MY FIRST FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE PLAN

"Always making plans for the future... Always being surprised by the present" Paulo Coelho, Brazilian writer

After opening my brokerage account, I started making monthly contributions in government bonds. My goal at that time was for my money not to be eroded by inflation.

But after almost one year of investing in this way, I realized that I could accumulate a certain amount of money in a certain period of time to cover my expenses in my retirement. The strategy was not to receive income from this investment, but from a certain age, take money every month until a estimated age.

GET TO WORK

With the idea in mind, I started doing some simulations: how much I should contributed per month for a certain period, in order to withdraw "x" per year up to age "y".

And I also realized that the return on investment would be very important, because it could increase how much I would take out per month. But for that I would need to accept more risks: I should go to the stock market.

KNOWING THE STOCK MARKET

As I didn't understand anything about stocks, I chose to invest in a bank pension fund, in which the fund would invest 49% in shares and the rest in government bonds. My task would be just to make a contribution every month and the fund would take care of making the investment.

With the exception of my emergency reserve, I redeemed all the money I had invested in government bonds and allocated it to the fund. The fund's profitability began to take off. I started making projections and realized that the money I would accumulate would be much more than I had estimated, so I was excited.

THE PAIN OF LOSING MONEY

But my excitement didn't last long. Why? The global financial crisis. I started to see my investment decreasing and I was very worried, because my money that I was saving for my retirement could no longer exist.

It was very painful to see my money disappear day after day, so I decided to take it all out and went back to investing in government bonds. There, at least, I wouldn't have a big return, but I knew my money would be guaranteed

I returned to making my monthly contributions in government bonds with a focus on my retirement. But I still hadn't given up on the idea of ​​investing in the stock market.

But I'll write about it next week.

See you there!