Welcome to the Wander Worldschool Podcast. It's trivia time: Which city of over 4 million people lists Bengali as its primary language spoken? Tune into this month's listener locations to find out. I'm Suzy, a travel-loving money nerd, mom of two, and our family lives between Spain, Colorado, and Japan. On this show, we discuss the stories, logistics, and finances of traveling families, and the many ways to learn along the way. Today's end-of-the-month episode includes our end-of-the-summer recap, my favorite takeaways from this month's episodes, and our top listener locations, including the answer to this episode's opening trivia question.

For a deep dive this month, we're tackling Investing 101. If you've ever felt like the world of money, markets, and investing was deliberately wrapped in confusing jargon just to keep us normal people out, today's episode is for you. We're stripping back the noise and building your financial foundation from the ground up.

And don't forget: I am a financial educator, but not your financial educator yet. So remember that the views expressed on this podcast are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Everyone's goals, risk profile, and tax brackets will differ, so always do your own research and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decisions.

And thank you for signing up for the Wander Weekly newsletter. Shout out to Rebecca, Laura, Rachel, and more—thank you for signing up! Last week's Wander Weekly covered opportunities in Indonesia, expense tracking, community roundups, global happenings, and more. And as a reminder, everyone who signs up gets the ultimate slow travel and worldschooling pre-trip checklist. Go sign up in the show notes right now.

Before we jump in, how has your month been treating you? We are in Matsumoto, Japan now. August was a whirlwind of camping, packing, house prepping, house sitting, saying goodbye to friends and family, and more. I prefer to think of it as "see you later," but since it will be a year before we see some of our loved ones, it is always a bit bittersweet. In the middle of the month, we had an awesome Colorado Worldschoolers brunch picnic at the park. While the kids kicked a ball and splashed around on the splash pad, the adults chatted about all things travel and worldschooling. It was so great to see so many familiar and new faces.

One topic that came up is our plans to see the next solar eclipse on August 2nd, 2027 in Morocco. If you were also left in awe with the photos and the videos of this past solar eclipse in northern Spain and other parts of Europe, you don't want to miss this next big one. Our location in Morocco will have almost five minutes of totality, and it is a lot less expensive than Luxor, Egypt, where rooms were running thousands per night. We are booked at a water park hotel in Smir Park, Morocco, in northeast Morocco, for a week for about $1,000. I would love to invite other traveling families to join us. Just think: enjoying the beach, scoping out the perfect eclipse viewing spot, and cooling off daily at the water park, all in anticipation of the big day on August 2nd, 2027, when the solar eclipse rolls through again. I plan to incorporate eclipse-themed activities and lots of outdoor playtime. If this sounds interesting to you, click the link in the show notes.

Are you based out of Snellville, Georgia, Zanesville, Ohio, or Kolkata, West Bengal? I love looking at the listener locations from this past month. Kolkata, India is that large city from the opening trivia that boasts the local language of Bengali. Send me a text if you're tuning in from India!

I received this message and I wanted to share it:

"Hi Suzy, just wanted to share that I'm so glad I came across your podcast. Three months ago, we left New York City for a 12-month road trip across Europe with my husband and four-year-old. We're loving the experience, and I'm only sad I didn't know about your podcast prior to starting our road trip. Also feels good to see how many other families out there are willing to take this leap of faith and go on an adventure. Thank you for the podcast and for everything I'm learning to make our adventure even better."

And this family also shared a photo of them from Stockholm. It was just a lovely photo to receive and a wonderful email to receive. I love receiving these messages and reviews. I'm so glad that these conversations with the other amazing worldschool creators and traveling families are helpful. If you enjoyed these episodes, would you pause right now to leave a five-star review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your shows? Even better, share your favorite episode with the next traveling family that you meet.

For our monthly episode recaps, I must say it was an amazing collection of moms this past month. Michelle from The Traveling Village shared the origin story of the various traveling villages; they are about to head to France for the Re Village pop-up. Tune in to Episode 64 to learn more from Michelle if you have not listened yet. Dr. Sarah Gabauer shared the travel adventures that led to her writing the Go Anyway book. I'm finishing this book right now—you can get it on Kindle if you have Amazon, and it is packed with really helpful travel insights, especially if you or someone in your family has a chronic condition, like Dr. Sarah Gabauer's son who has Type 1 diabetes. I highly recommend listening to Episode 65 and checking out the book so that you can understand why it's important to go anyway. And in Episode 66, Joanne Paul details the amazing hub that she's curating in Curaçao. Have you dreamed of worldschooling in the tropics? Listen back for all of Joanne's info about what this opportunity in Curaçao could look like, and more information on why this island is worth the visit. How about you? What episode from this month resonated the most with you? Did any of the episodes lead you to follow up with Michelle, Sarah, or Joanne? Send me a text in the show notes with your feedback, thoughts, and questions.

