Do you need technical skills to grow your money? This simple 4 steps strategy shows that you don’t.

Since I decided to leave the corporate world, I often have these kinds of exchanges.

—  What are you going to do?
— I don’t really know but I have time. Only things that interest me. I don’t have to work for money anymore
—  How do you do that? 
— I can live on my investments in the stock market. 
— I see. But it’s not for me. 
— Why?

And then, I usually have one of these.

— I’m not good with numbers. 
— I don’t understand the market.
—  It’s too risky. 

And no wonder. School teaches us the traditional “work plus retirement” model. Our banker often tries to make it more complex to sell his products. And we as a society seek zero risk in many areas including money. 

But do we need financial competence to grow our money?

The answer is NO and Morgan Housel demonstrates this perfectly in his book “The Psychology of Money”. He reveals the story of Ronald Read and Richard Fuscone. 

Ronald Read was a janitor and gas station attendant. He worked all his life for small wages. He died at the age of 92 with a fortune of over 8 million dollars that no one knew about. His method was to invest in stocks and not touch them for decades.

On the other hand, Richard Fuscone has a lot of degrees. He was so successful in his CFO career that he quit working and became a philanthropist at the age of 40. He built himself flamboyant houses, one of them with 11 bathrooms, 2 elevators….After the crisis of 2008, he was declared bankrupt without any money.

This story shows that technical knowledge does not guarantee success with money. The most significant difference is behavioral skills like staying the course in the long run. 

My 4 steps investment strategy to reach financial independence? 

And the one that I use and that allows me today to take the time to choose what I want to do is quite simple. 

1. An exchange-traded fund (ETF). See my strategy here. 
2. A broker with the lowest possible fees. I mainly use InteractiveBrokers.
3. Spend less than I earn
4. And invest the difference systematically

And for that, you don’t need to be a financial expert. Instead, you need to work on your behavior skills. The discipline of action (saving and investing) and patience to take advantage of compound interest. 

The most important asset in my opinion is time. It’s not catchable. Building wealth offers you multiple options. Stop working for some time (mini-retirements), start a business, start a new project. It’s a unique feeling to be in control of your life and time. 

Related articles :
Can you afford not to be rich?
Financial Independence. I’m Retiring From Corporate Life At 46.
The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life by JL Collins.
Don’t try to master the market; master yourself…