Investing early retirement your money wisely is another important aspect of a successful early retirement strategy. The second step of your early retirement strategy is to calculate how much you will need.
You can retire faster if you invest regularly. You must invest if you want to succeed in reaching early retirement. You could get early retirement with an investment of $10 today.
By paying attention to the mechanics, you can make sure your investing decisions minimize taxes and fees. I will explain how to invest consistently and correctly.
To invest for early retirement, I used the following Some Strategy:
1. Successful Investments Require Understanding
The essential investment rule is to invest in only things you understand. Do not invest without consulting your financial advisor, friends, family, or a stranger you just met. There is a risk/reward tradeoff. Read and understand your options – invest in what you know.
After a while, it becomes clear to you that there are good investment opportunities and crappy ones.
During a recent money summit, I witnessed speakers pitch very risky investments and teach participants how to make real estate investments. Over 2,000 people were told how profitable tax liens could be by a guy on stage. Ninety percent of the audience rose and rushed to the booth to subscribe for $1000 in tax lien services.
Although some people make money from tax liens, only professionals can make money from them. It takes expertise, experience, and time for this concept to be successful despite its simplicity. Nine out of ten investors had no idea what tax liens were, but they invested immediately. When you aren’t sure what you’re doing, do not invest.
2.You shouldn’t make impulsive investments.
If you are invested in any type of investment, you should wait at least a week regardless of how much you trust those close to you. Check it out. And about No matter how good something sounds, you should never invest on the assumption that it is either too good to be true or will only be available once in a lifetime.
Whatever recommendation you get from friends or family, do your research before investing, regardless of how much you trust them.
Investing is different for every individual. You can invest in many things, from art and wines to commodities, currency and cryptocurrencies, domains to furniture to collectibles to businesses, and tons more, but most of them are risky.
The world is currently experiencing a crypto investment boom. Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum’s value have increased by over 3000% since the beginning of this year. Even luck cannot guarantee success.
Sound investing principles dictate that stocks (which represent company shares), bonds (money you are lending to another person), and real estate are the most reliable and easy investments. Only 5% of your portfolio should be in investments other than stocks, which I’m suggesting you do not do.
3. Invest in stocks, bonds, and real estate for an early retirement
Early retirement investments include stocks, bonds, and real estate.
These three pillars form the foundation of early retirement investment strategies.
Stocks / Equities:
An investment in stocks is buying shares of a company. You are literally the owner of the company. Companies can increase their stock prices when they make money, create more value, or when investors expect their value to increase. Stock prices can rise provided there are people who believe in them and demand them. In the opposite scenario, a decline in demand for the stock may cause the stock to fall.
What Are the Best Ways to Invest in Stocks?
Investing in stocks can be done in four ways:
- A company’s shares can be purchased
- You can invest in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
- Stock values will decline if you short the stock (short position)
- A long position (long stock) is a sure bet to appreciate in value
The stock market has created plenty of millionaires and billionaires, but it has also produced plenty of losers. Their investment in stocks made them more money than anything else they could have made. You can become a millionaire by sleeping on the stock market.
Individual or group stock purchases are possible. A stock market investment should not exceed 10% of your assets because stock prices fluctuate wildly over both short and long periods. In 1997, $5,000 invested in Amazon stock was worth $2.5 million.
Risks involved in investing in stocks?
You have to constantly review the risks of investing in stocks as they are investments in businesses. An energy company, Enron, saw its share price decrease from $90.56 to $0.67 during 2000. Stockholders lost seventy-four billion dollars.
There is a great deal of volatility within the entire economy, as well as the stock market. An example is the falling US stock market on October 19, 1987 (the most significant percentage loss in one day) but the rising stock market on March 15, 1933 (the biggest percentage increase iThere certainly are risks associated with investing in stocks, but as the country grows, wealth grows, and companies continue to grow in value.
According to the United States, the stock market has grown an average of 7.3% per year in the S&P 500. The stock market tends upward on a daily basis, as can be seen in the chart below, but there have always been ups and downs
2. Bonds / Fixed Income Investments
When businesses, governments, and municipalities need money, they issue bonds. Bonds are loans with a fixed rate of interest given to the issuer for a specific period. Bonds are classified as fixed-income investments because their interest rates are fixed (which means the issuer sets them), so as long as the bond issuer does not default, you can expect to earn returns.
