human being to invest unemotionally.
Every investment involves adversarial relationships in whole or in part.
This explains some of the stress. If you feel like it is an emotional battleground
trying to make money investing, you are right; it is. Winning the
battle financially can be just as draining as losing.
Adversarial relationships are built into most investment transactions.
Stockbrokers, realtors, and insurance salespersons are not bad people out
to rip you off. Most are honest and hard-working. However, their livelihood
requires that they extract fees from you whether you are aware of this or
not. Once you understand all the fees, both up-front and hidden, you can
make a decision as to whether or not these fees are money well spent or
exorbitant. Unfortunately, it is likely you are unaware of both the hidden fees
and the adversarial relationship you have with investment professionals.
Hiring a personal money manager is not the way out either. Some charge
hefty fees; require huge minimums; invest to preserve their fees instead of
growing your portfolio; and spend a lot of time either on their own portfolio
or trying to sell their money management business to a big mutual fund
house for a killing, none of which benefits you.
Investing outside the stock market does not solve the problem either.
Insurance and annuity companies’ main interest is in capturing your funds
so they, not you, can profit from investing them. I doubt any insurance
representatives will be recommending this book.
Your adversarial relationship is not just with the investment community.
You had to wrestle your investment funds away from the boss, the clients,
the customers, the source. This money had scars on it before you thought
about investing it. Then the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the state
and city and county took their piece, and left you with two choices. Go to
Hawaii or save for your retirement, house, car, children, or some acutely
responsible reason. Or you could slip the money into a 401(k), IRA, or
Keogh plan, avoiding the taxes and the trip to Hawaii. Great choice. Now
you don’t get to touch the money for years, unless you are willing to cough
up huge penalties, and even when you do get your hands on it in your dotage,
you will still pay taxes on it. Investing is fun? Who came up with that
idea?
This would all be very simple if you were financially secure.
Are you financially secure?
Take note, this is a trick question. The answer has nothing to do with
how much money you have. Consider a question about your relationship
with stocks.
Read More : Who owns your investments?
