I have been able to turn my hobby as an investor into a business. Since the term investing is so broad I’ll explain. I invest in businesses, real estate and stocks. My ultimate goal is to help others be more financially independent.
People are living longer and they are working much longer as well. Many people can not afford to retire and are a few checks away from a disaster. In the age of social media, people have become dependent on sources like go fund me to help them get out of financial crisis.
What I have essentially done as a business is to give free information and advice to people that have always wanted to invest. I actually show them what I do and have done through the platform of my podcast and blog. I use the platform for the blog and podcast to generate money through paid advertisements to give free, needed information.
I realize that there are financial planners that do this for a living and generate decent salaries by taking percentages of money their clients invested. I simply want to see this new generation of people learn all of the things that I wish I had learned growing up.
No one ever taught me about stocks. I learned about bonds through my mother. I knew what they were and watched her purchase them in the name of my sister and I Unfortunately, my mother was never able to let the bonds to mature. She consistently had to cash them in. As a single parent with two children in private school, things weren’t always easy on her financially.
Growing up, my mother was a huge motivating factor in my desires to be financially independent and wealthy. I learned about stocks while I was in high school after being accepted into a business program at USC (University of Southern California). I received a stipend to attend for the summer. It was an eye opening experience, but at the time I didn’t have a connection to money; so the thought of making investments in stocks seemed to be far fetched.
Some think financial advisors are for the rich and famous. While I am neither of those, not rich or famous; I have learned to supplement my income and maintain a consistent savings.
Two years ago, I had to fight for my job. In the interim, I used my savings to pay my bills, mortgage, car note, child’s private school tuition and live. It became relevant to me that what I was able to do for myself, I could do to significantly help others.
When I turned 17, I began working a real job. One that afforded me my own benefits, tuition reimbursement and an employer matched 401k. I was finally able to take investing seriously. My first investment was a single family home. After profiting 6 figure net profit in 2000, other investments followed after.
Investing became a hobby. It was like playing Monopoly in real life. After speaking on many panels and getting a better understanding of people outside of my immediate circle, I learned that people do have an interest in investing, but many of them think that they can’t afford to.
I started my blog at www.marlonicole.com and my podcast at anchor.fm/marlonicole hoping to inspire, teach and motivate others to become financial free. Having a hobby that truly helps others has been a fun and rewarding lesson.