Investing in Bonds: How Do I Do It?
Investing in bonds can be done in two ways:
- Directly buying bonds from a company or government is possible
- Through mutual funds or ETFs (exchange-traded funds), you can buy a collection of bonds.
The same as stocks, bonds can be purchased and sold, and their price depends on demand and supply. Since bonds are considered to be lower-risk investments than stocks, their interest rate is also less than stocks since it is fixed. In some cases, bond investments may even prove to be riskier than stocks. A bond’s rating depends on the risk that a company faces or the potential for defaulting on its debt.
Creditworthiness is a factor in determining an organization’s rating. Low ratings and high risk usually result in a higher fixed rate. Bond-rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s are very popular. My only recommendation is to invest in investment-grade bonds, any bonds below that are called “junk bonds.”
Buying bonds directly will not be necessary since the transaction fees can be high, and invest a lot in individual stocks as there would be too much risk involved.
Additionally, you may be able to find online mutual funds and ETFs that invest in municipal, government, or corporate bonds. N order to diversify your risks, it makes more sense to buy bonds through mutual funds or ETFs, which are collections of bonds, each of which can be sorted according to rating, type, or some other attribute. Furthermore, you may be able to find mutual funds and ETFs that invest in municipal, government, or corporate bonds online.
3. Investments in real estate
With real estate, you can reach early retirement decades earlier because it generates a constant cash flow stream (you are less likely to withdraw money from your portfolio earlier) and grows. Additionally, real estate can be accessed by a broad range of people.
Bank loans can be used to create extensive real estate portfolios or empires (bank mortgages). An investment in real estate is also possible if you work full-time and side hustle. Some real estate investors reach early retirement by investing primarily in real estate.
In addition to quitting his full-time job, he has dedicated himself full-time to the project.
Is Real Estate the Best Investment?
Real estate can be invested in three ways:
- You can invest in real estate through REITs (real estate investment trusts), which act like mutual funds and offer a way to generate regular income from real estate.
- Real estate crowdfunding platforms allow investors to invest in real estate projects.
- Purchasing real estate and living in it or renting it out
Real estate investments are intended to bring you profits when they appreciate in value. The value of the investment is determined by supply and demand, as with any investment. High demand and low supply increase the value of a product.
It is possible to make money in real estate in any of the three main ways, but I prefer the third option since it is the most lucrative because you can live off it for the rest of your life.
The first time you buy a house, you will have a lot of debt (which is a good thing). Your equity (share of the property) increases when you pay off your mortgage, and your property appreciates (value increases). When tenants occupy the property, you might be able to get them to pay off the mortgage.
For rent to cover mortgage payments, it may take some time. If, however, property values increase, you can increase the rent and make more money (or, better yet, you can invest that money in stocks, bonds, or other properties).
A lot of investors can cover their mortgages, living expenses, and investments at the same time.
In the coming years, your properties’ values will continue to rise, and your share of ownership will increase as well.
Eventually, you might even be able to pay off the mortgage, which will give you a rental income and an asset that you should appreciate in the long run. Once the property has generated a profit, you can either sell it and invest the money.
Having properties that generate cash flow (and can for life!) can reduce your requirement for retirement savings. Therefore, when you calculate retirement income, consider rental income as well. As assets, property values may also be considered in your net worth. This is amazing.
4.TO RETIRE EARLY, MANAGE YOUR INVESTMENT RISK
Suppose today you lost $5,000. Could you imagine how you would feel? How would you feel if you made $5,000? Psychologists believe that “loss aversion” explains these phenomena.
It’s twice as awful to lose money as it is to make it. We all hate to lose. Any investment can, however, lead to loss or gain.
In general, higher-risk investments can offer greater gains or losses. If you short sell (aka short sale), you might lose more than what you invested. I would not recommend short selling.
I spent nearly a whole day searching Google for words such as “best stocks” and “undervalued stocks” after I began trading stocks. I’m an intelligent individual, so I should not have any difficulty with the investing game.
As I put almost my entire portfolio into the stock that I thought would work out, my palms sweated, and to this day, I cannot remember the name of the company.
