Part 6: INVESTING - Financial Independence Series
07 Apr, 2024
UPDATED 04 Jul, 2025
Congratulations, you have reached the final blog post in this six-part series: INVESTING
Investing can be incredibly complex, but I found a way to simplify it. I used to feel overwhelmed by the options available, but now I don't. I’m hoping to help you feel the same way. However, this is still a challenging blog post to write. Condensing “investing” into a single document is no easy feat.
The Happy Saver was born out of my search for information on where to invest our money. It took me years of refining to arrive at our current strategy, which combines KiwiSaver and ETF investments. I don’t want you to take so long to settle on your strategy. But please also know that you are never done, your money will always need a little attention.
We had some margin in our budget, and I was looking to buy an asset (that was not a rental property) to generate income and provide us with a return. I started by following a trail of crumbs of information from other personal finance bloggers and authors, and from there, I ultimately found some good information, which I want to share with you today.
A different type of disclaimer
If it's not already apparent, I’m not a financial expert, as I’ve zero financial qualifications. Instead, I have a personal interest in money, so I talk about it a lot. I can’t say “invest in this”. This is no help to you, I know. But stay with me here. When you search for guidance on investing, I know you will become overwhelmed by the available options and be advised to ‘go away and do your research’. Or pay a financial advisor. When you try to compare fee structures, your head will spin. As an avid reader of everything in my inbox, I understand the volume of companies vying for our investing dollars. Many provide pretty good resources to help you learn, but ultimately, they want to sell you one, or preferably many, of their many products.
At the end of this blog post, I will still advise you to “do your research,” but I will narrow your brief significantly and encourage you to engage deeply with some essential resources before creating your plan. I encourage you to manage your investments. I have discovered over the years that most of us can manage our own money. Unfortunately, the complexity of the financial industry has led us to believe that we can't. I’m telling you that if you keep your approach simple, you can.
Let’s cut to the chase
I have found that investing in ETFs (exchange-traded funds) is the most cost-effective and straightforward way to grow wealth. Bold claim! You will also hear them referred to as Index Funds. Mixing the two terms drives fund managers crazy because there are differences between them, but I think that using either term is acceptable for the average person on the street.
For the rest of this blog post, I will refer to ETFs.
I have chosen to invest in ETFs for the following reasons:
Their fees are low
They are passively managed, which means humans are primarily removed from the process (which lowers fees and bias)
I don’t have to pick stocks and research companies
I do not have to follow the share market goings on
They are lower risk because they are so diversified
I can manage the buying, monitoring and selling of them myself
My investments will provide me with passive income.
Everything I have learned about ETF investing started with American investor JL Collins, author of The Simple Path to Wealth (updated 2025 edition). This is one of the key financial resources you should look at in your quest to learn about investing.
There are different ways to engage with The Simple Path to Wealth:
Read a Book: JL Collins - The Simple Path to Wealth
Watch YouTube: Talks at Google: JL Collins, The Simple Path to Wealth
Listen to a Podcast:
Choose FI #19 - JL Collins from jlcollinsnh - The Stock Series - Part 1
Morningstar: The Long View: #156: JL Collins: The Case for Simplicity
Read his blog: JL Collins Stock Series. This series of blog posts formed the basis of his book.
He has done dozens of recent interviews, just search for his name and book title online, and you will find them. Read, watch or listen to half a dozen and you will soon form a decent understanding of the concept of ETF investing. JL Collins also wrote Pathfinders. It is a collection of stories from individuals who have followed The Simple Path to Wealth and successfully applied the same strategy.
Search The Happy Saver for blogs on Index Fund/ETF investing. I’ve written extensively about my investing journey.
Another incredible resource is Alan and Katie Donegan of Rebel Finance School. They do a deep dive into investing as part of their annual ten-week free online personal finance course. Please participate in the entire course and pay close attention to the sections on investing. They, too, advocate ETF investing.
Please use any of those links and follow up on the information that jumps out at you. If you hear a term mentioned that you don’t understand, just Google it. This is how you learn. You will become familiar with a lot of investing jargon very quickly.
JL Collins taught me that, in other parts of life, the more we engage, the greater our success; however, the opposite is true regarding ETF investing. Investors who consistently buy low-cost, passive ETFs over a long period will outperform most others.
Don’t believe me?
