Whatever your reason for building a nest egg, it pays to start sooner rather than later.
Whether you’re saving for a home, investing in your child’s education, or saving for retirement, it’s crucial to save money for the future. It offers security and a fund that you can tap for large purchases or rainy days. We save money because we cannot predict the future for better or worse, and it always pays to have a plan.
According to Investopedia, the term “nest egg” originates from the late 17th century when farmers would place eggs, both real and fake, into hens’ nests to encourage them to lay more eggs. Essentially the idea was to “invest” one egg in order to get multiple eggs back. The same idea carries through today. We invest one dollar in order to make two dollars.
So how do you get started? First, I always recommend that you sit down with your family and figure out your financial goals. Ask yourself what you may need in 10, 20, or 30 years. Do you have young children who will want to go to college? Perhaps you want to get a bigger house or move to a more expensive area of town. What about retirement? The average lifespan of Americans today is on the rise, and most people nowadays live to be about 80 years old on average. Will you have enough money to live comfortably until then? There’s also always the possibility that things could go sideways and you could need money for medical bills or repairs after a natural disaster. How much would it take for you to feel secure? Whatever your reason for building a nest egg, it pays to start sooner rather than later.
Once you’ve identified what your financial goals are, you need to take a good, hard look at your finances and put together a plan. The goal is to preserve as much capital as you can over time. To do that, most financial experts agree that whatever percentage of your income you decide to put aside for your nest egg should be held in relatively conservative financial instruments as well as some growth opportunities.
As I have written in this column before, you need to protect your assets with a well-balanced portfolio of stocks, bonds, real estate, and precious metals. It’s also of the utmost importance that you have an emergency fund of at least six months of living expenses squirreled away for a rainy day. Once you have achieved both of these goals, it’s important to start thinking about other ways to diversify your portfolio by holding assets like fine art, real estate, rare coins, and precious metals. This helps protect your portfolio from the fluctuations of the market. Precious metals and coins in particular are often referred to as “safe-haven” assets—places that you can store your money to limit your exposure to losses in times of market turbulence. You can even hold gold or other physical precious metals through your IRA. Our company offers these kinds of products, though it always pays to talk with a financial adviser or a certified financial planner about the right investments for you and your family before making any kinds of investment.
Once you’ve begun saving and investing the rules of compounding take over. If you make savvy moves your money will grow at a regular rate. Down the road, when you need it for that new house, a child’s education, or a rainy day, your nest egg will be there for you and your family. By identifying your goals, setting a plan, and sticking to it, you ensure that you and those you love will have plenty of financial security well into the future.
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Angela “Angie” Koch is CEO of U.S. Money Reserve, one of the largest private distributors of U.S. government issued gold, silver and platinum coins. Angie oversees every aspect of operation, while setting culture and pace for the entire organization. With a proven background in business planning, strategy, mergers, acquisitions, and operations, Angie has an in-depth understanding of how to run a successful business and is credited with creating the analytic and KPI structure at U.S. Money Reserve. Believing strongly that the people make the business, Angie has positioned U.S. Money Reserve to be a trusted precious metal leader that always puts their customers and employees first.