Learn the basic terminology and take control of your own investments with this simplified introduction into the world of investing.

What is investing?

A basic definition of investing is simply "to put (money) to use, by purchase or expenditure, in something offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. (source) " To make that even simpler the goal of investing is to grow your money by putting it to work for you. Later in this tutorial we will cover different types of investments.

What isn't investing?

It is important to realize that investing is not a get rich quick scheme, and that it is vital to do the proper research to ensure that a particular investment is suitable for your needs.

It is also crucial to realize investing is not, or should not be gambling, throwing money at anything that sounds good will likely result in throwing money away. Investing needs to be based on your personal circumstances, coupled with your long term goals, and research into the suitability of the investment.

Who Should Invest? and Why?

Growing up in Canada we are taught to seek employment and to trade blocks of our time for financial gain, basically get a job and a salary. Instead of trading time for money, investment allows us to potentially create money in another way by having our money work for us instead of the other way around. As we get older and are less inclined to trade our large chunks of time for revenue the necessity of having alternate sources of revenue becomes apparent. It has become apparent we can no longer rely on a company or government to fund our retirement years.

How to Invest?

There are many ways to invest based on the definition above. For the purpose of this tutorial we are going to focus on investing in securities (stock, bonds or mutual funds) as they are readily accessible to the average Canadian and provide equal opportunities to all Canadian investors.

Next: Know Yourself to Invest Properly >>>