There is a research company called SPIVA. Their job is to compare actively managed funds (investment funds where the fund managers actively select and choose investments to make up their fund) against an index benchmark, such as the S&P 500 (the top 500 companies in the USA). Visit SPIVA and play around with the results by region. In the United States, 65% of managed funds underperformed their benchmarks in the last year. Over the past five years, 76% of companies underperformed. Over the previous 15 years, 89% of them underperformed.
What this means is that they know the average of the share market and are trying to beat it. But, over time, they don’t.
SPIVA shows that, in the short term, most managed funds underperform the benchmark or the average of the share market they are monitoring, and this trend worsens over time. Added to this, they charge higher fees (1% or more) for their efforts, with the result being poorer returns. You pay more to receive less. This begs the question: How are you and I going to pick the right managed fund to be in the 11% who manage to beat the index over a 15+ year period? Our chances of getting it right are so incredibly slim.
If you extend the thought that colossal fund managers do a poor job of beating the share market average, then just think about how an investor buying single-company stocks could fare better. Over time, most of us simply can’t predict how a company will continue to perform. Who is the exception? Warren Buffett. Are you also the exception? Not a chance.
What is an ETF?
An ETF is a basket of stocks designed to mimic a part of an entire index. “They invest in the same assets using the same weights as the target index” (Investopedia).
New Zealand has an ETF that tracks the top 50 stocks of the New Zealand share market (NZX). They are a basket of companies selected to match precisely how those companies appear on the NZX. Australia has an ETF that tracks its top 200 companies. America has a fund, the S&P 500, that tracks the top 500 companies as they appear on the stock market. At the time of writing, the largest company was Nvidia, which accounted for approximately 7% of the S&P 500 ETF, closely followed by Microsoft. The smallest, or the 500th company, has a weighting of just 0.01%.
Many countries offer ETFs that match their share markets' top performers. Additionally, of particular interest to me, you can buy one ETF, a Total World Fund, which holds the best companies globally. Meaning, I don’t have to buy a particular sector or country; instead, I can buy the best in the world.
Why would we want to buy this basket full of companies?
Share markets of all countries fluctuate in the short term (they are volatile), but most tend to rise over time:
America: S&P 500. Over time, the stock market tends to rise. (Source: Google)
Buying the top 500 companies in America is a good start, but buying the top companies in the Total World takes it one step further:
Total World ETF All Time Market Summary. Over time, the stock market tends to rise. (Source: Google)
By investing in an ETF that holds the top companies worldwide, I am following the upward trend of the world’s top companies.
A quick word on volatility and risk
You will notice from the two graphs above that, although the trend is upward, the peaks and troughs indicate that the share market fluctuates significantly. Share markets are volatile as they constantly react to world events and mutterings from their leaders. Volatility is typical and expected. Because you invest money in the share market for the long term, even if the value drops, if you stay invested, it will likely recover over time. I’ve invested throughout a few decent market drops (and rises) and come out the other side just fine. If any part of you thinks you might panic and sell, you need to toughen up and also revisit learning how this type of investment works in the long run. That will make you feel more comfortable with volatility.
The longer I have been an investor, the more relaxed I have become about volatility.
Alongside volatility is risk. The well-worn phrase, “You don’t put money in the share market that you can’t afford to lose”, rang true when buying individual company shares because taking a punt on one company carries enormous risk. Think of it as putting all your eggs in one basket. It is less true with an ETF investment strategy because buying thousands of companies worldwide spreads your risk.
Purchasing individual company stocks is risky; however, buying thousands of different company stocks reduces the risk.
To be an investor, you need routine, consistency, planning, and the ability to work towards a long-term goal. If you fail to do any of the above, you will dive into investing, win some, lose some, chop and change, and fail to grow long-term wealth. Investing will feel terribly risky with this type of approach.
Investing in an ETF is a long-term strategy.
ETFs are self-cleansing
When I own a Total World ETF, I always own the best companies in the world. The premise is simple. The share market of each country is full of companies going about their business, each wanting to grow and succeed. I want to invest in those successful companies, and I can, just by buying a Total World Fund.
However, despite the best efforts and intentions of those companies within my ETF, the best companies of today might not remain the best a decade from now; all companies eventually die off. The trouble is, I don’t know which companies will succeed or fail, and when they might do this. No one does. When I invest using an ETF, if a company goes out of business because no one wants what they are selling anymore, their poor performance will mean they sink to the bottom of the index before being replaced by the next top performer. ETFs are self-cleansing, which is hugely beneficial to me as an investor because I don’t have to take any action.
