Feeling stuck on where to start investing? In this Investing 101 for Beginners Episode, Amanda Taylor shares a simple Red/Yellow/Green Money Map to help women and first-time investors move from fear to action – without using jargon.
You will also learn:
- How to build the “conveyor belt” habit that automates progress, making motivation optional
- What the Rule of 72 is all about
- Why idle cash loses to inflation
- How to make a 10-minute first move today
- What are some alternatives beyond the S&P 500, such as real estate and private credit
Want weekly practice and clear comparisons in plain English? Join the community’s Investor Academy for labs, checklists, and real-world examples. Education, not financial advice.
—
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Investing 101
Safety First, Then Skill: Your 10-Minute First Move Into Investing
Welcome back to the show. A quick heads up before we dive in. If down the line is a little off, it’s because I am recording from a temporary spot. I’m between houses. Real life is real. It’s the perfect reminder that money has seasons. That’s exactly what we’re talking about. We are talking about skills, safety, and putting ourselves in the right position.
I came back from speaking in two different countries. What I found out is that my whole mission and my passion isn’t just a US problem. It’s global, generational, and systemic. Every room I was in, I felt the same heartbeat. People want to feel safe with money. They want to feel empowered across borders, accents, and industries. We all inherited rules that were written without us in the room, and we were told that we’re bad with money. We inherited that belief and no more.
We trade shame for language and fear for first steps. That’s why I built the Expand Your Empire Community. We’re opening up the Investor Academy. It’s a practice space. It’s plain English. It’s where we build confidence and muscle memory. With that energy, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do simple, zero intimidation, Investing 101 thought that you’re going to be able to use. Quick note. This is education. This is not financial advice. You are the boss of your own money.
Putting Your Money In Three Buckets
I want to make it easy for us. I’m going to break your money into buckets. In order to make it easy, we’re going to use the example of a traffic light. We’ll start with red, and we’re going to equate that to safety. We know when to stop and slow down. This is your sleep-at-night cash. It sits in insured, easy access savings. Its purpose is so we don’t get knocked off track by life. You have to pick your number, something that lets you exhale, and you have to protect it. This is something we do not invest. You’ll think of red as your personal bodyguard. It is boring on purpose. We don’t move it. We don’t touch it unless we have to.
We have the yellow bucket. That is steadier. This is money that you may need within 1 to 3 years. The goal is still predictability. We want to keep that steady and simple. These are what I call cash plus options. Yellow is your calm friend. Not flashy, has a fun time, doesn’t ghost you, but still growing. Green is full speed ahead. Real growth. This is money you know you won’t need to touch for at least four years or more. This is where compounding can work for you. Green is your builder lane. We are patient here. We let time and math do their thing.
We’ve got our three buckets. How do they move? Let’s put it on a conveyor belt. Every month, you’re going to pay yourself first, and you’re going to set an automatic transfer from your checking account into the right bucket, which is red, yellow, or green. If your plan depends on motivation, it will lose to laundry and life every time. Automation wins.
That conveyor belt or that automation keeps dollars moving to their job. Nothing extra is required, so it’s always on autopilot. When you get your income in, you know you’ve already set your number of what has to go in that red bucket. You set up that automatic transfer, and then you can play with the yellow and green bucket in the vehicles. We’re going to get to those next. What goes into yellow and green?
I’m agnostic on the vehicle. All I care about is that your money has a job, and then it matches your timeline and your temperament. Here’s the plain English tour of what it is, how you get paid, when it’s useful, and one big red flag to watch out for, or at least one thing to know so that you’re confident in your investing.
In our yellow bucket or our cash plus bucket, what we’re going to talk about are short loans to very safe borrowers like the US government. These are bonds or high quality money market funds. How do you get paid? You earn interest. You’re loaning them money. You can use these when you need that money back within 1 to 3 years, and you want steady, minimal drama. What you need to watch out for with these is if rates change. There’s always inflation and taxes. Returns can feel a little modest, but it is honestly still better than idle cash.
[bctt tweet=”Returns can feel a little modest, but it is honestly still better than idle cash.” via=”no”]
Let’s talk about some green or public baskets. We’ll talk about index funds or ETFs. What that is is one click buys tiny slices of many companies or bonds. That is instant diversification. How do you get paid? When the company grows, the price goes up. Sometimes, you get dividends or interest. You use these when you’re investing for four more years, and you want simple, low-maintenance growth. What you have to watch out for are price bounces. Those are normal and expected. You want to keep fees low and avoid panic selling. You’ve seen markets go up and down, but we want to be able to ride those waves.
You’ve got green or yellow. You could look at defined outcomes like structured notes. What those are are bank-issued contracts with guardrails. They’ve got some downside protection and often a capped upside. You get paid by predetermined interest or outcomes based on how the market moves within a set period of time. You use these when you want more rules around the risk. You can accept some trade-offs.
What you want to watch out for is that they’re very complex, there’s a lot of fine print, so you want to know who’s issuing these, and liquidity. It’s going to be away for a while before that note matures. Real estate is one of my favorites. This is mostly green. Sometimes, it can be yellow and can move fast. REITS are stocks of companies that own many properties. You can get paid through dividends and price changes. They’re used for growth and diversification. They have easy buy and sell. Things to watch out for are that they can drop with the markets. They are tied to real estate cycles.
