Opinion – From Grain to Grain: How to invest if there is no surplus?

I’ve been writing in this column for over 4 years and I’ve been working in the financial market, helping people to invest, for almost a quarter of a century. During all this time, a question was always asked: how can I invest if I don’t have enough?

Money is a scarce resource. Just like time.

Have you also said that you don’t have time to do something?

Time is never left. So, it is also with money.

It is usually very difficult for us to take responsibility for what we decide.

In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Professor Stephen Covey explains this very well with a story.

Once, a student of his came and said he couldn’t attend his class because he had to go to a game.

The teacher asked, “do you need to go to the game or would you rather go to the game than watch my class?”

The student stated that he really needed to go.

So the teacher asked, “If you don’t go to the game and watch my class, what happens?”

The student replied, “I will be kicked out of the team.”

Then the teacher asks, “Would you like this to happen?”

As expected, the student quickly says he wouldn’t like it.

And the teacher contextualizes: “So, you wouldn’t want to lose the game, because you want to stay on the team, but what if you’re not in my class, what happens?”

With this question, the student has already understood the teacher’s arguments in the process of making choices and taking responsibility for them.

Money is no different. We have to make choices and take responsibility for them.

Simply to say that we don’t have money to invest is to place the responsibility for our choices on others.

We all have a financial budget that is set by each of us.

You can change the recipe or the cost. It’s not easy. I know.

For each of these changes, you’ll need to make trades and decide what you prefer.

Also, you will have to take the consequences of what you decide.

I’ve seen people with a monthly income of R$50,000, but who live broke and mired in debt. If you asked them whether it was possible to keep something, they would quickly justify the impossibility.

Just like, currently, I know a person very close to me and who earns a minimum salary per month, but religiously saves 10%.

So, you don’t have money to invest or would you rather do something different with it?

Saving is giving up consumption today to consume more tomorrow.

Start small. Investing is a habit.

Michael Viriato he is an investment advisor and founding partner of Investor’s House

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