If the stock market consistently rises over time, as shown in the graphs above, then buying all the companies instead of trying to pick and choose a few makes sense.
At all times, I hold the best of the best in what are considered, at that time, the best countries, sectors, companies, and products and services. And when the needs and wants of the world change, the fund keeps pace with those changes. The real benefit of an ETF investment is that I don’t have to spend time trying to determine the next big thing. Technology stocks are currently leading the charge globally, but that won’t always be the case. What’s next? I have no idea, but I do know that when the world decides to go in a different direction and massive companies grow as a result, I’ll hold them in my ETF. If one or two companies within that fund experience incredible growth and success, they'll boost the performance of the whole fund, and I’ll benefit from that rise. And the companies that fade and die will be replaced by the next top performer.
All I have to do is purchase an ETF a little at a time and go about my day. Jonny and I began doing just that in 2015. Over the years, we have refined our investment to using a Smart Total World Fund. Over the last decade, we have experienced fluctuations in the stock market. Still, more importantly, the volatile ride has led to a steady increase in the overall value of our investments.
From time to time, we have received lump sums to invest (We just received a $68,082.50 windfall!), but mostly, we have set aside a portion of every paycheque we have received into our investments. You should aim to invest a little and often, and in your budgeting, always prioritise investing. Don’t invest what's left over after spending; instead, invest first and spend what's left afterwards. We prioritise investing because any money I can invest today will grow over time.
Many ask what is better, investing a little and often, or investing a lump sum. Personally, I think this is less about math, and more about psychology. I would have no qualms about investing $500,000 in one go, but you might. In reality, most of us don’t have a lump sum to invest, so we tend to have a monthly investing schedule instead.
Taxes
Another benefit of an ETF investment is that if you choose the right provider, they calculate and manage the taxes due on the investment income, including FIF taxes. If they are a PIE fund, your top tax rate is 28%. Depending on your fund manager, imputation credits can also be used to offset tax owed in other areas of your life. I choose to use a provider who manages tax.
How do you make money when you invest in ETFs?
To achieve financial independence, we need scale. We need as much money as possible to be invested in a large, low-fee, passive ETF to generate an income from it. We use the 4% Rule to determine how much money we need invested. For every $100,000 invested, we can sell off and spend 4% of our investment, or $4,000, annually. This strategy is how individuals in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) community live off their investments.
We invest our after-tax income into our ETF, and that money grows in two ways: capital gains and dividends (also known as distributions). If I had invested $10,000 in a Total World Fund in July 2015, it would be worth $14,152 today. The gains have come from reinvested dividends and capital gains resulting from the difference between what I paid per share in 2015 and its current value if I were to sell it today. Also worth noting is that we are taxed on the dividends but not capital gains in New Zealand. An ETF pays out very small dividends, so taxes owed are generally very small.
I use the New Zealand company Sharesight to track the performance of our investments over time. They also have a “Share Checker” tool, which allows you to go back in time and determine what your investment would be worth both then and now. This is both super handy and painful for those who suffer from regret and say things like, “If only I had bought XYZ back in 2015!”
Using Sharesight’s Share Checker, $10,000 invested in the Smart Total World Fund in July 2015 would be worth $14,152 today.
What is passive income?
When I first started learning about investing in the stock market, I thought that share investors made money purely through dividend income. But that is not the case. As you can see above, these dividends (which are paid out twice a year in our case) are relatively low. You would need to have invested many millions to provide enough dividends to live off. Dividends are nice to have, but (much like housing), the real growth comes from capital gains and the rise in value of the ETF itself. Our net worth grows due to our small dividends being automatically reinvested to purchase more shares in the fund, as well as capital gains over time. Additionally, unlike the example above, we are buying additional shares every month.
You will hear talk of “passive income”. The word ‘income’ is misleading. An ETF investor will simply sell off a small amount (roughly 4% is a guide) of their overall investment each year and deposit this money into their bank account to spend as they see fit. There is no tax to pay. This is why ETF investing is such a valuable investment tool and yet another reason I prefer it to rental property investing; You can sell off small portions at a time and leave the remainder to grow.
Jonny and I are now applying the 4% Rule to our investments, drawing passive income from them as needed. We simply sell off a set amount, and the money arrives in our bank account a few days later, ready to be spent.
