The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Investing

A simple roadmap for long-term wealth

Most people want to “get into investing,” but the moment they actually look into it, they’re hit with a wall of confusion.

Stocks. Bonds. Index funds. Crypto. ETFs. Fine art. Watches. Futures.
And then the YouTube gurus telling you they make €3,000 a day trading forex from a beach in Bali.

No wonder people feel overwhelmed.
And underneath that overwhelm sits a deeper fear:

“What if I lose the money it took me years to save?”

That fear is rational.
But the solution is not to avoid investing.

The solution is to understand it.

What follows is the guide I wish everyone had when they start.
Just four simple ideas that will give you a solid, calm, long-term foundation:

— Own assets
— Think long term
— Let compounding do the heavy lifting

Everything else is noise.

Let’s break it down.

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1. The Philosophy: Why Invest at All?

Investing is simply this:

Using today’s money to buy something that gives you more money tomorrow.

It’s necessary to fight against the enemy most people underestimate: inflation.

Your €1,000 today buys a laptop.
But in five years, that same laptop might cost €1,300.

If your money just sat in a bank account, it lost buying power.

Investing protects you from that.

And more importantly:

Investing lets your money work while you sleep.
(Not metaphorically, but literally.)

This is the “eighth wonder of the world” effect Albert Einstein talked about: compound interest, the same principle I broke down in detail in my money psychology newsletter .

The earlier you start, even with tiny amounts, the more the curve bends in your favor.

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2. Why Stocks? And Why Index Funds?

Technically you can invest in anything:

• Real estate

• Government bonds

• Crypto

• Fine art

• Watches

• NFTs

• Single-company stocks

But here’s the reality:

Many of those require:
— deep expertise
— huge amounts of capital
— high risk tolerance
— or all three at once.

That’s why the wealth-building vehicle for most people is:

Index funds.

Instead of betting on one company (Apple, Tesla, Netflix), you buy a tiny slice of hundreds of companies at once.

The S&P 500 index is the classic example:
500 of the biggest companies in the U.S., weighted by size.

When you put €1,000 into an S&P 500 index, you aren’t choosing winners.

You’re betting on human productivity.

And productivity tends to go up.

This is exactly why long-term investors like Warren Buffett tell regular people:

“Don’t pick stocks. Just buy the S&P 500 consistently.”

And it’s also why in my personal finance newsletter I emphasize:
“Volatility isn’t risk.”

Risk is probability of permanent loss. Volatility is just the market having mood swings.

If you don’t sell during downturns, you don’t lose.

Which brings us to the one fear that holds everyone back…

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3. “What if I lose all my money?”

Here’s the truth:

If you invest in a single stock, yes — it could go to zero.

If you invest in crypto, it could go to zero.

If you invest in the 500 largest companies in the U.S., all going to zero at the same time…

…we have bigger problems than your portfolio.
(As in: societal collapse.)

Historically, the S&P 500 has been through:

• World wars

• Oil crises

• Inflation waves

• Recessions

• Market crashes

• Pandemics

• Tech bubbles

• Housing bubbles

And still, over long periods, it recovers and rises.

Why?

Because every day, millions of smart people across the biggest companies in the world are waking up, building things, selling products, delivering services, improving processes.

Value is constantly being created.

This is the single strongest argument for long-term index investing:
Human progress is the underlying engine.

That doesn’t mean you’ll never see red numbers.
You will.

But volatility ≠ danger.
Volatility = discounted prices.

(This is something I try to repeat across all my finance writing: downturns are sales, not disasters .)

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So what should a complete beginner actually do?

Here’s the cleanest, most beginner-friendly roadmap:

Step 1 — Open a reputable brokerage account.

Whatever the equivalent is in your country. I like Interactive Brokers.

Step 2 — Buy a broad index fund.

Examples:
— S&P 500
— FTSE Global All Cap
— MSCI World

Step 3 — Automate a monthly contribution.

Even €25/month is better than nothing.

Step 4 — Do not touch it.

No panic selling.
No emotional decisions.
No timing the market.

Step 5 — Focus your energy on increasing income.

Your savings rate matters more than your stock picks.

Step 6 — Hold for decades.

Let compounding do the work.

This is exactly the same long-term mindset I shared in Naval Ravikant’s principles:
— play long-term games
— with long-term people
— using long-term assets

Do this, and you’ll outperform 95% of people — without ever “trying to beat the market.”

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Final Thoughts

Investing isn’t about being smart.
It’s about being consistent.

It’s about understanding human progress, not predicting it.

Most importantly:

It’s about giving your future self a life with more freedom, not more stress.

If you want to build wealth without losing your sanity, this is the path.
Simple. Boring. Reliable.

And boring is underrated.

Because boring compounds.

Thanks for reading!

See you next Saturday
— Tobi

💡 Question: Which of these principles would you like to see me dive deeper into?