Contents:
This book is very short, but it’s related to investing in stocks. If you are interested to learn more about investing, than this book is for you. Paid advisors include hedge fund managers, financial advisors, TikTokers and YouTubers who harp on about 1 particular product, and excitable friends and family.
The point here is that runs of 4 or more heads or tails are perceived as a nonrandom pattern, when in fact they are in fact the rule in random sequences, not the exception. Stock market participants frequently make this mistake, and an entirely bogus field of finance known as “technical analysis” is devoted to finding patterns in random financial data. Consequently, Vanguard’s fund expenses are generally the lowest in the industry, and the company is my go-to for most investors, whether they have a few thousand dollars or hundreds of millions. I have occasionally been accused of being a “shill” for Vanguard; if wanting to be the owner of my fund company and so pay rock-bottom fees makes me a shill, then I plead guilty. Before you can save, you’ll of course have to get yourself out of debt.
Now that they’re retired, they have a guaranteed benefit until they die and don’t have to think or worry about it. They don’t have to think or worry about going into a retirement home and all their savings being taken because they get those monthly checks no matter what. They will never be penniless thanks to their pensions.
I like most of the bits of advice and warnings Bernstein offered, such as that humans are not particularly good at investments because they suck at long-term planning. However, as with any book about finance, we must take his advice with a grain of salt. As another reviewer pointed out, his inconsistency shows when he wrote against mutual funds yet at the same time told readers to invest in 401, which invests the money into mutual funds.
Human beings are simply not designed to manage long-term risks. It’s actually really brief, if you read it as the original pdf. A reddit post is not a good format for long form content.
Second, I’m also a co- principal in a money management firm. My partner and I specialize in individuals who already have millions; you very well might get there, but I’m old enough that by the time you do, I’ll be pushing up the daisies. I am writing this book for my children, my grandchildren, and for the millions of young people who don’t have a prayer of retiring successfully unless they take control of their saving and investing.
How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly – Book Summary
And turning readers paranoid about seeking financial help could be harmful. Especially given the fact that statistically people are much more likely to achieve financial goals with a coach that holds them accountable than they are on their own. It also STATES brokers are not skilled professionals, were not required to finish high school, and have no specialized education.
A very short and quick read, though William recommends to read it twice. He explains why investing for better future is similar to being fit, one just has to follow simple rules but it’s not easy to keep up with those rules. He also clarifies the most common hurdles in order to reach one’s goals. I like that he ends each chapter with a reading assignment, which is basically a recommendation for other books to supplement one’s understanding of each brief chapter. Highly accessible primer on retirement savings and basic investment strategy.
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Thus, a portfolio that is two thirds stocks and one third bonds should have a long-term expected real return of around 3%, and this is also where the suggested 15% savings rate for someone who starts saving at age 25 comes from. Most young people are familiar with Microsoft Excel, so I’ve uploaded a spreadsheet that shows the effects of varying returns rates and saving rates in terms of real, accumulated assets after 20, 30, and 40 years to /files/savings-path.xls. The name of the game is to accumulate around 12 years of living expenses , which, combined with Social Security, should provide for a reasonable retirement. How did I arrive at 12 years of living expenses?
Two kinds of IRA accounts
An interesting read that added some new-to-me explanations and perspectives about the investing fundamentals. William J. Bernstein is an American financial theorist and neurologist. His research is in the field of modern portfolio theory and he has published books for individual investors who wish to manage their own equity https://forexarena.net/ portfolios. All things considered, I actually prefer our system because I do have control and I can turn the dials myself. But I wish I’d been taught these things at a younger age. I’ve read on Reddit of kids whose parents had them start saving 15-50% of their income beginning at ages 16-18, and they just built that habit.
- 5) Recognize the monsters that populate the financial industry.
- A traditional account, you get a tax deduction on the contributions and pay taxes when the money is withdrawn, generally after age 59½.
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- An interesting read that added some new-to-me explanations and perspectives about the investing fundamentals.