The plan did not work out as planned. I sold the $1,300 invested in the stock that I bought less than 24 hours ago after it lost $1,700 an hour left. Before. I was The next day, and for the next few days, I was. It was an emotional wreck as I struggled to come to terms with almost half of my net worth disappearing overnight.
Trading on the day should be avoided. The story of someone who makes millions each day picking the right stock is always told, but you are unlikely to make that much in one day. There is no chance for day traders to avoid loss — the vast majority lose money. Risking your life is not worth it.
I couldn’t sustain growth by day trading stocks – at least not on a daily basis. Trying to grow money quickly and investing for short-term gains is why most people lose money.
Investors can minimize risk by investing in mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Mutual Funds and ETFs
Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds invest in stocks, bonds, or a combination of stocks and bonds. Bonds and stocks can be purchased individually or through mutual funds or exchange-traded funds. A mutual fund or ETF may hold other funds.
Among them are funds that hold all stocks (i.e., total market funds), funds that are geared towards specific industries (real estate, transportation, tech, etc. ), and funds geared toward specific risk parameters (stable or aggressive).
Some funds offer both international and domestic exposure, target-date funds (where risk is adjusted in line with retirement date), and balanced funds (which invest in stocks and bonds based on an asset allocation – for instance, 60% stocks and 40% bonds).
ETFs and mutual funds can be invested either actively (when brokers buy and sell the securities) or passively (when brokerage firms largely do not manage securities). In some cases, index funds track a whole index of stocks or bonds or some specific indexes.
Differences Between Mutual Funds and ETFs
While mutual funds are valued only once a day, ETFs are continuously traded throughout the day. A lower fee may be negated, though, by ETFs’ high transaction costs.
Choose “no-load” funds when you are shopping for mutual funds or exchange-traded funds, so the company selling them will not charge you a large percentage or other fees. There are companies that charge outrageous fees for very little work. This might be surprising to you (or it might not). Make sure all your investments are load-free.
It is important to invest in mutual funds and ETFs because they offer diversification of investment risk and can spread investment risk across a variety of assets, so if one asset declines, another may rise.
ETFs (exchange-traded funds) are traded like stocks and bonds, so they should be held in a diversified investment account. For the majority of 401K, 403b, 457, and HSA accounts, you are only allowed to invest in mutual funds and ETFs rather than stocks and bonds.
It seemed interesting to me to build a risk investing scale. If you make different types of investments, your investment risk can vary considerably.
INVEST IN A DIVERSE PORTFOLIO
Early retirement risk is determined by the type and amount of investments you hold. The importance of diversification cannot be overstated since you cannot put your entire portfolio into one investment. By diversifying your investments, you reduce your risk and spread out your assets.
If stock prices drop, stocks and bonds tend to rise, and if stock prices rise, bonds tend to decline. Alternatively, you can invest in cash, which can be held in accounts that keep pace with inflation to prevent losing money. Portfolios with a greater number of stocks, historically, are riskier than ones with fewer, meaning they are more inclined to fall and rise.
5. Setting the Right Asset Allocation
A portfolio with 100% stock is, therefore, riskier than one with 60% stock and 40% bond, or 40% stock and 60% bond. Moreover, the more you own bonds in this asset allocation strategy, the lower your portfolio’s likelihood of going down in volatile markets. A rise in the stock market, however, will do little to increase your portfolio if you own a lot of bonds.
My age group was typically recommended to invest in bonds and stocks, so I personally did not find this approach effective. To reach your early retirement goal, you need to know what you’re comfortable with and how long it will take you. Stock proportions should increase as your retirement date draws nearer.
According to the Trinity Study, retiring early is most successful if you maintain a high percentage allocation to stocks and bonds. But this should also be customized according to the amount of withdrawal you expect over the next 5-10 years.
You should keep more stocks if you are retiring for a long time and have limited investment funds. The efficient frontier is one of my favorite concepts when it comes to investing. In order to achieve your optimal returns, you need to approach the efficient frontier. A balanced risk-reward strategy will maximize your rewards.
If you do not retire early in ten years or more, I recommend investing 100% in stocks. However, if you are approaching early retirement and expect that the stock market will perform poorly,
INVESTING LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM IN BALANCE
When investing for early retirement, it is important to balance short-term and long-term investments. Your investments can also help you retire early (and have work optional forever) if they perform well both short- and long-term. In order to manage risk, investments must be balanced and priorities adjusted.
