Wealth=Wise(Investments+Strategies)

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When I was growing up I did not have the luxury like my American husband had while he was growing up : summer holiday or holiday across America continent. The most luxury driving treats I had was car rides with my parents after dinner. And most of these car rides were investment lessons given by my dad consciously or unconsciously. Every of our car trip, he would point out to lands which he thought were good investment and he would tell us who ever bought these pieces of land would be millionaires. When we drove past the lands he bought, he would tell us that these would be the asserts he would leave for us.

At that time, lands seemed to be the only asset class at his generation. But, as societies became more sophisticated, we have different kind of asset classes, from stock , mutual funds, to commodities. However, there are a lot of people who do not have the appetite for investment. A lot of people in more affluent countries ( more regulated societies) depend on government to take care of their retirement investment. It is very sad as far as I am concern because no body take better care of your money than you do.

Picture Courtesy of beginnersinvest.about.com

Recently, I asked my husband why so many Americans are so naive about the notion of government protection and provision. The reason I asked him was because of a recent incident. One of my classmates told me she’s not going to work for the hospital that I am going to work because she said the hospital is taking more and more benefits away from the employees. I lamented that people are so naive about benefits. The hospital is a non-profit hospital affiliated with the university. She did not realized it is not because the hospital is taking away the benefits, it is because the government is cutting more and more grants and inevitably the hospital is cutting more and more benefits. Though she and her husband are Christian but they are very liberal in terms of political views and have no clue about investment, they believe that the government should provide for them..

In the past, (my father in law time), Americans are more self sufficient, they relied less on government subsidize but as the country become more and more liberal, people are depending on government more and more and sooner or later we are going to be a welfare government and who is going to fund all those welfare programs ? If that continue, we will be more like a 3rd world country where there is only the rich and the poor. Coming from a 3rd world country , I know first hand of how a 3rd world country operates and you heard it from the horse mouth. An article on Businessweek.com by Jane Sasseen titled :The Wal-Mart Sisterhood is a clear indication of the direction of this country might head to.

The woman Lisa Mensinger quoted in the article seems to understand the way how the 3rd world operates, there is just the rich and the poor : “Lisa Mensinger, 40, a mother of two, worked for years as an aide in day-care centers around Bethlehem. Lately it has gotten harder to find work, and she babysits just a few days a week. After a long layoff from his old job at a paving company, her husband, Larry, took a pay cut in exchange for steady work as a machinist. “There are just no jobs around,” Lisa says. She voted for Democrat John Kerry in 2004 and now favors Clinton. Mensinger hopes Hillary can restore the good times of the 1990s. “We had money then. I was middle-class,” she says. “Now it seems like there is just rich and poor.“”

Well, if you want to be the rich group, you might find this article on usanews.com by Katy Marquardt titled : Building a Portfolio on the Cheap - A simple strategy and a little cash will get you started., worth spending your reading time. I personally think it makes a lot of sense. I believe one should start thinking of building a portfolio when one start working. Even it is a baby step, it will help you on the long run.

These are some of her main strategies with junior investors :

1. Max your 401(k)
2. Invest in a no-load mutual fund such as Schwab Core Equity.

Grey BoxBenchmark: S&P 500 Index
Brown BoxSchwab Core Equity Fund (SWANX)
Picture courtesy of schwab.com
3. Index funds
4. And if you are a lazy investor like me, you would love The Set-It-and-Forget-It Portfolio which consists of

Picture courtesy of here

This article that I mentioned earlier on about where there is only the rich and the poor : The WalMart ladies are struggling to keep afloat but this guy at 29 is managing billions :At 29, He’s Managing Billions.

What are the factors that make up such a big difference ? Race ? Gender ? Education ? Investment aptitude ? I do not know but I let you tell me why, how and what ?

At 29. managing billions.
Picture Courtesy of usanews.com

Johnson rarely dines out since the housing crisis slashed her income
Picture courtesy of businessweek.com

This article is submitted to carnivalofpersonalfinance

Tags: Investment //