Hello. I work just like everybody and I have saved up a little bit of money and I know that there will be more.

As we all know, money loses its purchasing power fast, due to inflation. I have looked into various ways to preserve the value of my money, however none of them seems to work for me. Cryptocurrency is out because I have zero idea how it works. Buying gold is troublesome because I would have a hard time storing it in a way that would not cause me to lose sleep at night. Investing in the stock market is out too because I got burned badly before. The only alternative that I see is real estate. Buying a small apartment for myself, or something like that.

However, there are two things that stand in the way. The first and the biggest one is that homeownership clashes with my lifestyle very badly. I am the kind of person that values freedom above all else, and I change my mind, like, A LOT. Who knows, maybe I will fall in love with a guy from New York and will want to move to be with him. Or maybe I feel like moving to another province to pursue education. The thing is, my life is in a constant state of flux, and being tied down by a home is a really bad idea for someone like me. I know that for some people it really works for them, it makes a lot of financial sense, which I totally agree, but it just doesn't work for me. The second issue is that I would have to work for at least 20 years just to pay off the cheapest, smallest apartment in my city. The real estate market where I live is red hot and prices are out of control. And to be honest I am not sure if I want to work for 20 years like that.

Anyway, can someone please decide for me what I should do with my money. I even thought about not working anymore just so that I won't as much money to worry about, lol. Anyway thanks for reading.

i dont think there is any direct counter for inflation that is relative risk-free, stress-free and not requiring a fair amount of financial education or effort. (At least under the context of "Investment and Finance".)

Any financial instrument with 8%+ returns (current inflation rate) will definitely carry a significant amount of risk.

Work, earn and save is your best option here. Invest in your own career and life.

This post was edited by Anotri on Jun 10 2022 10:47pm

Eliminate all debt

this, right now its your best investment from a % standpoint. only thing is continue making normal payments on mortgages if you have a low fixed %.

u can buy gold w/o actually possessing it. fyi

Thanks to all for replying.

Also, regarding debt: I already don't have any debt. I have a surplus of cash.



Do you mean gold ETFs? I am not sure about that. It's just another way of investing in the stock market, isn't it? Kind of similar to buying a mutual fund. That's not what I have in mind because I am not trying to make money or have my money generate an income for me. I only want to preserve the purchasing power of my money, which is what physical gold is good for. But thanks for your response.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/062515/best-ways-invest-gold-without-holding-it.asp

also always an option of a safety deposit box.

Check out https://www.treasurydirect.gov/indiv/research/indepth/ibonds/res_ibonds_ibuy.htm
Not financial advice just mentioning it because many are unaware of govt bonds

Nvm not sure if non-US can buy

This post was edited by CheatEngine on Jun 13 2022 12:00pm

Thanks for the link, cheat.

I looked at it, and even though I cannot buy it due to not being American, the rate seemed very favorable at over 9%. And I am assuming it's a very safe investment because it comes from the government. I actually have zero exposure to government-issued bonds, to me they are just a more secure type of term deposit. Maybe I will look into some of them. Thanks.

This post was edited by JessiWan on Jun 13 2022 12:19pm

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is a good place to start (and end) when it comes to stock investing. You are buying the right to a company and its cashflow. You want companies that make a lot of money (i.e. earnings), and you want those earnings to come from their underlying business model, i.e. not from one-off profits or the appreciation of assets the company controls. Chasing Coinbase because yolo is what you want not to be doing.

Government bonds are not a bad place to start. USD 10y yields are climbing, and holding them to maturity is about as risk free as it gets. With inflation the way it is, you'll still be losing money, but when prices rise from $100 to $170, it's better to have $138 in your account than the $100 you had before.
Dividend investing works the same way with a bit more risk. You are buying stable companies with stable cashflow and strong economic moats (i.e. hard to displace). You're looking for ~2-5% yield and evidence that the company can raise earnings over a multi-year period.

Not investing is going to hard to overcome. It's very similar to buying a property and renting it out, but without the mortgage and extreme personal liability that requires.