6. Short Term Early Retirement Investing
In a few years, perhaps you’ll buy a house, remodel your kitchen, or go on a trip of a lifetime. For investments that won’t require your money for at least five years, less risky investments are recommended. Your investments, however, are less likely to lose money. The day before you need your money, if it’s down by 20%, it’s not worth it.
Due to its immediate availability, cash is the most common short-term investment. Inflation (which grows 2-3% per year) will make you lose money by leaving your cash in a savings account.
Regardless of what I think, people tend to hold on to too much cash, and having more cash makes them feel safer at night. It helps me sleep better at night to know that my money is earning me.
You could also consider investing in a CD (certificate of deposit), which has a guaranteed return rate of 2% or higher. Cash, however, allows you to withdraw money when you need it without being penalized.
I recommend investing in a Bond fund such as the Vanguard Total Market Index Fund for protecting your assets (and possibly beating inflation). It is estimated that 2% of the money has been returned in the last five years.
It’s possible to generate a higher return (with a bit of risk) if you invest in an index fund that invests roughly 60% in bonds and 40% in stocks. Over the last five and ten years, Wellesley has generated an average return of 6.82%.
7. Investing for long-term early retirement (horizons of 10+ years)
Investing for the long-term (30+ years) is the key to success. Paying money on autopilot can be a great way to maximize your money on your behalf. Investing for the long term will improve your chances of success. It is the most difficult for you. There are many investors who focus on getting the highest possible return today rather than thinking about the long run. In the event of a low account balance, they panic and sell.
There will be times when you’ll lose money on your investments, and there will be times when you’ll make money. Alternatively, if you stay investing in the stock market long term, your money will grow higher. I urge you not to sell if you are panicking.
Do not withdraw from your long-term investments, and keep adding money to them as frequently as possible. Increased frequency of investing and starting earlier will give you more money. Money grew and compounded faster when every cent counts.
I’ll discuss various target allocation percentages in this chapter, but most of my long-term investments go to a few companies I retain for a long time.
One of the stocks I’ll hold forever is Amazon stock, 10% of my investments are in real estate, and 100% are Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund shares (including Amazon stock),
The fund has a 0.04% yield and no load (I, therefore, do not have to pay commissions), is highly diversified (almost every US stock is included in it), and is tax-efficient (since very few stocks are traded per year).
During the past decade, the average compound return was 769%, which was higher than the market’s predicted to return. Since 2010, it has been my first investment, and I have never withdrawn money from it.
8. Tax Minimizations For Early Retirement
Investing in the future can earn you a lot of money, but taxes can significantly delay your retirement, so you should do everything you can to minimize their impact. You should follow the following steps in order to maximize your success:
- Investing involves putting money into your investments
- and when you take the money out.
By taking advantage of an early retirement tax optimization plan, you will have more money to live on today, as well as more money to invest and withdraw in the future. Your tax rate should be as low as possible – the fewer taxes you’ll pay when you invest and the fewer taxes you’ll pay when you withdraw.
Using the tax laws to your advantage means you should pay what you owe even if you don’t pay your taxes. The tax code is long and confusing, which is one of the reasons some people pay more than they should (maybe that’s why the government makes it so long and confusing?).
In order to quickly retire, you should use the right accounts for early retirement by putting your money into the right ones. In other words, you should first invest in tax-advantaged accounts and put as much money into them as possible in order to minimize your income tax. Investment accounts come in many forms, some designed for retirement planning by an employer, while others are for individual investors.
A stock investment may be made either in a tax-deferred account (where money is deposited before taxes need to be paid) or in an after-tax brokerage account. The process of setting up an investment account is usually quite simple and straightforward.
The retirement account offered by your employer mostly depends on the type of investment you can make and the number of funds you have access to. 401k accounts offered by companies do not allow you to purchase individual stocks, but brokerage and IRA accounts do.
As well as how many accounts you can contribute to simultaneously (this changes every year and is usually higher; so, make sure you check this every year).
Various types of retirement accounts
There are a number of popular account types, including:
In addition, the IRS may allow you to deduct items from your taxable income. Despite retiring in his thirties, he has mastered the art of minimizing taxes. With deductions (and an understanding of the tax code), he and his wife earned a combined $150,000 per year when he retired.
