Investment debt makes sense if it is increasing your net worth. For some people they borrow to start a company and that makes them money. When my dad was a bank manager he told me if 10 companies open today that in 10 years 9 of those companies would be closed. Does this mean there is risk involved in using a business as your path to financial security? Absolutely but I still think it is worth taking a look at. In a study of millionaires in the US, 75% got there with their own business. In that survey there wasn’t a category for people who got there because of their job. If you choose to start a business, I hope you are the 1 in 10 that survives.

Investment debt should be based on good research and common sense. That is the challenge with investment debt. I have talked to countless people who took a second mortgage on their house to buy a stock on a tip that was going to set them for life. What normally happens? They have to pay for their house twice because they lost all the money on that stock.

If you are going to invest in ANYTHING you must be an expert on it if you are going to use real money. There is nothing wrong with pretending you are investing or “paper trading”. Always practice for a while with pretend money, and then dip your toe in the water. If you can’t make a profit in the pretend world then you know you’ll only get burned in the real world.

Investments are needed however? It is the wise investments that speeds up our wealth accumulation. Pick an area you are interested in. It can be real estate, stocks, bonds, gold, art, garage sales and re-selling. Just pick one and only one and learn about it over a year or so and then start small and work up. Most of today’s biggest company’s started this way.

Before you invest your money, invest your time and energy. Be smart, be wealthy.