Quick math: If you had $500,000 invested, you could sell off $20,000 (4%) each year.
More is not better
As I mentioned, emails from investment companies regularly pour into my inbox, each touting its wares. However, in the case of ETF investing, less is more. By investing in just one sizable, low-fee fund that buys an entire market, such as the Total World Fund, as suggested by JL Collins, I’m buying all the best companies across every country, sector, and industry. If they are skilled in business, I will own them, and my investments will be incredibly diverse.
Therefore, it makes little sense to buy into any of the niche funds (also called satellite or thematic funds) that providers offer. According to JL Collins, owning one large fund provides all the diversification you will ever need, and you can easily double up and end up owning the same companies if you invest in multiple ETFs.
So, why do providers sell so many different ETFs?
Each provider needs investors' money to flow into their platform, allowing them to generate revenue through the fees charged for the services they provide and make a profit. The more funds (products) they can offer, the more investors they can attract. But that doesn’t mean you have to buy what they are selling.
I’ve tried a few niche funds over the years. I did it just to test the theory of a single ETF being ‘enough’, and on each occasion, I proved the theory correct, managing to break even either barely or, in the case of one niche fund investment, watch it lose 75% of its value.
With a decade of investing experience under my belt, I increasingly agree with others in the personal finance space who argue that investing in a single large ETF on a regular basis is sufficient to grow wealth.
Let’s talk about fees for a moment.
ETFs are cheaper to invest in because a they are cheaper to run. They simply track an index and rebalance the fund at various points throughout the year to stay in line with that index, resulting in fewer personnel required and lower costs. They are not engaged in endless market research to try to pick the next big thing, or the thing about to go broke. Different ETF providers charge varying fees, in varying ways, which makes it hard to compare providers, but as a rule of thumb, look for a fee lower than 0.50%. Much like KiwiSaver fees, the lower the fee, the better. Anything over this percentage is considered high and will eat into your returns.
While we do have a select group of low-fee ETF (and index fund) providers in New Zealand, our ETF fees are still considered high compared to those of our overseas counterparts. There is little we can do about this.
The two funds I suggest you research have quite different fee structures:
InvestNow Foundation Series Total World Fund has an ongoing annual fund charge (a QFU or quarterly fund update fee) of 0.07%, which is very low. However, every time you buy (or sell*), you will pay a 0.50% fee on that transaction.
Smart Total World Fund has a fund charge of 0.40% every time you buy. They also have a one-time establishment fee of $30. You sell* using your share broker, which is a separate fee and varies depending on the sale amount.
* To be honest, don’t focus on the cost to sell. If you are reading this blog post, you are in the buy, buy, buy phase of accumulating wealth. Selling comes much later, and brokerage fees change over time and when the time comes, you will have options. In a decade of investing, I could count on one hand how many times I’ve sold.
Using the above information and an online calculator (from Your Money Blueprint), I calculated estimated returns based on the assumption that we started with $1,000 and added $24,000 annually, achieving a 10% return.
InvestNow
At 10 years: $419,563
At 20 years: $1,497,643
Smart
At 10 years: $412,817
At 20 years: $1,438,998
After 20 years, there is a $58,645 difference.
Investment Firm**
At 10 years: $367,393
At 20 years: $1,143,909
** I also calculated (as best I could) the fees charged by a large New Zealand investment firm. They charge much higher fees, meaning much lower returns for you over time.
Of course, making assumptions and predicting the future must be taken with a massive grain of salt. Finding a calculator that takes everything into account is challenging simply because of the amount of variables. I haven’t increased the contributions annually (which, in the real world, you would). I have removed the InvestNow selling fee. No allowance has been made for taxes paid on returns. Inflation is an unknown. Nor any mention of reinvested dividends.
These calculations are a handy guide, but that is all.
You don’t need to buy individual company shares.
To grow wealth by investing in the share market, you do not need to own any individual company shares at all. None.
This is a challenging concept for New Zealanders to grasp.
Yes, if you insist, nothing is stopping you having a wee dabble on the side if you have a particular fondness for a company and want to invest in it directly, but don’t kid yourself that you have the inside knowledge on where this company is headed, what it’s doing or how society will react to those moves. If you take on a single company, just make sure it’s a tiny part of your net worth and comfort yourself that whether it goes well or poorly, it won’t impact your overall financial plans. Remember, if this company is as good as you think it is, shouldn't it already be in your ETF fund? And always have an exit strategy.
