Bob O'Brien
Head Instructor
bobrien@mywealth.com
It still amazes me as financial planner for 15 years how some really smart people still have trouble stacking the odds in their favor for long term financial success. A lot people get sucked in by the noise and the excitement of Wall Street in order to make a quick buck.
Others never realize the advantages of the stock market, and the superior performance that it offers over a long period of time when you have a basic strategy. Be sure to check out Brett Arends great Wall Street Journal Article.
*****Question of the Week! *****
(Don’t miss this….Chance to Win a Free Personal Finance Course by Emailing Me Your Answer. 5 Names will be Randomly Picked and named as winners. So here's your question: Anders has written some great articles in regards to Real Estate, and the 30 year mortgage has been dropping. The question of the week is: The average 30 year mortgage is currently at 4.8%, where do you think it is going? A) Higher B) Staying about the same C) Going lower (4.25%- 4.5%) D) Going a lot lower
(Last week’s results and winners will be posted early next week)
Striking a balance between risk and reward in our personal financial plans can be a challenge, but as long as you do not lose sight of the big picture and realize that there is only three main portfolios that you will ever need in order to achieve life long financial success.
Your Insurance Portfolio. Medical insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, property and umbrella insurance. Many people fail to accept the importance of insurance and if you are serious about building wealth, and then keeping that wealth, you need to make certain that you have adequate insurance. We can assist you with this in our personal finance course.
Your Goal Oriented Portfolio. This would be for your retirement and children’s’ education. You should not be playing the market and actively trading with this money. Keeping it simple and using something like a 50/50 stock /bond balanced portfolio in which you make certain you rebalance. These types of portfolios perform very well over time with limited volatility. We can help you with this in more detail in our Investing course.
Your Discretionary Portfolio. After the financial events (Global Economic Crisis!) of 2008, this type of portfolio is no longer an option or a hobby. It is an absolute must! This portfolio will keep you sharp and make certain that you know what is going on in the world of business (which can help enhance your career) and finance. This will also help you manage your goal oriented portfolio better, because it is forward looking. You can learn to trade in our currency course, and start getting more familiar with charts in a demo.
Having both a goal oriented portfolio and discretionary portfolio is the key to making sense of all the noise around the financial news. Nearly all the financial/money news is geared toward traders and not investors. (certainly not long term investing) Why? Goal Oriented investing is boring, it is like watching “grass grow”, but that grass does grow, and it leads to an exciting retirement with educated kids!
Discretionary portfolio investing is like having access to a fast car with no speed limits, it can be a lot of fun but you can also crash and burn. In fact, it is highly likely you will crash and burn if you don’t know what you are doing! Make certain you know how to stack the odds in your favor, by checking out our courses.
