I was too scared to invest until a dinner conversation changes.

No matter what your age, the concept of investing can be daunting.

After all, it seems like there is an endless stream of jargon to learn, not to mention the best way to maximize your performance and how best to allocate your money according to your goals.

What if you have just graduated and are worried about your student loan debt? It is understandable that it is not a coincidence that we want to reconcile financial life and finances.

That's how it has been for me for most of my 20 years. I was more afraid of working to finance my international travels and to spend good times with friends than to plan for the future. Of course, my mother tried to help me open an investment account, but I refused.

After discovering that I was indebted on a credit card after a stay in Australia, I was scared. Or more specifically, I did not trust myself to make good financial decisions. At that time, all I was concerned about was earning as much money as possible, paying off the debt and not finding myself in this situation again.

After becoming debt free, I was so afraid of creating wealth by investing that I accumulated all my money in a current account, for virtually no interest.

It took a few more years, but I finally stopped being afraid to invest and I acted.

The conversation that changed my state of mind

In the late twenties, when my husband and I were together for the first time, we started talking about money. We talked about everything and everything from our student loans to budgeting. When he mentioned making recurring transfers to his IRA account, I confessed that I was not interested in learning to invest.

He was shocked to learn that I had a ton of money in a checking account. He showed me what he was doing with his savings in the long run and why it was riskier for me to leave my money without winning anything.

It's only when I've seen graphs showing the power of compound interest – where your money earns you almost money – that I'm convinced.

The following week, I planned a little time to review different types of accounts and finally open one.

Do my research

It was scary to think about learning to invest, but I decided to do it step by step. Instead of looking at things like stock trading, I looked at traditional retirement accounts as well as taxable accounts like ETFs.

I've also discovered that it was normal to have money in a bank account in case of an emergency, but I should find one that would bring me back a little bit. 39; interest. That was before the myriad of options you see today with high yield savings accounts, but I managed to find one that reported an interest.

I started by investing a few thousand dollars in a taxable account and the rest in a savings account that was used for emergency funds. As my trust and income grew, I invested more and more money.

Work early retirement

While my husband and I have refined our personal finances over the past ten years, we have turned to early retirement. To be clear, we will not stop working. Instead, we plan to take a part-time job that we love and volunteer for causes we live in.

Having this goal in mind helps us when it comes to investing. We have a plan to know where to allocate our savings – a combination of cash in our 401 (k) accounts, IRAs and taxable accounts. Over the years, we have also learned more about how to better grow our wealth. For example, we carefully examined all of our investment accounts to verify fees and eliminated those who charged the highest fees. We also try to maximize our pre-tax accounts to reduce our taxable income (self-employment taxes are not a joke!).

If my husband did not show me why investing in your future is important, I'm not sure that I would have started at all. I fully understand that any form of investment seems frightening – I myself went there.

Even if your goal is not early retirement, it is important to take care of your future. Imagine being able to sit back and relax knowing you can enjoy your golden age. Is not it worth it?