Girls That Invest

3The first 5 bricks

I was 11 years old when I tried to make my first pavlova (a meringue‐based dessert that's iconic in New Zealand and Australia). It's considered an easy dessert to make: you just need five ingredients, and the recipe I used suggested only 1 out of 5 stars for difficulty.

Surely, I could do this.

Part of the recipe included separating the egg whites from the egg yolks. I must admit I've never been the most meticulous person — I'm okay with letting a few things slide — so I separated the egg whites without putting much attention into it, not really caring that there were traces of yolk in the whites. After all, what's a few drops of the wrong ingredient going to do?

I was so excited to finally pull my crispy white pavlova out of the oven, and instead was dismayed to see a gooey yellow mixture that had bubbled out of the cake tin and onto the floor of the oven. I was both hungry and heartbroken. I didn't initially understand how it could all have gone so wrong. After all, it was just egg yolk! How could it affect the baking like this?

I was so scared by my mistake I never made pavlova again. That moment taught me a valuable lesson. Even for the simplest tasks, carelessness and a lack of preparation can turn your work into custard.

Or in my case, something that resembled custard.

The world of investing is no different, but let's switch metaphors here. It's important to have our foundations of personal finance established before we begin our journey to wealth. ...