Regardless of the negative stories and events that have recently surrounded investment decisions, it is still a great step to take and a good thing to do. When smart investment decisions are being made, your portfolio will consistently have reasons to smile.

https://images.pexels.com/photos/187041/pexels-photo-187041.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=400
[source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/graphs-display-on-an-ipad-187041/)

The fear of losing your hard-earned money is real and can be very frustrating, but people who are making smart investment decisions are happy that they do it daily. Does that eliminate the risk of losing, the answer is No, but it limits the chances of risk.

Before starting to invest especially if you are new to the game, the first thing you should do is carefully take an analysis of your financial portfolio. What's your financial capability and what's your risk tolerance level are sincere questions you must ask to channel your money onto a path of investment.


There are various channels of investment, you must choose the one you are comfortable with, bearing in mind there is a possibility that you lose all of your capital in the process, so take a back sit and reflect on whether you want to make a lot of profit within a short period (which is usually more risky) or you want to earn a consistent slow income while your capital is still intact.

While thinking of investment, it is also good to think about portfolio diversification, remember the saying about putting all your eggs in one basket, think of different available good options and diversify your funds.

https://images.pexels.com/photos/5909821/pexels-photo-5909821.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=2
[source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-spreading-money-on-the-table-5909821/)

Make sure to build your emergency fund, investments may not pay off immediately or as soon as you think they would, you cannot depend on emergency funds to sort daily bills or unexpected financial needs, and that's why an emergency fund is very necessary while you put funds into investment.

Paying off high-interest debt as quickly as possible is necessary too. Investments are usually in two ways, it is either it pay off or not, and most times you cannot exactly tell where the ball would roll to, paying off high-interest debt is very necessary.

Generally, investments can be categorized into two, they could either be classified as defensive or growth type of investment. Defensive investment is a low-risk investment plan, the goal is basically to protect your capital and keep income coming.

Growth investment, on the other hand, poses a higher risk and a higher return on investment too, it also comes with highly volatile. 

Even if you haven't carefully read every other thing I have written, the next few lines are very important as they help you understand what exactly you need to watch out for before making investment decisions.

How does the investment work, how does it generate returns and what type of returns are expected, the risk involved,  the expected charges for either holding or selling, how long are you expected to hold and receive returns, and how will this investment impact your overall portfolio? 
With these questions carefully answered, you will know if you should go on with the investment or not. If you are having trouble proceeding with investment decisions, then contact a financial expert to help you handle that area.

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