(This is Day 2 of the 4 day Nurses Investing For Wealth Rev Your Riches Challenge™. Nurses & APRNs inside this challenge should have completed my in-depth–FREE–training first. If you haven’t done it yet, go here and start.)

Deciphering Investment Word Salad–End Confusing Financial Jargon Holding Nurses & APRNs Back From Making Extra Money Online Through Investing

People will tell you investing is hard and that nurses and APRNs are at a disadvantage because they weren’t taught this in school. They say it’s risky for nurses to go online and take control of their own investing.

But that’s wrong because as a nurse you have all the skills required to be in control of your investing– all you need is to demystify some financial jargon and concepts. 

Nurse Money Tip– Demystify Investment Word Salad

In video 1 of the Nurses Rev Your Riches Challenge™ you found the names of your investments. Now you want to know what this actually means. 

Specifically, you want to know if your investments are made up of 

• Stocks 
• Bonds 
• Cash 
• Some combination
• Something else – real estate or cryptocurrency for example.

In this video I walk you through how to interpret the financial jargon and where to look to find this information. 

Step 1: Look In The Title

To learn the type of investments you have, start by looking at the investment name. Many investments say right in the title if they are stocks or bonds.

Example) Vanguard Total Stock Index Fund (Ticker: VTI). The name of this fund tells us automatically that it’s a stock.

There’s more than 1 way to say the same thing in the financial industry–no doubt you've already noticed the ubiquitous use of financial jargon? To help you decipher your investments, I created this key for you. 

Investment Deciphering Key

Stock = Equities = Shares

Bond = Securities

Target Date Fund = Target Retirement Fund = an investment fund that holds a combination of stocks and bonds. 

Money Market = Settlement Fund = Cash = NOT really an investment

_{⬇️ Save this & Share it to help another nurse! ⬇️}

_{Img: Investment Deciphering Key © Nurses Investing For Wealth}

Step 2: Where To Look When Investment Title Doesn’t Specify Stock or Bond

When your fund name does not specify if it’s a stock or bond, you have to research further. This happens commonly for investments that contain both stocks and bonds. Target Date Funds are a good example.

When you find an investment name that doesn’t specify whether it’s a stock or bond, click into the investment to research it further. 

Here is a cheat sheet of some words or categories that you should look for to help you find the investments that the fund is holding inside.

• Holdings
• Portfolio composition
• Portfolio allocation to underlying funds
• Portfolio allocation
• Allocation
• Asset Class

Example: Vanguard Target Date Retirement Fund

_{Img: Target Date Fund Interpretation} 

In RED you see the investment name.

In BLUE you see the investment (stocks and bond) names.

In GREEN you see the percentage distribution (allocation) to each investment. 

In PURPLE you see an example of how this distribution would look if you had $100 invested in this fund.

This example is from Vanguard. Other brokerages will show similar information, but the way they show it and words they use will be different. 

_{⚠️Warning: It’s easy to get lost when looking inside your investments. There’s a lot of information in there.  Keep it simple. Right now, all you want to know is if you are invested in stocks, bonds, cash, or something else. Forget about everything else you see right now.}

Nurse Money Tip–Calculate Your Percent Stocks Vs. Bonds

Try to estimate what percentage of your money you have invested in stocks vs. bonds vs. cash, vs. other.  This requires a little math–don't panic though! There's an easier way to do it using a tool I have. 

I want you to see how this calculation is completed. Give it a try with your own accounts. If it gets too confusing, put it out of your mind. 

To calculate your stock percent, divide [total money in stocks] by [total money invested]. Same for bonds.

For example, say you found 2 investments– 1 stock and 1 bond investment. You have $100 invested. 

You have $90 in stock = 90% of your portfolio allocation.  You have $10 in bond =10% of your investments. 

Stocks = $90/$100 x 100 = 90%

Bonds = $10/$100 x 100 = 10%

🪄 Voila! You have your 90/10 portfolio allocation – 90% stock investments and 10% bond investments.

 

🌟 Tip 🌟 Don't stress about complex calculations!

I've got you covered! Over a decade of self-investment experience, I developed a tool, the Nurses Investing For Wealth Portfolio Allocation Rebalancer, that automates these calculations. I use it regularly and share it with nurses inside my program, eliminating the math and confusion and making calculating your percentages a breeze. No more manual calculations – this tool takes care of it all! 

Example: Portfolio Allocation Calculation Inside Target Date Fund

_{Img: Target Date Fund Portfolio Allocation}

In BLUE calculating BOND portfolio allocation. Do that by adding the two bond totals together. 

In ORANGE calculating STOCK portfolio allocation. Do that by adding the two stock totals together. 

Seriously, do not stress about these calculations. Take a look at them. Notice that they are complicated. Give it a go with your own accounts & investments, and meet me back in the next video. 

Homework

1. Take out your Video 1 homework.
2. Review your list and determine if the investments you own are stocks or bonds. 
3. Approximately what percentage of your portfolio is in stocks? 
4. Approximately what percentage of your portfolio is in bonds?
5. Post your homework in the FB group or in the comments just below. That’s how you get direct access to me and get your questions answered during the challenge!  

Do your best and remember there are tools that make this math calculation easy. Don’t sweat it!

Conclusion

Now you’re going to want to know: 'What do these percentages have to do with anything?' 

The short answer is risk! And when you understand that, then you see how to make extra money online as a nurse investor–SAFELY.  

That’s what I’m going to talk to you about in the next video, Rev Your Riches Video #3: Isn’t This All Too Risky? Take The Anxiety Out Of Investing Right Now Using This One Simple Tool.

See you there!

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Are you new here? The best place to start is here in my free 2 hour training.