Because they made all the deductions they could for having three children, their tax bill was just 0.1% of their income.
Tax Deductions investing early retirement
In the past, I’ve had pretty low taxes, but never this low. This motivates me, even though I’m not yet a parent. The following are some of the tax deductions I cover in this book:
- Contributions to retirement accounts
- (If you own real estate) Mortgage interest deduction
- Deduction for student loan interest
- Depreciation of rental properties (if you own rental properties)
- Investment losses can be carried over to the next year (up to $3,000 per year)
- Investing in dividends that qualify
- The giving of charitable gifts
- Credit for lifelong learning
- Hundreds of other tax credits that might apply to your situation, including child tax credits
- Expenses for business
As long as any side hustles you have are related to your business, you can deduct the costs. The tax code is constantly changing. You might want to learn it or work with a friend to help you. To help you in this area, it can also be worthwhile to hire an expert tax accountant on an hourly basis. Basis.
Hiring an experienced early retirement tax accountant can save you a lot of money every year. In time, you will learn which deductions serve your needs best and perhaps even be able to prepare your taxes all by yourself. The fact that you don’t have to pay tax as much encourages you to invest more. Justin was able to retire early as a result of his additional savings.
As soon as you withdraw money to cover your monthly expenses, you will be required to pay taxes. Because you did not pay tax when you deposited the money into your tax-saving account, When you withdraw money from tax-deferred/tax-advantaged accounts or taxable accounts, the tax you pay depends on which type of account you have.
- If you have a Roth account (Roth IRA or Roth 401k), then neither your investment gains nor your principal is taxed.
- Your investment in tax-deferred accounts (401ks, 403bs, 457s, and IRAs) will be taxable depending on your income tax bracket when you withdraw your money. US income tax rates range from 10% to 39.60% at the time of this writing.
- If you hold taxable accounts (brokerage) and qualified dividends, you will be taxed at the capital gains rate (so long as you hold for at least a year.
- MINIMIZE THE FEES FOR INVESTING
A fee, like taxes, can affect how much you invest and how quickly you retire. Over there, a man is evaluating me. Upon walking into Seth’s office, I glance at my watch before sitting down in his office as he follows the hem of my suit jacket as I enter. To put it differently, the way I dress and look has some bearing on how much wealth I possess.
In his thinking, he is completely muddled. His face shows it clearly. I have an appointment with a downtown bank at 10 a.m., and I feel a bit disheveled. The black t-shirt I’m wearing is from last fall’s batch that I wore every day, so it has faded, is a little loose, and has a tiny hole at the bottom.
Having my long hair spilling out of my hair tie, the top of my head looks like a mess. As a result, my pair of white Adidas sneakers are pretty worn out, and I wear a nice vintage watch that, if he knows anything about watches, does not seem to mesh well with the rest of my ensemble.
An investment manager from one of the world’s largest banks is here on a secret mission to give me advice on investing.
Due to my recent millennial millionaire status, I am attempting to find out if I can apply anything I have learned from them.
Accounts with high fees should be avoided.
As I’ve spoken with other wealth managers, Seth could be a carbon copy. Despite being about 40 years old, he is wearing a banker blue shirt, and his hair is slicked back. In the past few months, I’ve had five meetings like this, and they all have essentially the same vibe. Based on my conversations with other wealth managers, Seth is very similar. And setting. It would be the firm handshake, the big smile, the laughter, or some asking me how the weekend went if Thursday or Friday is the day.
Seth is thrilled and immediately begins trying to convince me to invest in two actively managed funds (which he says can beat the market” with) and to purchase an annuity to ensure my income. I have tried to push him to defend his decisions, but all of his options cost a lot of money (between 2 and 4%). His gestures around the room conveyed that this is what he does for a living.
Even though Seth seems sensible, he’s a banker who makes money by defrauding people. I don’t hate bankers or money managers; an investor’s early retirement investment company is required to charge a fee. As a general rule, you pay multiple layers of fees when investing. Take a 401k plan, for example—you pay not just the company managing the 401k but also the firms handling its investment options. Then there’s your 401k. Investing and maintaining your account will also come with fees.
It’s easy to add up investment fees.
Fees affect the growth rate of your money, whether you will have any money in 5, 10, and 20 years, as well as how fast you can retire. A limited amount of money compounds because of the fees.