What providers should you research in New Zealand?
New Zealand has a very small number of low-fee ETF providers who will give you access from New Zealand to the type of fund that JL Collins and Alan and Katie Donegan recommend.
I’m about to throw some jargon at you: JL Collins talks about VTSAX, which is Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund. VTI is the ETF version of this index fund. They are tracking the FTSE Global All Cap Index. If you have completed Rebel Finance School with Alan and Katie Donegan, you will hear them mention that they invest in the FTSE Global All Cap Fund.
Each country uses a different name for essentially the same thing. As you are doing your research, go looking for the following:
Total World Fund
Vanguard Total World Stock ETF
FTSE Global All Cap Fund
VTI
Note: You must take responsibility for your investing, and I encourage you to read The Simple Path to Wealth and complete the Rebel Finance School to learn for yourself what you need to look for. While some, such as the provider I use, stay the course, providers and products come and go, making it challenging to keep current. Therefore, it's essential to do your research. MoneyHub is a research tool that I recommend.
When I first began investing in an ETF over a decade ago, there were just two low-fee options in the market. This is what they currently offer that fits my brief:
Smart (formerly called Smartshares) Total World Fund.
InvestNow Foundation Series Total World Fund.
Since then, other providers have sprung up, and you may already be investing with some of them. Some, like Kernel, offer low fees, but they don’t provide a pure Total World Fund. Others, like Sharesies, are an onseller of the Smart TWF, but you will pay a far higher fee to use them. Then there are Hatch or Tiger Brokers and the like, which provide access to a Total World Fund, but they introduce the confusion of foreign exchange rates and complexity with foreign tax obligations (especially regarding FIF tax).
As more providers started up or large international providers entered the New Zealand market, I would research them. But I lost count. While finding a low fee is important, there are other factors to consider as well. I prefer to use a New Zealand-domiciled company (the NZX owns Smart) that is fully compliant with the Financial Markets Authority's regulations. And my preference is to invest using my own Common Shareholder Number (CSN). I aim to have well over $1,000,000 invested, and I want to have complete trust in my provider.
If you see a new company enter the market, just be wary. They often have large marketing budgets and seem great on the surface, but don’t stand up to scrutiny when you dig deeper.
Let’s not forget the more traditional investment companies, or the myriad of financial advisors in New Zealand. They will also give you access to the same ETFs that you can access directly, or their take on a Total World Fund. You will pay more to use these companies and services, meaning that less of your money is invested. And if you go back to that SPIVA website, what is their track record on beating the average?
Every provider does things differently.
Even though I narrowed the suggestion from JL Collins that you buy a Total World Fund down to two providers here in New Zealand, InvestNow and Smart, it doesn’t mean they offer the same service.
Smart is a three-part process:
You buy directly from their website/platform
Your shares are issued to you and held in your name, using your common shareholder number (CSN), with an independent share registry
To sell, you engage and pay a sharebroker
You can only buy on the 20th of the month. However, you can sell the shares you own at any time you like. You pay a fund charge of 0.40% per annum.
InvestNow is a one-stop shop:
You buy and sell on their platform
You do not invest under your own CSN. They manage investments on your behalf, rather than under your personal CSN. Client funds are held in an independent custodial account and are kept separate from InvestNow company funds. You pay a 0.07% annual fee, BUT you pay .50% on every buy and sell.
Which provider is best?
There is no such thing as the perfect investment provider. Or investor.
It comes down to researching your low-fee options, finding a provider and platform that you consider easy to use, and getting started. If you pick a social media platform of your choice, you will find a comment section full of vehement ideas about which fund provider or fee structure is better or worse. That puts a lot of pressure on people to make ‘the perfect choice’. There is no perfect choice.
It is exceptionally rare, if not impossible, to find the perfect investor. Why? Because they don’t exist. People who invest the money they have, in the timeframe of their choice, in a Total World Fund with a low-fee provider will do far better in the long run than those who never start or spend their time arguing the details in an online investing forum.
