Most of the scary stories you hear about people losing big in the market are from people who were trying to make a quick buck. We don’t recommend that. Investing is a long term proposition.

You don’t have to have a finance degree or even really understand the stock market in order to invest and make money. You also don’t need to hire someone to invest your money for you.  This is the 21st Century, we have the technology to do it ourselves. It’s time you get over the fear of investing.

Invest in market index funds that represent a broad swath of the market, like the S&P 500, which is a group of 500 companies which cover many aspects of the overall market.  Betterment is a great tool for this kind of investing.

Have a certain amount of money automatically invested every month.  The money goes in without you having to do anything.  Set it and forget it.  The market will give you an average return of about 7%.

Be greedy when others are fearful. When everyone else is panicking and selling low, that’s when you buy.  When everyone is going crazy buying high, be fearful in the face of their greed.  Works for Warren Buffett.

 It’s not handing over money to the market that causes mass losses.  It’s handing money over to a person.  Bernie Madoff is the most recent and most grotesque example of this. It wasn’t the market that was doing shady stuff with that money, it was Madoff.

The point is, just do it already!  Did you learn how to fly a plane yourself before you took your first flight?  No, you didn’t.  The same with the market.  You don’t have to understand it, you only have to do it.

Show Notes

Betterment:  The easy way for beginners to invest.

Mint:  The smart way to track your spending.

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