I’ve just finished reading Robert Kiyosaki’s book. His parting lesson at the end of the book is “Don’t play it safe, play it smart”. He said over and over in his book that people need to get rid of the thought that it takes big money to make big money. This didn’t hold true for him as he demonstrated how he first started with a little money that worked into a lot more for him.
I’m not so sure about this but perhaps I need to be more optimistic and have a different mindset altogether when it comes to making my money work. I’m also a risk-averse investor, so when he said don’t play it safe, I’m wondering how I could be a little braver and take a leap of faith that my investment would work.
Anyone to show me the way?
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Which book did you read? I’ve read Rich Dad Poor Dad-there’s some good stuff in there but it could have been summarized in about 5 pages.
If you don’t have much of an appetite for risk, I would invest in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Dollar cost average a specific amount of money every month whether the market is down, up, whatever it’s doing (if it’s down than really load up). I actually am writing some posts about ETFs right now on my blog.
You can start off with something like the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTI). You will have exposure to the entire US stock market. Then you can venture into European, Asian, emerging market ETFs, whatever. Yes, your returns won’t be astronomical, but hardly anybody beats the market long term. If the economy keeps doing what’s it done for the past 100 years, you will be sitting pretty.
I’ve done a lot of study about personal finance and investing. If you have any questions or anything, my email is shultice24@gmail.com. Good luck!
The one investing book you definitely should read if you are interested is The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It’s 30-some years old, but there is a new edition with some additional commentary. It is my investing Bible. No frills, no gimmicks, no sugar-coating of anything, it lays it out there like it really is. It demands an attentive reader, but it’s worth it.
Hi Blake. Thanks for the tips on ETFs and the recommended book. I’m hopping over to your blog to read all about ETFs. I’m not too familiar with them…