As a teenager, my dad had gifted me the book, Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson. I don't remember its contents and can only vaguely remember what it's about - living an independent life. Since then, he has also recommended other self-help books tailored towards managing and growing one's own personal finances. I've always thought my brain wasn't built to handle monetary "stuff" and I thought the safest thing for me to do was to put my savings in a sock or stash it away in a bank's savings account and only poke at it when absolutely necessary. But through the years, I've had some immigration and medical expenses come up and I realized my spending rate was higher than my saving rate.  I'm in a job I enjoy but unfortunately, it doesn't pay very well (something I accepted because I felt and still feel like its a fulfilling role). 

Something I did wish prepared me to live this life of financial decisions are the building blocks of savings and investments. When I turned 30 last year, I decided to take the plunge and actually look into the world of investments and discovered a plethora of different kinds, not just the ones that were for high risk-takers. The stock market was always this foreign concept and a very intimidating one at that. During my preliminary research, I was introduced to terms like 'bonds', 'fixed income', 'cryptocurrency' and a whole bunch of acronyms that I fail to recall at this moment.

I recently picked up The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and will include my learning notes in this blog at a later date but right now, I want to mention the top two things that I've learned so far when it comes to saving and investing.

1. Automatic savings account
 Create an savings account that takes a small percentage or amount out of your chequing account every month, even if it's just $10. It's been a great help to me as a student and low-income earner because I know that I have some savings no matter what my circumstances are. I think of it as the account I can turn to just in case I have absolutely nothing left and I can still have a good, satisfying last meal or cup of coffee with it.

2. Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs)
I realize this is a Canadian thing but it's actually a really great first-time investing endeavour that reduces any financial loss, hence the "guaranteed" part. The only caveat is that you won't be able to access your funds until after its maturation period. It's more of a long-term savings plan whereby I know I get a higher interest return than a regular savings account. The money you put into a guaranteed investment certificate gets split up by the financial institution and is invested in a number of sources. You don't have to worry about where it goes, just that you get some return at the end of the three, five, ten or even 20 year investment period.

With the GICs, I tend to pick ones that run for three months because I'm always uncertain about access and even if I don't need to use the money after its period of maturation, I can reinvest the amount in another GIC. It just requires more active check-ups and re-investment on my part rather than letting the money sit and mature over a longer period of time. 

Another separate thing I wish I knew more about was maintaining a good credit score. It's basically a grade you get to show potential landlords etc. that you pay your bills on time. And the only way to do that is to keep contributing and paying off your line of credit even if you don't do it all at once.