How To Spend Money ($500) Smartly This Holiday Season?

How to spend money, say $500? What can you do with the money this holiday season?

• $500 can buy a new Apple Watch 5
• It can buy 1 Apple stock and 1 Facebook stock
• $500 can be invested in DiversyFund’s Growth REIT

How to spend money, according to you?

Did you just get a holiday bonus from your employer? A gift from a loved one? Or you just have some spare cash you saved up? Every time I have some extra disposable cash, the first thing that comes to my mind is to head straight to Amazon or Best Buy to buy latest tech and shiny new gadgets, but the question I recently started asking myself is – how to spend money? the right way!

I always plan my money and investments meticulously, but there is something about the holiday season that pushes me to spend freely if I can put it that way.

Case in point -1

Two years ago, I got a new Mac. I had been using the previous one for about 4 years, and even though it worked perfectly, I sold that and got a newer device. The reason that I chose to sell it at that time was that I was getting a good price while it was working perfectly. Combine that with a special coupon that Best Buy had sent to me, the ‘upgrade’ didn’t cost me much that way.

Case in Point – 2

Last year I chose to make my home a smart home by getting some voice-controlled assistants, some smart devices, and some smart plugs. I hooked up all lights, TV, and small appliances in my house to the smart devices. Since then I never have to worry about leaving my lights or TV on when I’m not at home (I can control them via the mobile app too). When I come home, it’s a simple command – “Alexa, switch on living room lights” and voila the room is well lit.

I love the convenience of not having to get up and switch off the bedroom lights when I’m already comfy in my bed.

You get the idea.

Case in point – 3

Earlier this year when I had some extra cash, I ended up buying a 44mm Apple Watch 5. It’s a cool gadget and has a decent battery life, but the $500+ price tag wasn’t easy to digest. Well, it was an impulse purchase!

Redemption?

To overcome my guilt of buying an Apple Watch 5, I decided to put a greater or equal amount of money into some sort of investment. That is when I realized that the minimum investment requirement for the Growth REIT fund at DiversyFund is just $500. Co-incidence?

What is a REIT?

In its simplest definition, A Real Estate Investment Trust, also known as a REIT, is a company that owns and operates income-generating real estate assets. Individuals invest in the REIT and the REIT will use that capital for the purchase of properties.

Diversyfund.com

I remember that when I first made my investment in the growth REIT at DiversyFund, the minimum was $2500. Lowering the threshold to $500 is a welcome step. It allows more people to benefit from investing in real estate. With the stock market going crazy in 2018, especially toward the end, I diversified my portfolio by investing in real estate.

Investments always involve risk. Returns are never a guaranteed thing. But, the DiversyFund Growth REIT in which I’ve invested has a sponsor record of over 17% returns. There is a lock-in period of the investment, but since I invest for long term, this doesn’t bother me much.

written Dec 2019, updated June 2020

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