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00:00As someone who has been investing for eight years, if I was starting from scratch today,
00:04no investments, no portfolio, just a blank slate, here's exactly how I'd do it. I have made my fair
00:10share of rookie mistakes when I first started. And if I could go back, I would do some things
00:15very, very differently. So in this video, I wanted to walk you through the seven key steps
00:20I would take if I was starting to invest from scratch today. By the end of this video,
00:25you'll know exactly how to A, build unshakable confidence as a new investor, B, avoid the
00:32traps that trip up most beginners, and C, have set yourself up for real financial freedom starting
00:37right now. And by the way, if investing is your main priority in 2026, I'm hosting my second
00:43completely free live workshop in less than a few weeks, teaching you everything from how to invest,
00:49what to invest in, in even more detail than I'm going to go through in the next 15 minutes.
00:53It's completely free. You can sign up at nisha.me forward slash invest, or click the link in the
00:58description to sign up before the doors close. So starting with step one, and that is get your
01:03financial house in order. Here's a stat that might surprise you. Nearly 40% of adults can't cover a
01:09$400 emergency without borrowing money. And this is the kind of thing that makes investors fail before
01:16they've even started. Because if your car breaks down, or your boiler explodes, or life just happens,
01:21and you don't have cash set aside, you'll be forced to pull money out of your investments
01:26at potentially the worst possible time. That's why if I was starting from scratch today, I wouldn't
01:32open up an investment account or buy any stocks until I got the basics right. It's so easy when
01:37you start investing to make the classic mistake of thinking you could skip this step, especially when
01:42you have people around you who are well on their way to making six figure or having six figure
01:47portfolios, or you see loads of YouTube videos with other people in their portfolios, which are
01:52six or seven figures. And sometimes it makes you feel like you're so desperate to catch up with these
01:58other people that you start throwing as much money as you can into the stock market, not just from your
02:02income, but from your savings too. And then you end up buying stocks with money you can't really
02:06afford to lose. And when you do that, if you don't really know what you're doing, and the market dips,
02:11is so easy to panic, sell too early, lose confidence, and then being at a worse place
02:17than you were to start with. So if I was investing for the first time, knowing what I know now,
02:22there
02:22are three things I would make sure before I even start investing. Number one, I'll clear any high
02:27interest debt like credit cards, store cards, personal loans, because investing in the stock market when
02:32you have expensive debts, it's like filling a hot water bottle with a hole in it. The water is your
02:37money, the hot water bottle is your investment account, and that hole is your debts. Credit cards
02:42will often have interest rates of between 20 to 40%. Sometimes it can even be higher than that.
02:48Over the past 100 years though, the average stock market return has been around 8 to 10% annually,
02:54based on the S&P 500 market index. You probably see where I'm going with this. You keep investing more
02:59and more money, but at the same time, you're losing money faster than your investments can grow and
03:04getting burned in the process. You always want to clear off your high interest rate debt before you
03:10start to invest. You will be financially better off by doing so. Number two, I'd build an emergency fund.
03:15You want at least three to six months of essential expenses, any high interest or high yield savings
03:20account that's easy to access. If you really are so keen to start investing straight away, this might
03:25not be the thing you want to hear, but it is an essential step on your road to financial freedom
03:30because it'll help you sleep soundly at night and make better decisions when you're finally ready
03:35to start investing. And then number three, I'll make sure my income and spending are stable. That
03:40means just knowing exactly how much I can invest every month without putting myself under pressure.
03:45Because the thing is, when your basic financial needs are covered, you can actually stay calm during
03:49market dips because you don't have this urge to sell. You can ride out any chaos and you could just
03:54let time do the heavy lifting for your investments. So if you are at a stage where you're paying off
03:59debt
04:00that emergency buffer, don't see it as delaying your investing journey. Just see it as level one
04:05of your wealth building plan. Because once your financial house is in order, you'll be ready to
04:10start investing with confidence and actually stay invested long enough to see real results.
04:15Step two, that is define your goals and time horizon. Less than a third of investors have any specific
04:22long-term goals in mind when investing, according to a survey of 1,000 investors done by the FCA.
