The last year has been special, and it has also made many more people aware of investing in the stock market. In Norway more money has been invested into funds than what has been invested in the ten years prior combined.

Our guess is that many, especially young people are looking for more investing opportunities now than they did two years ago, and they are much more interested in investing. Through this blog we hope that we can help our readers get a good start and learn the ideas we have had to learn the hard way, by trial and error and reading for over 15 years.

We think it's a good thing that many have started investing while still being young. And it's more and more important that more people can learn to take care of a part of their own retirement portfolio and perhaps reach their goals more quickly. At least in Norway it is now expected that you have to invest more on your own to reach a better retirement. Mother State is giving more responsibility over to her young ones.

That brings us to what the best investment a young person can make. We believe firmly that it is both important to start early, but also to learn not to lose money. If you let money compound over a long time, without losing or having really bad years, the outlook will be pretty good.

So how do should you proceed with investing? We think that investing in yourself and in knowledge is perhaps the best thing you can do. Learn how to invest well in your early days and benefit for a lifetime. Avoid losing your hard earned first and second job's income due to a bad investment or two. It's not all that hard to learn about investing, and you don't need tons of IQ to do well either.

Charlie Munger would quote his idol Benjamin Franklin: "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest".

On a practical manner, if you learn to invest well early, you'll avoid many traps and get a lot richer earlier. And if you invest in yourself and in some other income generating skills that can get you a better paid job, it's also very valuable to have early on. 

Buffett was asked: “What piece of advice would you give to people who are looking to succeed in business?”

He answered: “By far the best investment you can make is an investment in yourself. For example communication skills. Many students take advanced degrees and learn complicated formulas. If they just learned to communicate better, both in writing and in person, they’d increase their value by at least 50%! If you can’t communicate, it’s like winking at a girl in the dark… nothing happens!

It’s relatively easy to learn, but it’s hugely important. And if you invest in yourself, nobody can take it away from you!”