Elizabeth Buko – Take Your Time to Learn Before You Start Investing

Jan 24, 2021

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Elizabeth Buko is an author and Wealth Coach. She helps entrepreneurs improve their finances & start their wealth-building journey by changing the way they think about money from a faith-based perspective.

Elizabeth has helped women eliminate tens of thousands in personal debt, start investing towards their financial goals, grow their net worth to multiple 6 and 7 figures, and let go of deep personal beliefs that limit them financially.

She is the Founder of Wealth From Little, where she runs monthly wealth creation classes. She is married and has two young children.

“Everything that we have right now is, in most cases, directly related to how we were thinking in the past.”

Elizabeth Buko

Worst investment ever

A hunger to be rich

At 19, Elizabeth worked as an intern and hated not having enough money to live a comfortable life. She decided that she would be rich and started looking for ways to make money quickly.

Elizabeth had heard about investing in the stock market. She had read in the news about people who had invested in stocks and were now millionaires. She wanted to be like them.

Saving every penny she could

Elizabeth would save every penny that she earned. She would only pay essential bills and save everything else. While her friends and sisters were going shopping, to the cinema, out for dinner, spending money, and having fun, Elizabeth would be left behind. She was literally saving every coin to invest and get rich in 20 or 30 years.

Investing in the first option available

Elizabeth tried to find information about investing in stocks, but she could not find any. She felt restless and like she was just wasting time sitting around waiting to find information while her savings could be making her rich.

Elizabeth had saved about 4,000 pounds, so she decided to just do it. Elizabeth thought that all you had to do was pick a stock from a long list, put money into it, sit back, relax and wait for the money to start coming in. She picked a stock and put in 2,000 pounds. A couple of months later, Elizabeth picked a second stock and put in the rest of her savings.

The elusive riches

A few months later, the first company Elizabeth invested in started experiencing issues, and the stock lost value. The second stock was still doing well, and she was earning dividends.

Fast forward six or seven years later, the company crashed. There was a recession, and the company did not survive it. Just before the recession started, Elizabeth’s money had grown to about 15,000. Then the company crashed, and she lost it all.

Lessons learned

Do not let the fear of being poor lead you to your worst investment ever

The fear of being poor and the desire to be rich can cause you to invest blindly with the hope of making a lot of money fast. You get so blinded by fear that you make decisions without clearly understanding how to invest as a beginner.

Investing in the stock market is not a get rich quick scheme

Do not go into the stock market thinking that you will get rich quick. If you want to grow your wealth, you need to do it right. Read up on investing in the stock market, seek advice on how to go about it, and get out of the mindset of getting rich quick.

Andrew’s takeaways

Investment is a serious business that needs more than excitement

Do not invest just because you see other investors living lavish lives or get sucked into the media hype on investing. Investing is a serious business that can strip you of your wealth very quickly. So do not get into it blindly.

Start investing with a portfolio of ten stocks

If you are going to start investing in stocks, then have about 10 of them. Not one or two, and not 20 or 30, or else you are just mimicking the market. The best way to go about it is to get an ETF or a fund that owns many stocks. This way, you will have a well-diversified portfolio.

Actionable advice

Get some education and keep learning every day. No matter where you are, you need the education and information to get you to the next step.

No. 1 goal for the next 12 months

Elizabeth’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to love 100 more women through Wealth from Little. She supports hundreds of women through free monthly calls. But now Elizabeth wants also to support more women one on one and give them the knowledge, the understanding, the faith, and the strategies to start building wealth and turn their financial lives around.

Parting words

“No matter what you are facing, you can do all the things you want. It is more than possible if you believe it.”