It is time for our deep dive, which is Investing 101. Heads up for our non-US listeners: While some specific account structures and examples we touch on refer to the United States financial system, the underlying mechanics of building wealth apply no matter where you are in the world. These principles are buying productive assets, outpacing inflation, and harnessing compound growth. So do continue to listen.

But first, let's step back and start with a definition: What actually is investing? At its core, investing is simply taking money that you earn today and putting it into productive assets. These are things like profitable businesses, real estate, or the stock market, so that your capital—your money—works for you and generates returns, often in the form of money, over time. Where people might get tripped up is confusing investing with gambling. Gambling has a mathematically negative expected return; it relies entirely on luck and chance, and at the end of the day, there is zero underlying economic value created.

On the flip side, investing has a historically positive expected return. Why is that? Well, it's linked to the real economy. When you invest, your money backs companies that build products, hire talent, innovate, and generate cash flow. You're participating directly in human productivity and global economic growth. If investing in broad-based index funds implodes tomorrow, then we have a lot worse things to worry about than our stock returns. These are real people living their real lives who contribute to our capitalistic society. No, it's not perfect. But like I said before, we can only improve a system when we understand it and participate in it.

And the real threat to your money is not something happening to it in the stock market anyhow. The real risk is inflation eating away at your purchasing power. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has parents who remember buying a house for like a crisp $20 bill and a jar of homemade jam. Inflation is the fact that prices go up. It's the quiet, steady erosion of what every single dollar, euro, or yen can buy over 10, 20, or 30 years. If a cup of coffee costs $4 today and inflation averages 3% a year, that exact same cup of coffee will cost around $7.20 in 20 years. If your cash sits under your mattress or in a basic checking account earning 0.1% or worse, its numerical value stays the same, but its purchasing power gets cut in half. So if you've ever heard someone say, "Investing feels risky; I'd rather keep all my extra cash safe in my checking account," well, now you can tell them the cold, hard truth: leaving long-term savings in cash is not safe—it actually guarantees a loss. This comes down to the difference between borrowing power and purchasing power. Investing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, real compound growth takes years to see. But investing is the defensive shield to preserve your standard of living against inflation, even before it becomes a way to build wealth.

Since this is Investing 101, let's break down the core terms you're going to run into most:

Equities or stocks: When you buy a share of stock, you are not just trading a ticker symbol on a screen; you're buying fractional ownership in a real business. If the company grows and earns profits, the value of your share can rise, and they may even pay you a portion of those profits as dividends.

Fixed income or bonds: Instead of ownership, think of bonds as loans. When you buy a bond, you loan money to a government or a corporation. In return, they agree to pay you regular interest payments over time and return your original principal on a set date.

Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs): Instead of picking one individual stock or bond, these are pooled baskets that hold dozens, hundreds, or maybe even thousands of stocks, securities, or companies all at once. An ETF trades on the exchange just like a regular stock, giving you instant broad market exposure with a single click.

Asset allocation and diversification: These terms describe how you want to divide your money between stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash. Diversification means spreading out your bets within these categories so that no single company failure can derail your financial life. Often, people who work for a company that compensates them with company stock will work on diversifying by selling that single company stock and buying index funds that cover many different companies.

Compound growth: This is earning returns on your original money, and then earning returns on those returns. Over 5 years it feels slow; however, over 25, 40, or 50 years, it becomes an exponential snowball catapulting down the hill. I love to play with compound growth calculators on the internet with my son—he likes to see how quickly he can get to a million bazillion dollars! Even for us realists who will not ever reach a million bazillion dollars, you can see how slow, steady investing over many years yields impressive results. Future you will absolutely thank you for starting to invest now.

So why does learning to invest matter right now? Most importantly: options. It gives you and your family options. Yes, saving for retirement because you will not want to work until the day you die is important. Yes, saving for your kids to have a great start in life is important as well. But even more important is being able to leave a job that you hate, not stressing over every last dollar, and designing a life that you love.

Let's talk specifically about retirement, because I hope for myself and for everyone listening that we are lucky enough to live to see our last day of work—and live many years after that. The old retirement model of previous generations included three parts: a private company pension, personal savings, and Social Security. Today, defined-benefit company pensions have virtually disappeared from the private sector. Meanwhile, Social Security was designed as an anti-poverty floor, not a replacement for your working income. On average, it replaces only about 40% of pre-retirement earnings, while standard retirement planning targets 70% to 85% to maintain your quality of life. Add in aging populations and trust fund pressures, and one thing is clear: self-directed investing is now mandatory if you want a fully funded retirement. You need to take the reins on your future.