You’ve also got direct rentals or private deals. You own property, or you buy into a private project or fund. You can get paid by rent, cashflow, or appreciation. Those are longer timelines, and they are hands-on or operator-led. You want to watch out because they are less liquid. There are always repairs or surprises that happen. You have to keep reserves. If you are not doing it yourself, you have to vet the operator. We’ll get more into real estate because it is my baby. It’s where I started.
Private credit or notes are green and sometimes yellow if they’re short-term. What it is you lend to a business, an investor, or a project is often secured by collateral. You get paid by interest and sometimes some fees at payoff. You use this when you want income. You understand the borrower, key, and the terms. What you want to watch out for is that borrower risk is real. You want to do your due diligence and collateral quality. Legal docs matter. It’s not instantly liquid. All of this requires a lot of research and education.
Here’s more green. Cashflow businesses. You buy either a piece or all of a real business and share in its revenue. You get paid through profit distributions or revenue share. You can use this when you want potentially higher returns. You believe in the operator and the model by which they’re producing their revenue. You have to watch out for that operator. Execution is everything. You have to expect variance. Exits can be hard and unpredictable.
Another green one is hard assets and commodities. That is stuff like precious metals, gold, and broad commodities, either physical or via funds. With how you get paid, the price changes. There’s usually no cashflow. You’re holding onto it while it’s going up in value, and then you sell it. You use that when you want a potential hedge against inflation or to diversify. I do like that. We’ll talk more about that inside the group. You have to watch out because it can swing in price. There’s no actual income. You have to keep it proportionate.
Executing The Red/Yellow/Green Money Map
I know that was a lot, but remember, every vehicle has three dials. Risk, liquidity, and time. You set those first, and then you pick the lane. You don’t have to do everything. You need to do what fits you. We can go into way more detail. I wanted to take that as broad an overview as possible, so if your eyes glazed over or you tuned out, I’m sorry, but I hope you come back to me. I want to keep this as simple as possible.
Bottom line, if you have excess cash parked in a bank, whether it be Chase Bank, Bank of America, or whatever, in a savings account, inflation is eating it away. I want you to keep your red cushion in, bare minimum, a high-yield savings account, and then move that excess to work in those yellow and green buckets. Step one, you have to set that red number. Pick a cushion that lets you sleep at night. Think a few months of must-have expenses plus anything that you know is coming. Write it down. That is your Do Not Touch layer. Put it in that high-yield savings account. That is there. That is your face money.
[bctt tweet=”If you have excess cash parked in a bank, inflation is eating it away.” via=”no”]
Step two, name everything above that as working money, and set that automated transfer date. Within 48 hours of it going into your bank account, it needs to go into the right bucket. Momentum beats perfection. It’s the same with consistency. We’re going to do it every time. Step three, you split that working money into yellow and green because we want to diversify.
Yellow is a cash plus option that you understand, like treasury bills, high-quality, and money market funds. Green is a growth lane that you understand, like broad baskets, vetted real estate, credit opportunity, or whatever. You start small if you need to. That conveyor belt matters more than size because you’re moving things into different buckets.
One thing I’ll throw out there is if you want to know how long it will take your money to double, that is called the rule of 72. You put 72 divided by your yearly return in interest. Let’s say you’re getting 8% interest. That is how long it will take your money to double. It’s a good equation to have so that you know where you are time-wise on your investment.
Lightning Round: Common Questions From First-Time Investors
We’ll do a little lightning round of Q&A, things that I get all the time when I start working with people on investing. “What if I start small? I don’t have a ton of money.” Fantastic. Tiny and automatic beats big and sporadic every time. All the time, I hear, “What if markets drop after I invest?” That’s why green has a long timeline. Winter is part of the seasons. Yellow covers those near-term needs, so you don’t sell green in the winter.
“What if I pick wrong? I’m scared I’m going to make the wrong decision.” We keep the menu short. One yellow option, one green option, and then we add later if you want. You’re allowed to be new at this. You’re allowed to begin and start small. “Do I have to stick with stocks? “ Absolutely not. I am vehicle agnostic. Inside our group, we explore a ton of alternatives, like real estate, private credit, businesses, defined outcome products, and all of these. We want to find the right fit first. What fits you, and then where do we plug in? That is what matters.
We want reps, not rah-rah. That is why I created the Investor Academy Inside of our Expand Your Empire Community. We lay these lanes or vehicles side by side, and we show you the numbers, the risks, and the taxes. We show real examples, not just inside the S&P 500, but alternatives, so that you know every step that you can take.
We have weekly live labs with those step-by-step walkthroughs, comparisons of side-by-side investments with simple checklists, and plain English Q&A. We do peer reviews that are friendly with no shame, and a real nudge in accountability to keep your conveyor belt running. Thank you for joining me. Wherever you’re tuning in from, you are not behind. You are right on time. Thank you for being here for real life, real money, and real progress. I’ll see you next time.
Important Links