Working through a pandemic has taught healthcare workers (HCW) valuable lessons, and an exceptionally huge one about money. The salaries of healthcare workers are insufficient, especially when compared to the work and hours required. During Covid- 19 many of us went on quarantine and even isolation leaving us to rely solely on base pay. The truth is, many HCWs rely on overtime pay to make ends meet and afford a livable wage. Covid showed us that that isn’t guaranteed.. Not only is loss of income a real threat, but also realising that we want more freedom and more choice. Not everyone wants to work multiple duties, and sessions and weeks surpassing 50 even 60 hours just to make ends meet- or have a decent enjoyable life. Reasons like this and so much more are why HCWs need to start investing. And I am here to put in one central location all the resources you need to get started.
The last time I spoke about money was in this blog post where I encouraged doctors to talk about money and to take an interest in money. Invest and other variations of the word popped up 6 times, but I didn’t really go into it. I do talk about investing much more on my Twitter, where I’m a fan (and soon to be member?) of #financetwitterJA. I would check out these two threads if you’re interested in what I’ve had to say.
Quick disclaimer- I am not a licensed investment advisor so I cannot and will not give you investment advice. I will however, put forward my reasons for investing (in stocks) and why I think you should too. If you wanna skip those and want to go straight to where to start click here.
Why Should Healthcare Workers Invest?
First of all, I’m only talking about investing in stocks, if you’re interested in real estate, bonds, unit trusts and even insurance some of the resources in the ‘where to start’ section of this post have some information on those.
Investing Puts Your Money To Work
The whole point of investing is about making your money work for you, regardless of the investment route you take that is the goal of all of them. Many of us have saving accounts and know that the interest on the savings accounts don’t even rival inflation… and sometimes with the added fees you basically end up with your money being worth less than the amount you put in. Listen, patty is a fantastic example of inflation- a patty costs way more now than it did 5 years ago… just like $100 5 years ago doesn’t hold the same spending value now.
Investing Offers a Safety Net
Investing is one way of creating a buffer to help you avoid living from pay check to paycheck. It is a good way to have emergency money available in the event of an unforeseen emergency.
Investing Helps Secure Your Future
I’m talking about retirement here, saving towards retirement should really be investing towards retirement. A million dollars today will not hold the same value when you retire. Just the other day I heard someone lament “$1000 come eeen like $100″… you remember when we used to say that about $500? Invest towards your retirement.
Investing Gives You Freedom
And this freedom can literally be anything, whether you want to travel more, work less. Investing gives you more money, money that you can use for what ever purpose you want.
Investing Gives You More Time
Investing has offered many HCWs the ability to work less overtime. And this is an amazing feeling. Not having to worry about money allows you to spend more time doing what you love with who you love. Whether you use this time to work on yourself, or start a new business or travel more. Investing can offer you that opportunity.
Investing Can Help You Accomplish Your Dreams And Goals
What else is there to say, investing is practical. You want to go to Spain next year? Invest towards it. You want to buy a new laptop? Invest towards it. You want to buy a house? Invest towards it. Once you have a SMART goal, I assure you you can achieve it.
So… How do I Start?
Let’s get something straight. This isn’t about getting rich quick or playing fast and loose with your money. Nope. This is not a cash plus or some pyramid scheme. Investing will take some time and some effort… and of course it comes with risks. A major thing is to try and lessen that risk with more information… aka research.
Here is my quick and dirty guide to investing in stocks.
First of all you will need a broker, the broker acts as the middle man and is how you acquire your stocks. There are many brokers out there but the ones I like the most that are cost effective are JMMB and Sagicor. Many of the resources I’ll be listing below will also have their own brokerage guide.
Here Are My Favourite Resources
EveryMickle is an online blog ran by Randy Rowe, a well know retail investor in Jamaica. He has spearheaded several investment initiatives in Jamaica all in the aim of getting more retail investors on the Jamaica Stock Exchange and does very well. A retail investor, is basically someone like you and me, we aren’t a company or a bank, but a non professional investor. EveryMickle has some useful blogs that you can check out. There are posts about individual stocks, how to apply for an NHT refund and even a post on choosing brokers. I really encourage you to check out that blog, especially the earlier posts which really talk about starting in investing and some frequently asked questions are answered. There is also a news channel on telegram you can join that puts all of the latest finance news in one place.
