When people talk about investing their money, they often mean putting into savings, stocks and shares. Sometimes, it means investing in gold or other precious metals to get a return on your hard-earned money. The thing is, there’s only one place that you should really make an effort when it comes to your investments, and that’s you.

Investing in yourself isn’t just about knowing how powerful that you are, or how inspiring you could be for other people. It’s about understanding that putting your money into yourself first is going to bring the best returns that you could ever hope to have.

Investing time in yourself to learn more, to be more and to do more with your life is one thing but funnelling your money into yourself is going to be better for you than investing in anything else. Think about it, when you invest in an hour of extra sleep, you feel more rested. When you invest your money in income protection, you’re giving yourself a security that you don’t need right now, but that you may need. It’s always better to prepare for a maybe, right? Well, when it comes to investing in yourself, you need to think cleverly about where you want that cash to go. Investing in you takes some time, so here are the three best ways that you can invest in you.

Skills

Learning doesn’t just stop after college. Your learning is going to take you places, and if you see a course or a class that you are interested in, you should take it on. Putting money into more education is going to give you a better return in the long run, as you will be a far more desirable candidate in the workplace and people will want to work with you. Check out whether your current workplace has any personal development opportunities available to you, because they will be as willing to invest in you as you are.

Future

Future planning sounds boring and pointless when you’re young, but it’s planning your future that is going to make a huge difference to the way that you live once you leave the workplace. Putting money into your retirement fund is a very literal way for you to invest in yourself. You would sacrifice a little of your today to have a more secure tomorrow, but it’s a good way to put money into your own interests.

Health

Living well involves eating well and exercising whenever you can, but it’s not always your wellness that you need to invest in. You should think about the insurance that you need to have under you belt in case you fall ill. Health insurance is absolutely something that you should invest in as early as possible to have the cushion you need should things go wrong.

Your investment in you is going to change your life in so many ways, so you should make a point of listing the ways you want to invest in yourself today.