04:28And honestly, that doesn't really surprise me. A lot of people start investing because they've just
04:32heard it is the smart thing or the right thing to do, but they never really step back to think
04:37about
04:37what they're investing for. They might open an investing app, they might pick a few random funds,
04:42maybe a trending stock or two, and they just hope for the best. Then if the market dips,
04:46they hear rumors of a crash on the news, or they need money for a short-term expense, they sell.
04:51So if I was starting from scratch today, the first question I would ask myself is,
04:55what am I actually investing for? Is it to retire early? Is it to help me buy my dream home?
05:01Is it
05:02to travel the world? Because your goals will dictate everything from the type of account you use,
05:08the amount of risk you take, and how you handle the inevitable ups and downs along the way.
05:13I've got an upcoming video on what to invest in depending on your life goals, because different
05:18assets are better depending on how long you're investing for. That is coming up in one of the
05:22upcoming weeks. So make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it. When it comes to what you
05:26should be saving in cash and what to invest, so first consider your short-term goals. If you need
05:30the money within the next five years, say for a house deposit or another big life event, keep that
05:36money in cash. Investments tend to outperform savings in the long term, but in the short term,
05:41it can be a bumpy ride. Next, you've got your medium to long-term goals, which I consider to be
05:46five years plus away. With those goals, invest it. Because the longer your money stays invested,
05:51the more the short-term fluctuations in the stock market even out and the higher your chances of
05:57building real wealth. So for example, we can see how much better an investment in global shares
06:01will have performed than cash since 2000 in this graph here. There's been a huge difference in
06:07performance over the last five years alone. Between 30th April 2020 to 2025, 2,666 invested in global
06:15shares grew to 4,926, while 1,508 in cash grew to just 1,714 over the same period. That
06:25is why you
06:26want to keep your long-term savings in investments. By the way, we're going to cover how to invest in
06:32the rest of the video, but there is so much more to it that takes far longer than 15 minutes.
06:36So if you want to take this even further, I'm hosting a completely free live workshop on 11th of
06:42January, 2026. I held this workshop in November and over 35,000 people registered. And we asked
06:49people to fill in a survey afterwards where 96% of people said they felt so much more confident about
06:55what to invest in and how to invest and actually took action after this workshop. So I'm hosting it
07:01again completely for free. You can sign up at nisha.me forward slash invest. I'll walk you through how to
07:07invest and how to choose what to invest in, how to accelerate your investment returns over time,
07:12the single biggest mistake you investors make and how to avoid it, and also how to calculate what you
07:18need to eventually live off your investments. Again, it's 100% free. You can sign up at
07:23nisha.me forward slash invest anytime before the doors close. Now let's get to step three, and that is
07:31choosing an investment account. This is where most people get stuck. There are so many types of
07:36investment accounts that it is so easy to fall into analysis paralysis here. You start researching
07:42one, and then another, and then another, and then before you know it, you've done hours of scrolling,
07:46but you haven't actually opened up anything. And I can see why this happens because from the outside,
07:52investing seems really, really complicated and like something you might even need a degree in.
07:57But in reality, once you've laid your financial foundations and you're clear on your goals,
08:01the next step is surprisingly simple, and that is open investment account and put money in it.
