The Crypto Crash…and other things we don’t understand

As most of us have probably heard, there’s been a huge upset in the investing world with cryptocurrency. While the crash of FTX is big news and is most certainly horrible for those impacted by what could be huge losses, a lot of people, including me, have no idea what the heck crypto is and haven’t taken the time to try to find out. Well, I guess that isn’t quite 100% accurate. The honey and I did spend about 6 minutes trying to find out how to invest $1 in cryptocurrency so we could be fabulously wealthy. After thinking about it for another 6 minutes, we decided it was still a mistake to invest in something we don’t understand. Oh, and we couldn’t figure out how to invest a dollar in it either, so there’s that.

But all of this reminds me of the fact that so many of us have no idea how to start investing, how our money is invested, or even what investing actually is. We maybe have a 401(k) with our company that’s invested in a target fund for when it’s expected we’ll retire at age 65. Or we might find some Series E Savings Bonds our grandparents bought for us 30, 40, 50 years ago. We might have even gotten brave and took a few bucks and jumped on Robinhood and bought a stock or two just for fun.

To really understand investing though? Nope. So, what’s a person to do that would like to retire at some point in the future and not have to choose between medications and food? Or lights and water? Or even be able to stop working and retire at all?

First, find somewhere you can learn a few of the basics, like the Investing 101 class Sage Financial Coaching will be presenting in a few days. And second, find an advisor you can trust. We can help you find one of those too and even show you what you need to look for in a good financial advisor.

For those of you who, like my honey and I, didn’t invest in crypto because you didn’t understand it, good for you! Don’t ever invest in something you don’t understand.