Getting the basics right is far more critical: pick a low-fee, passive, large ETF, such as a Total World Fund, set up an automatic investment, and then monitor it over time. I use Sharesight to do this. When I first began, I set a goal to invest $1,000 before making any changes or tweaks. When I reached that number, I reassessed and then set a new goal of $5,000, at which point I would reassess my progress. It starts small and builds. I still set these goals. You are investing for the long term, which is 10+ years; therefore, trust your research and your judgement and avoid meddling. When you reach your review period, consider changing and adjusting your strategy, fund, or provider if appropriate.
What about the US 500 ETF, I hear you ask.
Those who have been reading The Happy Saver for some time will know that we have previously invested in the US 500 ETF. It used to be our primary ETF, in fact.
I take my own advice and have reviewed and changed our investments over time.
We initially invested in an NZ 50 ETF and a US 500 ETF. Over time, we sold the NZ 50 and moved that money into the US 500. Today, we still hold investments in a US 500 ETF, but all new money is invested in a TWF. Plus, we have our KiwiSaver invested in a TWF.
JL Collins explains well in his book why investing in America is ‘enough’ for many because, despite current political events, the United States of America is where it's at if you want to become a massive global company. However, America may not always be dominant, and there are other huge international companies that we are missing out on owning, which is why he says purchasing a Total World Fund is not a bad option either. It still features all the top American companies, as well as top companies from other countries.
Keep your investing simple.
I’ve tried to weave in answers to all the questions I'm often asked - and I'm asked many questions - while also sharing a little about our situation. In conclusion, I would say to you that there is no perfect investment strategy. But there are perfectly good enough strategies for you and your money. I believe that I am following The Simple Path To Wealth.
Investing is the final post in this series of six because, apart from investing in KiwiSaver early in your financial journey, investing in the share market needs to occur at the right time in your life. And that time is when you have all your other ducks in a row. For those who have FOMO and are eager to start investing, remember that you are already investing with your KiwiSaver. And with every $1 you pay off your debt, you have just increased your net worth by $1.
There isn't a week that goes by when I don’t hear from someone who has “just discovered investing.” It’s hard to hold them back.
Keep up to date with your financial housekeeping, and make sure you know your net worth month by month and that you are budgeting and managing your money well. You have an emergency fund for when life kicks you in the butt, you pay into your retirement fund, and most importantly, in my view, you get the heck out of debt. Once you have cleared your debt, you will finally have money to invest.
For those itching to start, having a broad-based, low-fee ETF on the go, such as a Total World Fund, even if they invest only $10 a week, is not a bad idea. Why? You can run it alongside your other investments (such as a rental property) or debt payoff journey and see, learn, and understand, in real-time, with real money, how they are wealth-building machines over time. If your investment strategy changes over time, you will already understand how ETF investing works and may find it to be an alternative option for you.
ETF investing is proving to be one of the best decisions we have made. Over the years, friends I have spoken to about ETFs have scoffed and disagreed, going about their own forms of investing. That’s fine, each to their own. But given that we are friends, I stay in touch and observe the lack of clarity they have when it comes to investing, particularly if they own a rental property. ETF investing is slow, boring and undramatic. It’s a slow burn. But as I have observed in my net worth, our steady drip-fed and occasional bulk purchase-fed investing seems to gather more momentum. Additionally, it already provides us with an income if we choose to have it.
Reaching our first $100,000 was painfully slow, and the second was not much faster. However, the momentum then grew steadily due to capital gains, the compounding returns of reinvested dividends, and the additional funds we continue to invest. We don’t earn high incomes, yet I’ve found a way to grow our wealth through an investment that we can use to improve our lives. There is no leverage, third parties, upkeep, or hassle. Growing an ETF investment takes a thousand tiny actions, such as making a monthly investment over decades. Now that we are a decade in, with many hundreds of thousands of dollars invested, I’m starting to see the power of compounding returns, and that just gives me a huge sense of peace about our financial future. I will continue to blog about the performance of our investments so you can follow along.
What do I want you to do now?
The key to our future success was that I became interested in learning how to grow our money. It took me a while, but I began to realise that we could use the income from our day jobs to invest in a way that would provide us with (passive) income in the future.
Don’t just take my word for it; spend a week doing your homework and do a fast and furious deep dive into index funds and ETF investing. Follow up on the links I have included here, and then use Google to research the keywords and people you hear mentioned repeatedly. Conduct your research and then take the first step. Then, observe the process, get comfortable with it, tweak it, and settle in for a long and steady investment journey.
That’s the end of my six-part series 😊. The primary reason I write a blog is to help you out. I sincerely hope I have.
