If you are holding a dollar bill in your hand, is it an investment?
Think about that for a second. A dollar is what? Just a piece of paper. It is a promise by our government that it is worth one dollar of goods and services in today’s economy. If you just hold on to it and never spend it then it will still be worth a dollar. However, a dollar a few years from now will buy much less than what you can buy with it today.
Isn’t that a crazy idea? A dollar is worth one thing today and something different tomorrow, but it always is a dollar.
I can guarantee you, unless you are one of those people that stuffs money into your mattress, that every single dollar that you come into possession of is an investment.
You eat food every day. What you spend in an investment into sustaining your life. You need a roof over your head and the ability to stay warm over the winter. That is an investment into shelter. You need transportation to work. That is investment in the ability to make more money. You need more knowledge and education. That is an investment into your productive capacity as a human being.
Now some of these things you have not spend much money on, but they are all investments into one thing or another. And when you start looking at things that way you start to realize that every dollar really is an investment.
How you decide to invest those dollars is up to you. You can invest money into a tv and cable subscription and receive enjoyment out of that. Or you can choose to not spend those dollars there and you can invest those dollars into the internet and books. You can even decide not to invest in any of that and use those same dollars to invest in the highest quality organic food you can buy. Everything is an investment. Whether it is entertainment, knowledge acquisition, or better health, every dollar is an investment.
Just like the stock market, you can invest in something, and lose or gain based on what you invested in. If you invest in good food you have a greater share of health. If you invest in good entertainment, you will have a greater share of happiness in life. Likewise, you can invest in bad things and have less health or less happiness in your life because of it.
A wise person will spend some time evaluating their investments. They will ask themselves every day, “Is the appropriate investment for me and will it increase in value over time?” Again, you are investing those dollars to make more dollars, increase your health, and increase your happiness in life. It takes time and experience to discover the best things to invest it. It is wise to see what other people have invested in and how it has worked out for them.
At the end of the day, only you can decide what is the best thing you can personally invest in. The important thing to remember is that every single little dollar you have is an investment in something. You just need to make it the best something for you.