Why "it's too little, comparison culture & limiting beliefs" shouldn't stop you from investing

Oct 27, 2021
 

This week: Why "it's too little, comparison culture & limiting beliefs" shouldn't stop you from investing

In this video I talk about how too many people aren't investing because they don't think they have enough, they're comparing themselves to others, they're not sure if they can invest and other limiting beliefs. I compare it to my own limiting beliefs around chin ups and how what I'm doing there might help you move forward with investing.

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Transcript

Hey, and welcome to Mel's Money Musings. 

This week is a little bit of a different topic and that's because I've been receiving a lot of comments and a lot of DMs around: Is it even worth investing if you don't have much to start with? Or I didn't even think that I can do this? 

And a lot of it has to do with comparsion culture, but a lot of it has to do with messages that we've received from the media around potentially women not being great investors. And even messages we've received around needing to have a certain amount to invest when the truth is starting small can be a really great thing. 

So to kick off this conversation, I wanna about my decision to do a chin up. Now, this might seem like a really strange, uh, comparison to make, but stick with me. 

So I decided this year that I wanted to do one chin-up by Christmas and along the way I developed acute bronchitis. So that's taken a big setback. So I really got into it seriously again, three weeks ago. So I have a really limited window. And you might be watching going, uh, yeah. So can't everyone do that? Well, I've never been able to do one. So I used to play state league netball in the day. I used to do state athletics. Even at my fittest, I couldn't do a chin-up.

And I have a belief, right or wrong, that I don't believe I'm physiologically able to do a chin-up. I've got really strong legs. I can do anything, uh, leg wise, but I have arms like brown snakes and really weak shoulders. I genuinely don't believe I can do a chin-up. Add to that that I had a compressed nerve in my neck a couple of years ago where I wasn't able to exercise or do anything for about a year. 

And it really has led to this belief that I genuinely don't believe I can do it.  

So what I did is I decided that I was gonna challenge that. And all I want to do is one chin up by Christmas, which some people might think, well, what's the point, but it's about starting, right? So what I've been doing is I talked to my husband who's a physio. So it's all very safe. So I received professional advice. I decided what my goal was (one chin up by Christmas). He's put me on a program which is all about arm strength. And every week I have to do part of that is doing chin-ups to failure. Now let me just say how quickly I fail. So I currently am kneeling on 21 kilos weight to help me get up there. And this morning I could barely even do that. 

So I've gone back to, I've taken a step backwards. And I just had that moment where I'm like, oh, I don't think I can do it. Now my husband who is the physio that's helping me with this has actually has gone ahead and said to me this week, I don't wanna hear from you anymore that you can't do this. And it doesn't help that he is the physio for Jess Fox, who is the Gold winning canoe slalom athlete, who can do chin-ups with about 20 kilo strapped, probably more, strapped to her waist. So if I'm comparing myself to that, then why bother? And 'is this really even worth it?' really yelling loudly in my ears.  

So what the freak has that got to do with you and investing?  

Well, part of it is me comparing myself to someone else who has been doing this for a long time, who has trained for a long time and it's just not an accurate comparison.  

Two, it's that limiting belief around 'I don't believe I can do it', which is actually a myth. I can do anything I set my mind to. And I've proven that again and again. So the fact that I have this limiting belief with this is actually something that my husband is right. Shhh don't tell him, I just need to stop talking in that way.  

And three, it's just about doing the work every week, turning up with a program that he's setting me and not judging my progress, but continuing to take those what feel like baby steps, which will ultimately all lead to my chin up.  

When it comes to investing for you, it's the same. It's deciding what's your goal? Where do you want to invest? What are your guardrails that you are gonna put up? 

 It might be that it's a green investment. It might be that you can't be bothered choosing a direct share. So it's gonna be a micro-investing app or an ETF. It might be that it's a tiny amount. Maybe it's $50 a month. Maybe it's roundups only, maybe it's $200 a month. Truly the amount is irrelevant.  

What's important is that you start if potentially like me, you have these limiting beliefs, you have this comparison culture, uh, it's just time to push them away and realising that a lot of the time that's sabotaging you and not serving you.  

And it's about either rewriting it or just choosing to wind down those voices and instead, just to take those baby steps forward.  

Maybe some of those baby steps is to start reading financial research. Maybe some of that baby steps is doing my shares masterclass. Um, I've got a recorded one and I'm running a live one in November. Maybe those baby steps is signing up my Financial Adulting Plan waitlist, because you realize in all of this that you need stronger voices and more consistent voices that tell you that you can do it and show you how you can do it. But the most important thing is to take those baby steps 

And just start, I genuinely don't know if I can do a chin-up by Christmas, but I'm going to act like I can. You might not believe that investing small amounts for the long term is worth it. I want you to act as if it is.  

I hope you found this helpful today. Below you can sign up to the waitlist for the Financial Adulting Plan or on my site you can find out more about my master classes. In the meantime, make sure you wind down that voice. Make sure you take those small steps and let's do this work together. Have a great weekend. 

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