I am virtually 50, and have no 401(okay) or something. I have gone by means of a really unhealthy time over the previous couple of years and lost all the pieces. My solely debt is a $300-a-month automobile fee at 4% curiosity.

What ought to I do with this cash?

I’m feeling the FOMO with the inventory and crypto markets roaring. My cash is simply sitting in the financial institution — in the meantime, if solely I had put $1,000 right here or there, wow, I would have made nice returns! At the identical time, I don’t need to be one of those that jumps in at the peak simply earlier than markets begin “correcting,” and it’s a race downhill for my investments.

I’m too old to sit and hope I can make up for the lost time by safely investing my little bit of cash, and getting 5% returns on it for the subsequent 15 years.

Thank you for any assist.

Broke Bob

You can e mail The Moneyist with any monetary and moral questions associated to coronavirus at qfottrell@marketwatch.com, and comply with Quentin Fottrell on Twitter.

Dear Bob,

If solely we knew.

If solely we knew bitcoin
BTCUSD,
+3.81%
 was going to be the crypto forex. If solely we knew Elon Musk, founder of Tesla
TSLA,
+0.58%,
would speak up dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
+3.39%.
If solely we knew ethereum
ETHUSD,
+2.18%
 could be the shock hit of the season. If solely. We’d all be wealthy past our wildest goals, questioning why we hassle with training or work.

Actually, if all of us knew, most of us could be sitting on losses, licking our chops, questioning the place all of it went fallacious.

Remember the housing bubble earlier than the Great Recession? I recall taxi drivers in Dublin speaking about their vacation residence in Bulgaria. Well, that didn’t end up so effectively, till issues obtained higher. Eventually. I’m not saying these two issues are comparable, however I am saying it’s a harmful recreation to look again at lottery jackpots and surprise how life could be completely different if we solely knew these 5 numbers in the Powerball. It’s misleading, isn’t it? Five numbers. It all appears really easy, after the truth.

Invest all the pieces you have in case you can afford to lose all the pieces you have. Invest solely what you can stay with out. There are not any ensures with crypto or the inventory market, though the latter has proven to yield long-term returns over time, save for these bumps in the road alongside the approach. Here’s what Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey mentioned Thursday about investing in crypto: “I’m going to say this very bluntly again — buy them only if you are prepared to lose all your money.”

Those caveats apart, I have some normal ideas. They’re not terribly thrilling, so take a shot of caffeine. Still, they bear repeating.

Diversify your investments. But most significantly, keep true to your personal danger tolerance and your personal values. Seek out high-quality dividend development shares. Put some of your spare money in the inventory market. Dabble in crypto in case you like, however once more at your personal peril. The identical is true of the inventory market. There are not any assured get-rich-quick schemes.

As for crypto: It’s all the rage at present, whereas extra conventional commodities like gold have had a rockier time. Crypto behaves like a commodity and, in the loosest sense that you just can use it to purchase stuff, it’s also a forex although it doesn’t act like one. It can also be occupies the regulatory Wild West. It’s not a very good place to retailer your money as a result of of its extraordinarily volatility — and, as we’ve seen with Musk’s touting of dogecoin, it’s even influenced by the vagaries of movie star.

The most beneficial commodity all of us have proper now, as you recommend, is time. And you might be utilizing yours take inventory of your life and take care of your sick father. You won’t ever get again that time with him. You have gone again to faculty and determined to put money into your self by furthering your training. That is one thing nobody can take away from you. No stock-market rally or cryptocurrency bounce can change that.

Take a bow, my pal. You made the greatest funding of all.

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