A hands-on case study.

Recently I saw in my local newspaper a HEADLINE about how a known financial advisor was helping people to make money.

He said that he could turn $200 into half a million!

Of course, I was intrigued.

I want half a million! I had to learn more.

I clicked on the link, and OF COURSE — he didn’t tell the whole story. He didn’t give away his secrets, he was just trying to sell his services, without giving anything away… Grrr, I hate it when people do that.

— so I decided to do a little research.

The first thing I discovered

Even though he was advertising his method as “very successful”, he could of course not give a guarantee for turning 200 dollars into half a million dollars. Right.

So, we’re going to be investing (of course, what else?).

He said that we should remember that investing always involves risk and results will vary depending on market conditions and individual decisions…blablah. As usual. I get it.

Anyway, let’s dive into it anyway, because whether or not it’s going to work, I was still curious about this “secret strategy to grow my money”.

Step 1: Research and Education

Take the time to delve into different investment options. Read books, take online courses, and research financial markets and strategies.

Makes sense. I’m not going to put my money into something that I don’t understand.

So, I started watching YouTube videos (not reading books, that takes way too long — I want to get started NOW!)

Step 2: Start with an Investment Account

Open an investment account with a reliable broker. Choose a broker that suits your financial goals and level of experience.

Okay. I don’t know anything about brokers, so once again I let my “Google search skills” free.

I’m currently living in Belgium, and apparently the best platform around here is DEGIRO, because it has low transaction costs (and good reviews).

So I went with that.

Step 3: Diversification

Spread your investments to reduce risk. Consider investing part of your $200 in stocks, ETFs, bonds, and/or real estate funds.

Got it.

After doing some research, I decided to spread my $200 as follows:

• $100 to iShares Core MSCI World Unites ETF USD (Acc)
• $50 to silver
• $50 to Ethereum (ETH)

So I also didn’t only purchase stocks, but also some crypto and silver. Note; this is not investment advice here, just my own decisions.

Step 4: Contribute Regularly & Consistently

Regularly add extra money to your investment account. This can be monthly, or even weekly.

Okay.

I’ve put calendar reminders at the end of month, every month.

This is actually a very good idea. I’ve looked it up and it’s called “Dollar Cost Averaging”.

The idea is to regularly buy, for smaller amounts — and not investing for example $1000 all at once, but splitting it over e.g. 4 weeks.

By following this strategy, you kind of make sure that you “won’t miss an opportunity” — because you’re always buying. Whether markets are going up or down, just buy at that time.

I managed to automate my silver and crypto purchases by the way, via the Revolut app, very easy. My stocks I still do manually.

Step 5: Long Term Perspective

Realize that building significant wealth takes time. Keep a long-term perspective and let your investments grow over several years.

Damn. Here I was, hoping to get rich in just a few month.

Anyway, you never know. Maybe something crazy will happen, or crypto will all of a sudden go through the roof… who knows?

So okay, let’s put a time on it: 5 years. Let’s see how much we can “make” in 5 years time (numbers below).

Step 6: Patience and Discipline

Remain patient and take a disciplined approach. Avoid impulsive decisions based on short-term fluctuations in the market.

Ah, yes. I’ve read this before.

“Don’t try to time the market.”

Unless you’re a 24/7 geek who’s looking at charts non-stop, then you could perhaps try. But if you’re a regular investor — just like me — with not much time on their hands, then just use the above method of DCA.

Step 7: Reinvest Return

Reinvest any profits and returns to grow your wealth faster.

Well, I suppose this is kinda happening automatically.

• The ETF I’ve chosen is an “accumulating” ETF, which means that the dividends are being reinvested automatically (this is also more tax-efficient here in Belgium)
• Silver doesn’t give me “returning profits”
• Crypto (ETH)… I can stake my ETH, and it will give me return… in ETH. So not really possible to reinvest.

The only thing that I could think about re-investing is rental income.

Yes, small sidenote — I’m renting out an apartment and a spare room via Airbnb. And after paying back my mortgage every month, there’s a bit of money left. This money, I reinvest.

Step 8: Monitor and Adjust

Regularly monitor your investments and adjust your strategy as necessary based on changing market conditions.

The way I interpret this is:

If any of my investments (stock/silver/crypto) would unexpectedly go up with let’s say 100% — then I would not BUY a lot of this specific asset.

Why? Because I think it’s wiser to purchase any type of stock when they’re going down. This means I’ll get more stocks for a cheaper price, right?

So, imagine today Ethereum (ETH) crashes with 50%. According to my theory, this is a good opportunity to BUY.

In that case, I could choose to change my investing strategy a bit, and diversify my $200 as follows:

• $50 to iShares Core MSCI World Unites ETF USD (Acc)
• $50 to silver
• $100 to ETH (because I’m getting MORE ETH for cheaper price)

Makes sense?

I’m not saying to constantly do this, but market conditions change. So adjust your strategy accordingly.

Step 9: Keep Learning

Continue to increase your financial knowledge and learn from your experiences and mistakes.

Got it. I’ll keep learning.

RUNNING THE NUMBERS

So now let’s see what we’ve accomplished (or will accomplish):

• Investing $200 per month = $2400 per year.
• Doing this for 5 years will give me $12k.

Now, we need to take into account the historical growth rate of the stock market, the silver market and the crypto market.

• Stocks: The annual growth rate of the stock market, measured by the S&P 500, has averaged around 9.4% in the last 50 years.
• Silver: Annual average growth rate of the past 20 years is 2.6%
• Crypto (ETH): It’s difficult to find the exact correct percentage, but according to most sources, the average annual growth rate of ETH since its launch is 146,60%

Great, let’s calculate.

Note for all you maths nerds out there; I know my calculations aren’t 100% correct. There are many different factors I should include, like compound monthly interest, and data from the past is no accurate prediction for the future etc etc… yes, I know. I just want to show you theoretically how it would work.

So, according to my OWN calculations, by investing $12,000 over the course of 5 years, taking into account these average annual growth rates…

I would turn my $12000 into….$81,022,18!!! Eighty-one thousand dollars!

By investing only $200 every month this way, in 5 years would make around $69k profit! Awesome. Sounds good👍!

If I’d keep this up for a few more years, yes — yes, I will have earned $500k.

As I said, these calculations are probably overestimated, but even if we’d turn $12k into $50k … what other investment strategy or opportunity can get us these results?

Conclusion (and disclaimer)

In theory, it would work.

Markets will go up and down, but on average, there has always been growth — So patience is key.

Keep in mind that these general steps will give you a starting point, but there is no guaranteed way to achieve specific returns.

Either way, I’m going to do it. Exactly like this — maybe even with a bigger number every month.

It is important to invest according to your own financial situation and risk tolerance. And please, please just make sure to do your own research before making any major financial decisions!