July 24th, 2008

Americans have been bamboozled into thinking that they can get rich and retire comfortably by putting their money in the hands of people whose only aim is to move money from your pocket into some Behemoth's accounts; IRA's, mutual funds, variable annuities, variable insurance policies, ETF's, and on an on.

BUNK!

Here's a simple rule to apply to your personal economy: invest from savings, not from income; speculate only with money you expect to lose [if you win add the winnings to your savings.] If you never develop a savings program, you can't recover by ‘investing' unless you are just plain lucky. Why? Because most ‘investments' are actually speculative.

Benjamin Graham, The Dean of Wall Street, and Warren Buffett's teacher, taught that an investment has two characteristics: safety of principle and a reasonable return. Hmmm! Honestly evaluate what Wall Street calls an investment today.

• Is it really an investment or is it speculation?
• Is your money safe and secure?
• Are you getting a reasonable rate of return?
• Is it enough to be re-assured that all will be well "in the long-term"? 

Guess what? The answers are all NO. You don't live in the long-term. If you are losing money today, hoping that tomorrow will produce better results is foolish at best. Properly saved money guarantees a reasonable rate of return in the short-term and is safe for the long-haul. Once you have money in hand, and enough money in hand to care for your personal needs, then you can consider investing.

Consider this: many Americans take money directly from their pockets [payroll deducted in many cases] and place it in accounts that produce unpredictable returns for them but assured profits for the Behemoths. Not only that, at the same time they borrow from credit cards and mortgage companies at rates that are guaranteed to be higher than their ‘investment' account returns. Go figure...

Imagine how much better off these Americans would be if they put their money into financial products that fit the definition of Benjamin Graham referenced above.

It's time to shift paradigms, to change models; save first, invest later, speculate never.

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www.YouBeTheBank.com

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