{"id":30446,"date":"2012-06-25T07:10:35","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T11:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/2012\/06\/the-four-keys-to-achieving-your-financial-goals\/"},"modified":"2012-06-25T07:10:35","modified_gmt":"2012-06-25T11:10:35","slug":"the-four-keys-to-achieving-your-financial-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2012\/06\/25\/the-four-keys-to-achieving-your-financial-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Keys to Achieving Your Financial Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n

Despite the fact that the S&P 500 has doubled since the financial crisis in 2009, a shocking number of people still seem turned off by the stock market.<\/p>\n

According to a poll conducted by Prudential, 58% of respondents \u201chave lost faith\u201d in the stock market. Even more stunning, 44% say they will NEVER<\/span> invest in the stock market again. Never ever!<\/p>\n

What that tells me is there\u2019s still a lot of buying power on the sidelines. Call me a cynic, but people often say one thing and do another.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure there are some investors who got so burned by the collapse in 2008 and 2009, that they really never will put another penny into the market. They\u2019ll cower in fear, with all of their money in gold or bury their cash under the floorboards. And while that might keep their money secure, it\u2019ll never produce wealth.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a long-time reader of the site or subscribe to Investment U Daily<\/em>, you know that we don\u2019t try to time the markets. That\u2019s a fool\u2019s game. Sure, a market timer might make a great call now and then, but I don\u2019t know any who are consistently accurate.<\/p>\n

So rather than the futile exercise of trying to figure out the exact moment to buy or sell stocks, stick to our \u201cFour Pillars of Wealth\u201d to achieve your financial goals. The results will be better and you\u2019ll be able to sleep at night.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Stick to an Asset Allocation Model<\/strong> \u2013 Investment U<\/em> follows a formula that won Dr. Harold Markowitz the Nobel Prize in finance in 1990.<\/li>\n
  2. Adhere to Safety Switch<\/strong> \u2013 Buying a stock is easy. Knowing when to sell is the hard part. This way we let our winners ride and cut our losses before they get too big.<\/li>\n
  3. Understand Position Sizing<\/strong> \u2013 Invest no more than four percent of your portfolio in any one stock. That way if things go wrong, no one particular holding will sink your entire portfolio.<\/li>\n
  4. Cut your Expenses<\/strong> (Including Taxes) \u2013 Invest in no load funds with low expense ratios like Vanguard index funds. Also, choose closed-end funds that trade at a discount instead of open-end mutual funds with up-front fees or loads.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You can potentially lower your taxes by not selling your gains for one year, so that they qualify for the long-term capital gains tax rate (rather than the higher short term), avoid actively managed funds in your taxable accounts and keep your high-yield investments in your IRAs or other tax-deferred accounts.<\/p>\n

    The markets are a little tough right now. The big financials, such as Morgan Stanley<\/strong> (NYSE: MS), were just got downgraded by Moody\u2019s. Typically, it\u2019s difficult for the markets to rally without the help of the financials.<\/p>\n

    Several other sectors such as networking, transportation and utilities are also weak. One that still looks strong is the drug and biotech sector.<\/p>\n

    The point is there\u2019s still stocks out there performing well. You just have to look harder for them.<\/p>\n

    Consider following the Four Pillars of Wealth to achieve your financial goals and leave the panicking to those who have ridiculously sworn off the markets forever.<\/p>\n

    Good Investing,<\/p>\n

    Marc Lichtenfeld<\/p>\n

    Editor\u2019s Note: <\/strong>These \u201cFour Pillars of Wealth\u201d were originally developed by Alexander Green for The Oxford Club<\/a><\/em>. Marc and Alex wanted me to share a more detailed outline of these wealth preservation tips for those interested in learning more.<\/p>\n

    For a free copy of The Oxford Club\u2019s<\/em> full report on \u201cThe Four Pillars of Wealth,\u201d click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Article by Investment U<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Article by Investment U Despite the fact that the S&P 500 has doubled since the financial crisis in 2009, a shocking number of people still seem turned off by the stock market. According to a poll conducted by Prudential, 58% of respondents \u201chave lost faith\u201d in the stock market. Even more stunning, 44% say they … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “The Four Keys to Achieving Your Financial Goals”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}