stock market). That tells you how important investing is. I mean, of course settle the debt first because every cent counts before investing.

You can treat it like a pension fund or savings account and put however amount every now and then, and let the power of compound interest work. If you read the Wikipedia entry on Ronald Read that I linked, that’s what he did. He also redistributed the gains and dividends to buy more shares on another stock. And he was a gas station attendant and then a janitor who eventually made $8 million by the time he passed away.

But if you did your research well and leave the $10 in a stock with huge potential growth in the future, that could triple or even grow to one hundred percent in years if not decades. Of course, if you really need the money, simply don’t invest.

Another person replied to me and mentioned about debt. I hadn’t initially consider it because in my country, debt crisis is not really an issue unlike in the US or elsewhere so I didn’t mean to be callous. If the person have debts and really need every penny and cents count, of course pay them off first before starting to invest; I’m not a financial advisor but that’s the general advise that a qualified person will also make.

My very first comment is a counter to the idea that you have to be extremely rich or an institutional investor to start investing, which has never really been the case. You can start investing with any amount you can afford.

You can still invest $10 in a share price of $100, which means you own one-tenth fraction of a share. Even a broke person have $10 (unless you’re homeless, which is understandable, saying “I’m broke” is most of time a hyperbole and does not mean you only have your clothes on your back).

I’m surprised I’m the only person yet on Lenmy who corrected that you don’t have to be rich to buy shares to invest; usually someone would have done so almost immediately when it comes to this thing. Even a blue collar worker throughout his entire career can be a shareholder with 97 holdings and eventually become rich, like literally.

Yes, they still pay fractional dividends in proportion to how much you’ve invested depending on the platform.

if you never earn enough money to be able to afford to invest

That’s a misconception. You can now buy shares in fraction depending on the investment platform. You can put however much money you want. Of course, the fewer shares you buy, the fewer the returns should the stock price increase (and fewer losses if share price goes down).

One of us! One of us!

Fascists are anti intellectual after all.

I heard an anecdote of an old white American couple visiting Mexico and the wife remarked “wow, there are so many immigrants.”

The Labour under Starmer is closet Tory. I wish that the popular Manchester Labour mayor (whose name I forgot) takes his place as PM, which actual leftist politicians try to make him to be. Although this will be a Sysiphean task under the ruthless politicking in British politics and Labour Party’s own strict rule on who could become PM.