- We’ve evolved to think about risk as a short term phenomenon.
This book is only introduction to investing in stock, and author is talking about five hurdles that everyone need to overcome to become an investor. Don’t be swayed by either phenomenon into making rash, expensive financial decisions. Allocate your assets, choose if you can how millennials can get rich slowly your savings and investment rates, and stay the course. What I found most interesting about this advice is not its simpleness to execute, while this is admirable, but the powerful rationale he provides. Some years the market will go up, other years down.
Company
The term “expected return” causes a lot of grief among neophyte investors. It’s only what’s expected, i.e., the average result; the risk is the chance that it will fall short. A coin toss that offers a dollar for heads and nothing for tails, for example, has an expected return of fifty cents, but there’s also the 50/50 risk you’ll get nothing. First, I’ve written a few investment books that continue to earn me royalties. I don’t want you to buy them, since it’s tacky for an author to recommend the purchase of his or her works. I’ll shortly tell you what other books you should read, and in what order.
Have a minimal understanding of financial markets theory. In particular, understand inflation, the difference between nominal and real returns, risk and risk appetite, asset allocation, and the difference between stocks and bonds. Have a minimal understanding of financial markets history. If you want high returns over the long-term, be prepared to inevitably lose large amounts of money in the short-term from a stock market crash.
In your parents’ day, the traditional pension plan took care of all the hard work and discipline of saving and investing, but in its absence, this responsibility falls on your shoulders. In effect, the traditional pension plan was an investing fat farm that involuntarily limited calorie intake and made participants run five miles per day. Too bad that, except for the luckiest workers, such as corporate executives and military personnel, these plans are disappearing.
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As a financial advisor this is incredibly insulting and untrue. In the year 2015 with such a competitive job market good luck finding an advisor or broker without a college degree much less a high school one. I am sure one exists, somewhere, but that would far be an exception to the rule. 5) Recognize the monsters that populate the financial industry.
Can confirm, my dad told me to max out my 401k and open a roth as soon as I graduated college and I’m currently sitting on over $600k of investable assets at 32. I’m trying to learn to loosen the purse strings a bit now that I’m married, though. And it’s inescapable that even after all the planning and setting up investments, we might still fail because there’s no guarantee of that monthly payment. My in-laws both have pensions and didn’t even have to think or worry about retirement.
There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin either by words or pictures. Nor can any description I might offer here even approximate what it feels like to lose a real chunk of money that you used to own. The Roth is a better deal than a traditional IRA, since not only can you contribute “more” to the Roth, but also you’re hopefully in a higher tax bracket when you retire.
The above paragraph raises a subtle but important point about retirement savings. Note that I quoted an “expected return” of 5% for your retirement saving. We’ll skip over for now how I arrived at that figure, but for the moment, I’ll point out that this 5% number is not adjusted for inflation; that is, it is a “nominal” rate of return. I did this so as to more accurately compare it to the loan and credit card interest rates you may be facing.
Reading this booklet kind of feels special to me since the advice starts on what to do with investments at 25 years old, which is my current age. This little pamphlet is a must-read for everyone, not just young people who are starting out in their first job or people who are just starting to save money. It gives the basics in readable, easy-to-understand language.
For the rest of us, we have to start planning 20-30+ years in advance to get to that point. And while what you need to do is pretty simple, LEARNING those simple steps is hard. I’ve spent a couple of years learning the most tax-advantageous ways to structure and build our retirement over the next 20 years.
Next, you’ll need an emergency fund, enough for six months of living expenses. We’ve evolved to think about risk as a short term phenomenon. That would be an annual rebalancing exercise to get the proportions of the three or four funds back to their starting levels. A terrific and short read for just about any investor.
Market bottoms behave the same way; when everyone is afraid of stocks, then there’s no one left to sell, so prices are much more likely to move up than down. High risk and high returns go hand in hand, and so do low risk and low returns. Already knew most of the basic principles, still a good quick read to refresh and confirm. The quickest way to retire in a good and relaxed way is by reading this book.