In spite of the fact that 0.5%-1% of your investments or $100 a month may seem small to you, this isn’t so since removing money from the compounding equation will lead to less growth and will prolong your time to walk away. If you increase your fee by just 0.1%, it will take you longer to reach your goal. Your compound investment returns over time more slowly as you get older (and as a result of fees).
If you don’t have millions to invest by the time you reach early retirement, the difference in fees will add up. In addition to fees, there are other factors to consider if you retire early.
Fees For Investing Should Be Checked
Investment accounts should be opened as soon as possible by those with accounts. Make sure you are aware of the fee charged for the management of your investment account. It is important to be well aware of all the fees you will be charged by the company holding your investments (a brokerage company), the company managing your investments (ex. mutual fund company), and by a financial manager if you hire them to manage your money.
A list of your investments should be available.
Investments should be listed in the account column, investments should be listed in the investment column, and company fees should be listed in the company fee column (if applicable).
You need to pay the investment company a percentage plus any advisor fees you have if you have one.
In this example, a small difference in fees, such as .3%-1.0%, can have a meaningful impact on your investment returns and lead to a faster path to early retirement: even a small difference makes a huge difference in your investment outcomes. Investing with a fee that exceeds 0.30% is worth reassessing since you will likely be able to find similar investments at a lower cost.
Depending on which company your employer selects to administer your 401k plan, it may be possible to reduce the fees. In case the fees are too high for your company, you should talk with human resources.
When you hire an advisor or consult with one, you can only pay by the hour. Whenever possible, it’s strongly recommended not to pay people based on their AUMs (assets under management) because these fees will cut into your investment growth and will increase over time.
To avoid such a situation, I advise investors to invest in “no-load” funds and to read the fine print. Despite the difficulty in digging up these fees, it is well worth your time. This will have an impact on when you retire early
9. Invest Constantly
It is crucial to invest consistently. If you perform it more frequently, you will earn more money. Keeping at it is the key. And it is important to start right now. Don’t wait to see if you know enough about investing if you’re sitting on the sidelines.
An early start outweighs a later investment that will provide the perfect return. Market timing is impossible if you sit on the sidelines. I am unable to accomplish this. For experts, it isn’t possible.
As the problem worsens with each day that passes, even a small delay adds up. Today is the day to get started. It isn’t necessary to know everything about investing. There will be a short learning curve, and you’ll pick it up as you go. Errors are unavoidable in your life. Each of us does. Your learning will come from them.
Automate your investment process
It is possible to start quickly through automation. Make it a point to invest as much as possible automatically, but also monitor your results regularly. It’s easy to automate your investments. Many companies that manage 401k, IRA, and other investment accounts allow you to invest in mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and bonds automatically on a set schedule.
Having a large amount of money is very different from saving enough. You might think you are saving enough because you are saving consistently and you are automating your finances, but in reality, you are not. Automation still does not make early retirement possible, even with its benefits. In other Due to the fact that you are automating your finances and saving consistently, you might think you are saving enough. A large amount of money is very different from saving enough.
Everybody gets busy sometimes. We all have different days. It is inevitable that priorities will change. When it comes to investment management, you must combine automated and manual processes to get the greatest returns. Investing using an automated approach and a manual approach looks like this:
1. Boost your investment/savings rate as much as you can.
2. Make sure you invest all the side-hustle and bonus money as quickly as you can.
Your 401k contribution might automatically contribute 10% of your salary. So, do your best. It is not your responsibility to contribute that 10%. We encourage you to increase your contribution rate as much as possible during the next 30 to 90 days. The answer is yes.
10.To Reach Early Retirement, Keep Investing
Some months are easier than others. Be the best you can be. Manually pushing is the most cost-effective option. Make sure you invest as much money as possible from your raise. Invest $60 in watching your neighbor’s cat. Using your phone, you can do this within minutes.
Conclusion
Early retirement investments can be made in many ways. You can contribute to a 401k through your employer, which is the easiest and most straightforward method. For self-employed individuals or those without access to 401ks but wishing to take advantage of tax-deferred growth, IRAs are available.
Investing with friends can also be a great way to share the risk and reward – though it’s not easy (or cheap) it does give each investor greater control over their portfolio without putting them at risk.