08:07That's it. You don't need a finance degree. You don't need a job in the stock market. You just need
08:11to take that very first small step and suddenly you're 90% there of becoming an investor. The best
08:17part is you can literally do this in minutes entirely from your phone. So which investment
08:22account should you go for? The answer, and I know you won't like this answer, but it depends on your
08:26goals
08:26and where you live. And here's what I'd do if I was starting from scratch this year. So first,
08:32if I was employed, I'd make the most of my workplace pension. Exactly how they work depends
08:36on your country, where you live and the company that you work for. But usually you'll find that
08:40your employer will contribute too, and you'll get some sort of tax advantage. If your company's also
08:46contributing, you absolutely must utilize that. The downside, of course, is that you usually won't be
08:51able to access your money until retirement. So if you need that money sooner than anything
08:56after the match might not be the right option for you. If you're self-employed, look for a private
09:01retirement account. With this, you'll still be able to save for retirement in a tax-efficient way,
09:06but the difference is you won't have help from an employer. Then I'd open a tax-free or a tax
09:11-advantaged
09:12investment account. Normally, when you invest and make money, say through dividends, interest,
09:17or selling something for a profit, you have to pay tax on those gains. But when you invest through a
09:23tax-advantaged account, all of that growth stays as yours. You don't have to pay any tax on the
09:29profits, which can make a huge difference over time. Exactly how these accounts work will vary
09:35depending on where you live. In the UK, this is called a stocks and shares ISA. In Canada,
09:39they have a similar option called a tax-free savings account, which is a TFSA. And if you're
09:44based somewhere else, it's worth checking whether your country has a version of this because
09:48getting those tax benefits can really accelerate your long-term returns. Then step four, start small,
09:54but be consistent. Here's something that people always get really surprised at. If you invest just
10:00100 a month and earn an average annual rate of return of 8% to 10% a year, I
10:04say average because
10:05that is what the historical rate of return has been, looking at the S&P 500 for a 10 to
10:1020-year
10:10timeline, you will have more than $140,000 after 30 years. And you will have only contributed $36,000
10:18yourself. The rest of the money will be basically profit. That is all down to compound interest,
10:24which is basically when your investments start earning returns. And then those returns start
10:29earning their own returns. And over time, it creates this snowball effect where your money begins
10:33growing faster and faster without you lifting a finger. So to show you what that actually looks like,
10:38you can watch this video right here, which goes into a lot more detail on compounding.
10:42But to give you an overview, if you invest 100 and it grows by 8% in the first year,
10:46you'll end up with 108, meaning you've earned 8 in interest. In the second year, 108 grows by another
10:528%, which gives you 116.64. Your money keeps working for you without adding anything new. Repeat that
10:59process year after year. And it's amazing how quickly your wealth can snowball. The thing is,
11:04most people never get that far because they're scared of getting things wrong.
11:07In a survey from Barclays, 44% of respondents said a lack of knowledge was the main factor stopping
11:14them from investing. And 41% said they were scared of losing money. If you feel the same way,
11:21I understand why. If you've never invested before, the stock market can seem really technical and
11:25really intimidating. But if you start small and you're consistent, and most importantly, you follow
11:31the next tip, you're very unlikely to actually lose money over the long run. And that leads me
11:36to step five, which is diversification. So let's imagine one of your New Year's resolutions is to
11:43eat a more balanced diet. You wouldn't then fill your plate with just pasta or just salad or nothing
11:49but chicken. You'd mix it up a bit. So you're full, you have lots of energy, you get all the
11:54right
11:54nutrients. If you only eat one type of food, you might start feeling a bit sluggish or a bit unstable
12:00and you'll struggle to meet those health and fitness goals. Investing works in a pretty similar
12:05way. If your entire portfolio is made up of just one type of investment, say tech stocks or crypto,
12:11it might look exciting, but it's not exactly balanced. And when that one industry or that one
12:17company takes a hit, it throws everything off course. That's where diversification comes in.
