My name is Tshwarelo
I started investing in various kinds of investments at age 20, including JSE listed instruments, crypto currencies, and forex. I have made a lot of money and conversely I have lost a lot of it. Today, I am still an investor if we had to be technical about it, but I still do feel like I am still aspiring to be an investor. Reason being is that still have so much to learn as majority of my returns were mostly pure luck.
I started investing because I realized I will never gain true wealth if I only relied on having a job, no matter how well it pays. I wish I had started sooner cause investing really does require a lot of patience. But then again, I am very proud of myself for eventually starting.
I was introduced to easy equities by a brilliant first year girl while I was in my 3rd year. At first I was quite paranoid as I too had that stigma that shares are risky. I then challenged myself because it doesn’t make sense for me to be reluctant to spend hundreds and thousands of rands on alcohol, yet I can’t risk a few rands in shares. So I stared small, with as little as R10 and experimented. I think that was the turning point in my life. I started making commitments to invest at least R50 per month. As I kept pumping in more money, I started researching and growing as an individual. I kept looking for other investment opportunities as well. I eventually discovered cryptocurrency, the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum, which just isn’t doing so well anymore, but still a very relevant topic of discussion amongst all investors worldwide. (I’m not saying go invest in Bitcoin, this is just my story). I have withdrawn from that market since its biggest crash earlier this year and unlikely to back. I moved most of my funds to equities and debt instruments.
I’m still investing and growing, as investing has become a life long journey for me.