Grow Rich With Research (GRWR)
Informally known as Grow Rich With Randy, is an class that is held by Randy Rowe that teaches persons about investing. There are two types, the beginner class which focuses on the basics and the advanced class which goes much more in-depth. You typically have to complete the beginner course first in order to be eligible to join the advanced class. The prices are usually $100usd as of today, but are typically discounted to between $80 and $90 USD. There is also a monthly subscription that comes with a lot of perks, it has an admission to each GRWR held for the month, they have calls where they have more intimate conversations about stocks, access to a telegram group and much more.
Kalilah has exploded recently as she makes the business news accessible and understandable. She has videos aimed at persons who want to start or own a business. However, it’s her show Taking Stock that we are really interested in. She provides simple to understand and digestible information around stocks and asks industry leaders questions through her interviews. She has created a master class, that comes with resources such as a brokerage guide and a tracking template.
I love love love Stocks on The Rocks, surprisingly, even though the name has “stocks” in it, this finance resource is really aimed at improving financial literacy. Now that restrictions are lifted they’re back to having in person meet ups every last friday at Palisadoes. Their YouTube channel is full of resources and I think this video they have about reading financial statements is useful.
This group is ran by Jermaine Mcdonald and talks about more than stocks. They have courses, YouTube videos and a Telegram group all aimed at improving financial literacy. They’re also a Christian group, keeping God and the bible in mind when talking about money and investment principles.
This is a podcast with investors Randy Rowe and Danhai Hall, personally I don’t think the podcast is 100% beginner friendly but is a great resource to use once you get into it- even if just a little bit! And especially after you do a GRWR. As of lately both hosts have been having #BrickTalk spaces on twitter with streaming to YouTube. Here you’re able to interact and the sessions are recorded for later use. Each is fairly topical and you can get a lot of help, clarification and information (but no investment advice) in these spaces.
My Money Ja is a powerful website that does more than track your stocks. In fact, it links news articles, you can see charts and various other important information in a way that’s easier to navigate that the JSE website (I feel so bad for saying this). They have different accounts ranging from free to paid.
In my mind I am Danhai Hall’s biggest fan! Danhai is a licensed independent investment advisor and owns DHall Advisory. As of this moment it’s pretty difficult to get an appointment with him due to demand, but you should definitely still try. He gives you practical investment advice tailored to your goals.
Learn the lingo with Investopedia.
People to follow on twitter so you can be a part of #financetwitterja
David Rose retail investor, business writer at the Observer and contributor to Kalilah Reynolds Media
Danhai Hall licensed investment advisor, owner of DHall Advisory and Co- Host of Earnings Season and #BrickTalk a weekly investment space on twitter
Gillian Jackson financial blogger and the queen of threads. She provides great resources around money, budgeting, buying a home and so on.
Jermaine McDonald retail investor and founder of learn grow invest.
Kalilah Reynolds owner of Kalilah Reynolds Media.
Randy Rowe Retail investor, creator of EveryMickle, GRWR, MyMoneyJa and Co- Host of Earnings Season and #BrickTalk a weekly investment space on twitter
Ryan Strachan is a licensed investment advisor and a VP at Grace Kennedy, he is often a guest on finance online and in person events, plays leading roles in many initial public offerings (aka IPOs- that’s when a company becomes listed on the stock market) and has a weekly email newsletter where he talks about finance events and observations of the week (message him to get access or enjoy more benefits from his Patreon).
Simon Johnson investor, works in finance and is the creator of Stocks On The Rocks .
Honestly there are many more and eventually everything just starts coming together. Trust the algorithm. Many founders, CEOs, VPs etc of many companies listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange are on twitter!
Final Thoughts
No matter where you start, knowing your goals and using the SMART acronym will help you. Knowing how much money you want in what time frame simplifies a lot of investing, and is almost the first thing anyone will ask you when you talk about investing- what are your goals. This is why financial advice isn’t one size fit all, and being honest with yourself will help you make decisions to achieve your goal.
I hope you enjoyed this longer post, and use it to start your investment journey. Check out this podcast I did with 2 other doctors, who are even more avid investors than I am, about investing in the stock market and why HCWs should do so.
Samantha C. Johnson
