(1) It’s the most adulty thing you can do

It blows my mind that our grandparents were getting married, buying houses and having babies when they were in their early 20s. Me – I’m 28 (ahem, 32) and am only starting to feel like a grown-up.

Look, still not got my head around using calendars, eating breakfast, moisturising or getting eight hours’ sleep a night – but, these days I do adult-like things, such as open 90% of my post, I got a lawyer, I’ve dealt with builders, bought a bloody flat and pay into a pension. 

But for me, the thing that made me feel like a ‘proper’ adult, was when I started investing. Like, it’s SO adulty, not even all adults do it. It’s something adults who *really* have their stuff together do. It makes me think that just maybe I have my stuff together too. Who knows eh?!

(2) It’s better than sex

Yeah, you are reading this correctly. According to research from Wealthify, three-quarters of Brits get a buzz from making a return on their money – with one in ten of us (11%) saying that making money on their investments gives them a similar buzz to when they’re having sex.

Look, I’m not even going to attempt to give you lot sex tips – but I just can’t help feel that it’s supposed to be better than investing.

That said, I’m no expert. You know what, whatever floats your boat.

(3) You want a baller retirement

I tell you something for nothing, I’m not going to work all these years to live in a cold house and eat tins of soup when I’m old. I see myself living like a rapper. A gangsta granny kind of figure. 

I want gold chains, boats, fur coats, lobster. That sort of thing. Now, I’m probably not going to get all that with my pension alone.  Actually, I’m probably not going to get that with my investments either, but you know what – I’m taking the right steps to get there.

Seriously though, we’re living longer and don’t want to freak you out, but if you want a certain lifestyle, you’re going to have to get money from somewhere – unless you want to keep working until you die (and I certainly don’t).

(4) Because the sooner you do it, the better

I can’t bear those inspirational quotes. There’s something about a cushion with ‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain’, that honestly, makes me feel a bit sick. 

That said, and seriously don’t go telling people this as it will ruin my snarky reputation, but there is an inspirational quote I bloody love. I’m actually considering getting it framed for my wall. Maybe…

‘A year from now you will wish you had started today’. 

It’s a good one right? I’m always putting things off. Whether that’s because I’m lazy, busy or scared – it’s tempting to ‘do it tomorrow’. With me, I chickened out of investing for years, because I thought it was something other – cleverer – people did. People with more money.

Stay with me because I’m going to get a little technical here (but still going to keep it light obs!) – but the most wonderful thing in the world, apart from Brad Pitt, is compounding. 

Apparently, Albert Einstein said that compound returns are ‘the greatest mathematical discovery of all time’ and let’s face it, he was smarter than you and I put together – so let’s trust him on this ok?

So when you invest money, you (hopefully) earn a return on your capital – in other words, the original amount you put in grows by a certain percentage. The next year, you earn a return on both the original amount you put in AND the return you got the year before. Then the next year, your returns are based on the original amount AND your returns from year one and two. It’s like a snowball. The longer it’s rolling, the bigger it gets.

So, if you’re thinking of investing – just start now. Seriously, it matters. If you can start at the age of 20, good for you – but you can’t go back in time no matter what beauty adverts tell you, so start now.

(5) Because you have goals

We all have things we want. Typically, they involve cash – lots of the stuff. My boyfriend, he wants a fleet of bikes that cost 5k each, when me, I’m a simple girl, I just want to spend at least 45% of my year in a 5* resort in the sun.

It doesn’t matter what your goals are, you’re going to need to save – and investing is a pretty painless way to do it.

I was told that when you think about investing, you have to think about it in big spaces of time. You can’t really put some cash in and hope to earn a load of interest and take it out in the next year or so.

At a bare minimum, you’re going to need to leave your money for five years – but ideally 10 to 20 years – so think about your goals in regards to this.

(6) Because it’s better than keeping your cash under your mattress

Let’s assume you’re being good and have more money coming in than you have going out. You have to put that cash somewhere. You can literally keep it under a mattress or in a jar in your house, stick it in your standard bank account, a savings account, or invest it.

Man, you can spend it all on vintage Beanie Babies if you want and hope that investment works out for you (don’t recommend it though!).

It just makes sense to me that you make your money WORK for you, or WERK if you’re fabulous in a Britney way.

Because what is better than making money while you sleep? It’s just a waste letting it sit there doing nothing. 

Investing your cash in a stocks and shares ISA is a way (though not guaranteed of course) to potentially beat inflation and make real returns on your money. What makes it extra good? The tax man doesn’t touch it. How beautiful is that?! 

Who are Wealthify?

Wealthify is a UK based robo-advisor which invests in index and tracker funds to keeps fees and charges to a minimum. There’s a team of investment experts who use algorithms to select the most appropriate funds and creates an investment plan based on how risky you’re feeling.

You can then track how well your investments are doing on the website and app on your phone, and withdraw money whenever you like – BUT like I said above, you’ve got to invest for a long time. An investment can be made with a minimum of £1 and there are no charges for opening or closing accounts – so no pressure either.

So, if you’re feeling like you want to start investing check out Wealthify because they have a properly good offer on at the moment. The first 100 people to sign up to a stocks and shares ISA before the 31st May will receive £50 cashback on a £500 investment.

You can do it either as one £500 lump sum, or invest £250 upfront and make five monthly payments of £50. Cashback is paid after six months into your bank account. As those of you paying attention will know, that’s a not-too-shabby 10% return, which is a good start to your investing journey!

(Here are all the T&Cs)

With investing your capital is at risk and you could get back less than you put in.

*This is a collaborative post*