Investing in Yourself: 3 Ways to Grow

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Seattle Pacific University alumni and Vanderbilt grad student Elizabeth Dong works in her lab at Medical Research Building III at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.(Vanderbilt University / John Russell)

Whether you’re working as an employee and you want to secure a better career, or you’re a full-time investor and business owner, investing in yourself and acquiring new skills are among the best investments you can make.

As you add new skills to your arsenal, you will be able to pursue a better position, make better investment decisions and be an even better investor in general. There are three easy ways to grow as an investor. We are going to discuss those three ways in this article.

Get Started with Online Courses

While you don’t have to have a master’s degree to be a good investor, taking the time to complete a course and pursuing one can help you acquire a lot of skills that will make you a better investor. An online MBA degree, for example, can help improve your research and data analysis skills, your ability to make strategic decisions and your understanding of the market in general.

There is no need to be a full-time student. Universities like the Northeastern University are opening up online MBA programs that you can join from the comfort of your office or business. It is an invaluable investment to make, considering the benefits you can get in return.

Other shorter courses are designed to help you master specific skills. Coursera, for instance, has a lot of courses on the stock market, forex trading and investments in general. You can even learn more about real estate investments through online courses.

Practice Makes Perfect

In certain markets, practicing before you actually invest your real money can make a big difference. When you’re relatively new to the foreign exchange market, for instance, signing up for a demo account and giving the online trading platform a try can make a world of difference.

With other markets such as real estate, the best practice is by paper trading. You can test your ability to choose a property to invest in by browsing through listings and performing analysis on available options.

Gather all the necessary information – such as the amount of money you can make on rent or the total cost of ownership for the property – and calculate if investing in the property is a good decision. After a few tries, you will have the knowledge and the confidence to invest in the real estate market.

Know the Tools

While you will be relying on knowledge and skills most of the time, there are also a lot of tools and resources you can use to help make better investment decisions. Learning how to take advantage of these tools will help you stay profitable in the long run.

In the stock market, technical analysis is as important as fundamental analysis. Mastering the right indicators and knowing how to combine multiple indicators to analyze the market are the keys to wise investment decisions.

Other tools such as premium news sources and cloud-based calculation tools can help you tackle the common challenges more easily. Knowing how to use an online mortgage calculator, for instance, can help you make better decisions when comparing mortgage loans for your next property investment.

Are you ready to grow as an investor? Invest in these skills and you will have no trouble at all maintaining a healthy portfolio and securing a bright retirement.

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Jeremy Kaplan

A 50-something year old lifestyle, career, and education blogger based in Atlanta, Georgia. Years of experience in the office setting working with others and still loving it year-after-year.

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