So we must invest for our future. But it's not just about waiting until you're 65 to finally enjoy life. I would not be recording this from Japan if I felt that you must work, work, work, work, work until one day in the distant future when you finally get to live your one wild and precious life. That life starts today. Even if you have zero dollars invested, you can and should design a life that you enjoy today.

As you build an investment portfolio, you'll ultimately create enough funds to give you certain freedoms. Some people call this "FU money" or freedom funds. The more money you have invested, the more opportunities you have to take a mid-career flexible break. Having an invested cushion lets you take an unpaid sabbatical, fund family travel, or pivot careers without panic. You also gain workplace autonomy: you get the leverage to negotiate remote flexibility, drop to part-time, or walk away from a toxic work environment. Lastly, saving and investing can help you enjoy important milestones with less debt, letting you self-fund major life goals like launching a business venture or buying a home without taking on significant high-interest debt.

There are a lot of different ways to invest, and there's no one right path for everyone. While public stock index funds are the simplest starting point for most people, productive assets also come in other varieties:

Real Estate: You can own physical rental properties that generate monthly rental income or equity, or you can buy REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), which are publicly traded funds that let you invest in commercial or residential real estate without dealing with tenants or maintenance.

Fixed Income and Cash Equivalents: From guaranteed government debt like US Treasury bills to Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and High-Yield Savings Accounts (HYSAs), these tools lock in yields to preserve capital for short- to medium-term goals. If you have money you need to spend in the next couple of years, parking it in Treasury bills, CDs, or a HYSA will earn much more than a typical checking or basic savings account.

Investing in Yourself or Businesses: Direct business ownership includes starting a scalable side business or eventually exploring syndications and private equity. These are more advanced methods that I'll cover in future episodes.

Let's bring this all together. Investing is defined as putting your hard-earned money into productive, real economic assets—such as businesses, real estate, and fixed income—rather than relying on high-risk speculation or leaving cash vulnerable to the steady erosion of inflation. We explored the core mechanics of stocks, bonds, index funds, and compound growth. Crucially, we reframed investing not merely as a distant retirement task, but as a practical tool for building your freedom fund that gives you the runway to fund family travel, take career breaks, support major milestones without debt, and buy back your time and independence.

I've been deep in this topic for almost 10 years now, but I am certainly not the only voice in personal finance worth listening to. I will leave you with the most pivotal book on our journey, and one that is highly recommended across the financial independence community: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It's a straightforward guide based on letters to his daughter that focuses on investing in broad-market index funds and avoiding common Wall Street pitfalls.

Here is the mindset shift that I want you to walk away with today: Investing is not an attempt to pick next week's hot stock. It is the steady, deliberate practice of buying back your future time, independence, and choices. You are trading your active labor today for capital that works for you tomorrow. Don't wait for a huge lump sum or perfect market conditions. Pick a simple, low-cost, broad-market index fund, automate a recurring monthly contribution that fits your budget right now, and let time and compounding carry the heavy load.

If you have access to a 401(k) or workplace retirement account, look closely at your investment options and select a low-expense-ratio fund based on the broad market, such as an S&P 500 index fund that tracks the 500 largest US companies. If you don't have a 401(k) and you're in the US, you can open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) with any brokerage—though Vanguard is what I recommend due to its low fee structure and mutual ownership model where fund investors own the company. Investing in a Roth IRA means you've already paid taxes on that money, allowing your investments and dividends to compound and be withdrawn completely tax-free in retirement.

These tax-advantaged accounts are key to building wealth over time. We'll dive into designing an investment portfolio and the recommended order of investing in upcoming episodes, so make sure you're following the show!

What has your experience been with investing? If any of these terms or concepts felt confusing, let's chat about it—set up a free 30-minute call with the link in the show notes. If you're outside the US, what are your investment systems like? How do you create options for your family's financial future?

Don't forget to use the links in the show notes to support the show: Preply language lessons, HomeExchange, TrustedHousesitters, Chase travel cards, Wise for international money transfers, and Monarch Money for tracking budgets and travel expenses.

Next month, I chat with more incredible traveling families about the Bliss Hubs in Thailand, traveling village experiences, and Japan hubs to combine with the pop-up I'm hosting in Osaka this October! Until next time: sign up for the Wander Weekly newsletter, stay curious, and keep exploring.