You may live for the thrill of investing and enjoy seeing your money in your portfolio grow. You may also weather any stock market downturn with resilience, confident that what goes down must go up. However, what do you do when your spouse is less than interested or even fearful of investing in the stock market? Depending on your partner’s personality, there are several ways you can help convince your spouse to invest in stocks.
Talk about the Rate of Inflation
The stock market can be intimidating for many people. Some would prefer to just put their money in a savings account because they feel confident they won’t lose money as they might in the stock market. While it is true they won’t see the money disappear from the account, they will lose money through inflation.
Perhaps run a scenario with your spouse. Let’s say you put $40,000 in the bank in 1990. By 2020, if you hadn’t touched it, you would still have $40,000 in the bank, no more no less (plus the negligible amount of interest you may have earned.) However, you’ve actually lost money, because in 1990, the buying power of $40,000 was $40,000. Today, to have the same amount of buying power as in 1990 for $40,000, you’d need $79,296!
Diversify Your Portfolio
Investing only in stocks might not be the smartest move, depending on your age and level of investing knowledge. If your spouse is nervous about investing in the stock market, make sure that your portfolio is diverse. Sure, have some individual stocks that you invest in, but also have safer investments like bonds and mutual funds or even real estate.
Consider Meeting with a Financial Planner
If the idea of investing is a touchy one for your spouse, perhaps it’s better if you don’t have the conversation. Instead, consider meeting with a neutral party like a financial advisor. A financial advisor can advise your partner of the risks as well as the rewards of investing in stocks.
Your partner might feel safer trusting an experienced financial planner to invest in stocks rather than having you do the investing. If you’re most interested in investing in stocks to grow your portfolio, this might be the best way to go.
Practice Investing
Your spouse might be worried about investing in stocks simply because he or she doesn’t know much about the process. To make your spouse feel more at ease, consider playing stock games. This is also helpful for understanding more advanced concepts like short squeezes, market capitalization and price to earning ratio.
You could each invest and gain more experience. This will also help your spouse understand the risks and rewards of investing.
Final Thoughts
Investing in the stock market can be intimidating, especially if you’re investing a large amount of money or investing for your retirement. The best thing you can do is be patient with your spouse. Then, use some of these strategies to help convince your spouse to invest in stocks and feel more at ease with the investing process.
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Melissa Batai
Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her reading a good book, cooking, or traveling. She resides in New York where she loves the natural beauty of the area.
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