What have I done???

On a Thursday afternoon in January, I marched into the bank and purchased my first investment – mutual fund units. I was told that the transaction would be processed on Friday and I would be able to see it on my online banking on Monday.  So I did what any first time investor would do, I excitedly logged in to my online banking on Monday morning only to find that my hard earned $1000 was now only $998.76 - WTF?! What have I done?!

Now I have to confess that I damn well knew what I was getting in to. When choosing the right mutual fund investment for me, I confidently answered the Financial Advisor at the bank’s questions:

When do you plan on accessing these funds? When I retire – 30+ years.
Are you willing to accept more risk in order to increase your returns? Yes.
What % reduction in your investment will you tolerate before selling? 10% (Not sure how I came up with that...)

 

So why did I still get that sinking feeling when I saw that my investment had decreased in value? I guess because I’m such an investment newbie and need to learn a little patience. It’s now been about one month and the investment is no longer in the red. In fact, I’m quite pleased with how my little investment has grown.

 

What I’ve learned so far about investing:

Rule 1: Don’t check the value of your investment every day or you will drive yourself crazy.

-C