Rescue Your Money: How to Invest Your Money During these Tumultuous Times - Couverture souple

Rescue Your Money CHAPTER

ONE

One Major Goal You Should Have

When people seek investments, they tend to have one goal in mind: They want to beat the market.

Don’t agree? Then tell me why you compare the performance of your investments with the S&P 500 Stock Index. You’re gauging your success by comparing your investment results with the overall market, as measured by the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or some other stock-market index. If you’re beating the market, you’re happy. If you’re not, you’re unhappy.

Guess what? Trying to beat the market is the wrong goal.

In fact, that’s a disastrous goal. Taking that approach sets you up for failure.

Why? It’s really very simple. And we need look no further back than 2008 to understand why. In 2008 the S&P 500 lost 38.5%.I 1 If you lost only 30%, congratulations! You beat the market!

Somehow I doubt you (or your spouse) would be thrilled at such news.

Thus we must remember that “beating the market” isn’t the point. In fact, only one thing matters when it comes to investing: achieving financial security. That is your one major goal.

Think about it. The purpose of investing is to help you achieve your goals, whether that means sending your kids to college, retiring comfortably, or caring for aging parents. It’s financial security that matters, not some benchmark that has no relevance to your personal life.

People who focus on the stock market are missing the point. You need to emphasize your goals.

I. The sources for all statistics can be found on page 175.

In this updated edition of Rescue Your Money, New York Times bestselling author and investment guru Ric Edelman offers no-nonsense, practical advice for how to keep your investments safe in any economic climate.

Everyone knows that the ideal investment strategy is to buy low and sell high. But how do you know what stocks will pay off? And how do you know when it’s the right time to sell? No matter what you hear, there’s no such thing as a sure bet: following fads, listening to the media, and even taking the advice of an investment manager on a roll won’t guarantee a payout. To help you understand how to do it correctly, Edelman shows you the one major goal you should have as you seek investment success; the two major obstacles you’ll encounter; the one big question you’ll have to face; and two basic “truths” that confront—and confound—every investor.

If you’re scared or confused about how to handle your investments and fed up with “advice” from brokers, advisors, and media darlings that has cost you huge sums and placed your financial security at risk, the cure is in your hands. With a cheerful tone that will boost even the most panicked investor’s spirit, Edelman reveals the best investments you can make right now to Rescue Your Money.