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2018-09-01

The Worker and the Investor and the Saver

By author Morgan Jassen

It's excellent to be a Worker, and investor, and a Saver, all three simultaneously -- in parallel.

This way, one's livelihood can become wealthy, by managing money in all of the above ways.

It's a trap to think that there is a linear, sequential path that one takes through these three ways of managing money, and/or that only one of these can/should be used.

There can be discerned a distinct popular mindset out there in the world at large, that if one is working and earning income, that one's doing fine financially and there's no need to save or to invest money.

And likewise, there can be discerned a distinct popular mindset that says that if one has enough savings, then one can retire and live off of the savings and doesn't need to work.

Furthermore it can be felt and observed the existence of a distinct philosophy in the world at large, that says that first comes earning by working, then comes saving, then comes investing -- almost as if these are things that one only does when young, middle-aged, and old, respectively.

Not so.

In fact it's fine, and ethical, and good for one, no matter one's current demographic(, age, current income level, current level of savings, etc.), to simultaneously do all three.

For example even if I'm already putting/keeping money in(to) savings, I should invest, because the two are different. And even if I have no savings, I should also be doing the same -- investing. If I'm I'm working but not saving or investing then I should plan to incorporate saving and investing at the same time as I continue working. And if I'm doing none of the three, then I should make a plan to start doing all three, and then immediately start doing the plan.

Admittedly, there are some tough situations that we find ourselves in. Such as if I wake up one day and find myself with a large loan that I'm responsible for paying back.

Then it's time to take a deep breath, sit down and relax for ten minutes, think about the situation, and then make a plan that includes the previous three goals, *plus a goal that is to pay off the loan on top of that*, and then immediately (without a break) continue to pay off the loan, continue to keep saving a positive balance, at the same time as continuing investing.

These here are not a complete set of answers and not easy, but they are a start.

In conclusion, its important to have saving, working, and investing all be a part of one's financial plan, and in addition to include any other (strictly necessary) financial goals. Also, all three (plus) elements of the plan should be calculated in from the start of the plan, as opposed to one-after-another.

Note: This post was pre-published on Aug 17, 2018.
[2018-Nov. Note: This blog post was republished in November 2018 at https://i̶n̶v̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶r̶.̶c̶o̶m̶/2018/ ]