12:24It's the financial equivalent of having a balanced plate. You want a mix of investments that work
12:29together. So if one performs badly, the others can help keep things stable. So if I was starting
12:36from scratch today, I'd keep it very, very simple. Rather than trying to guess which companies would
12:40perform best, I would invest in index funds. This is simply a collection of investments that track
12:47the performance of a whole market like the S&P 500, which includes 500 of the biggest companies
12:53in the US. So instead of betting on one company doing well, you're automatically investing in all
12:59of them all at once. And the great thing about index funds is that they make it really easy to
13:05diversify your portfolio in a cost-effective way. With one simple investment, you can get exposure to
13:11hundreds or even thousands of companies across different sectors like technology, healthcare,
13:16finance, energy, and more. That way, your returns aren't tied to the fate of a single stock or a
13:22single industry. You never really know which part of your portfolio will do best, but by holding a mix
13:27of assets, you don't really need to. The winners offset the losers. And over time, that balance helps
13:32you grow steadily without lying awake at night wondering whether you're going to lose all your
13:36money. Step six, automate and simplify everything. Apparently, the secret to great investing is doing
13:42nothing. Fidelity once found that their best performing funds were the people who'd either
13:48forgotten that they had an account or they had passed away. And that's the funny thing about
13:53investing. The people who check their portfolios the least often tend to make the most amount of
13:59money. Now, I'm not saying you should forget about your investments and completely forget that they
14:02exist, but it goes to show that the less you tinker, the better you'll usually do. So if I was
14:08starting
14:08from scratch today, I would automate as much as possible. What does that mean? That means setting
14:14up a monthly transfer from my bank straight to my investment account, ideally straight after payday
14:19before the money has a chance to get spent on anything else. This does two things. First, it makes
14:24investing consistent. You're not relying on willpower or timing. It just happens automatically. And second,
14:30it protects you from your emotions. When the markets drop, you don't have to decide whether to keep
14:36investing. The system does it for you. So think of it this way. When you automate your investing and you
14:42avoid all the doubt and the fear that comes with investing, you won't waste time thinking, oh, is now a
14:47good time to buy? Or maybe I should wait until after the next election. Instead, you'll be investing
14:52without having to think about it. You'll be able to get on with your life while your portfolio continues
14:58to grow in the background. Many platforms let you set up a regular investment plan into your chosen fund
15:03each month so you don't have to log in and overthink it and accidentally talk yourself out of doing
15:07anything. In fact, some of these investment platforms are linked in the description below
15:11with these simplicity wins in the long run. Some of the best investors don't spend their days
15:17analyzing charts or watching market news. They spend their time just not really thinking about it
15:22because the goal isn't to outsmart the market. It's to build a system that keeps you investing no
15:28matter what the market's doing. And the beauty of automation is that it lets you do exactly that
15:33consistently, quietly, without any of the stress. And step seven, I would learn to stay calm when the
15:40market drops. The stock market has crashed 19 times in the past 150 years and every single time it's
15:48recovered and gone on to reach new highs. The problem is that when it happens to you, it never really
15:56feels like that. You're not going to think about this bigger picture. You're just going to watch your
16:00balance drop and wonder if you've just made a huge mistake. This chart right here is from Morningstar
16:06and it maps out more than a century of stock market history. The Great Depression, the dot-com bubble,
16:12the global financial crisis, even the COVID crash. Some of these declines wiped out more than half the
16:19market's value. But what's incredible is what happens after each one. The market always bounces
16:26back, often higher than ever before. It took 18 months for the market to recover from the 2021
16:32downturn. The COVID crash took just four months. That's the fastest recovery in history that it
16:39probably felt like a lifetime for new investors when they were in it. Even after the Great Depression,
16:45the worst crash ever recorded, investors who stuck with it eventually saw their portfolio recover and
16:52grow many times over. When you zoom out and you look at this chart, those terrifying red dips,
16:59they start to look like just tiny speed bumps on a long climb upwards. When you're in the moment
17:05and you're staring at a sea of red on your phone or laptop, you go into crisis mode. And when
17:12I first
17:12started investing, I used to panic every single time the market stopped. I thought I made a huge
17:17mistake just by investing. But what I learned is that the market rewards patience, not panic. And
17:23this is exactly why everything we've talked about so far matters so much. Like having an emergency fund,
17:28setting your clear goals, consistently investing, having a diversified portfolio. Those steps that we
17:33spoke about first, they give you the confidence to stay invested when everyone else is losing theirs.
17:39So if I was starting from scratch today, that is exactly how I'd do it. I'd get my financial foundation
17:46in place, I'd define my goals, I'd pick the right account, I'd start small, I'd diversify my investments,
17:52automate the process, and most importantly, I would learn to stay calm when things get messy. Because you
17:57don't need a six-figure salary or a finance degree to invest. It is in fact the type of thing
18:02you learn
18:02while doing it. You probably will make some mistakes along the way, but as long as you stay invested,
18:08you keep learning, and you focus on the long term, those mistakes won't define your results.
18:14If you found this video helpful, you will definitely enjoy an upcoming video that I have on the different
18:19asset classes and how they all work to define your perfect investment mix. Make sure you're
18:24subscribed so you don't miss it and feel free to share this with anyone else who's been thinking
18:28about starting their resting journey too. And always, thank you so much for watching and I hope to see
18:33you next week.
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