Smartinvesting_jasonkelly

Jason Kelly

on Smart Investing
Author of The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing

Favorite Cheer!

Exclusive Interview

Jason Kelly on Smart Investing

Jason Kelly is the author of the Neatest Little Guide series, which includes titles such as The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing and The Neatest Little Guide to Personal Finance. Kelly also writes for many financial web sites, including iStockAnalyst.com and TheMicrocapSpeculator.com. Prior to giving you advice about smart investing, he worked as a technical writer at IBM. Here, Kelly shares why he thinks people should invest, and reminds us that it takes long-term strategy to reap the rewards of investing.

What is smart investing?

Finding companies of interest to you, studying them carefully, knowing their typical price range, waiting for them to get cheap for no reason or a reason that makes no sense, then buying as much as you can to profit from the eventual recovery.

Investing this way brings little stress because you know the companies well and time frames are long enough that you don't have to care about what happened on Wall Street five minutes ago.

Why should people invest in the first place? Isn't the market particularly volatile as of late?

People should invest in stocks because they are volatile in the short term, but rise over the long term. The market has averaged about 10% per year for the past 70 years, but not in a straight line. Stocks go up and down each minute, hour, and day, but head generally higher over time.

If you plot out the rising and falling, you'll see that stocks rise about 2/3 of the time and fall about 1/3. As for recent volatility, it's a media fiction. The market is no more volatile recently than at other times in history, it's just that investors became used to the lack of volatility that preceded it for a little while. Besides, volatility is good. It's just moving prices. With some education, people can learn how to identify good companies or strategies, and then put money to work in them when they're cheap. Without volatility and market nuttiness, we'd never get bargains.

With so many options for smart investing, where does one start?

I recommend the permanent portfolios featured in my Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing. The approach I take is to get started with something that's proven and can bubble on the back burner while you figure out how to invest in individual stocks for even greater performance.

Another simple way to dip a toe in the water is to just index. Buy the S&P 500 via an index fund and you'll own the stock market. You won't go bankrupt. You can't make a big mistake. The value of your account will fluctuate, and that will teach the nature of stocks.

Once you have an established core in a permanent portfolio or index fund, you can venture out into the woolly world of stock picking with a small amount of money at first, then larger amounts later when you've built confidence.

How can you tell what type of investment is right for you?

I can make this real simple if you're young: own stocks via index funds if you don't want to do much work, and then if you want bonus performance spend some time learning about individual stocks, as I mentioned above.

If you're over 70, then be careful. Don't go for growth; go for safety. You don't want any crises in your golden years.

If you're somewhere in between, ramp down the money you have in stocks as you get older, but not too quickly. People are living longer these days and need their money to go further, so some oomph from stocks is useful even into your 60s.

Dividend paying stocks are a nice middle ground for some people. Because they pay a dividend, there's profit from them even if the stock price stays the same or declines a bit. A steady stream of cash each quarter is nice to see, and adds up while you wait for the stock price to head higher as well.

What about non-traditional investment routes, such as art, collector's items, burgeoning businesses or real estate?

Except for one's own business and real estate, almost nothing comes close to the stock market for performance and—this part is key—convenience. The stock market is liquid. You can add money and take it out as easily as you can with a checking account, and even easier now that investing happens entirely online.

Stamps, art, wine and other stuff can work, but it's harder to find a market, you sometimes have to deal with storage, and most people find that they don't make any more than 10% per year anyway, so stocks would have made more sense.

Now, this is not addressing the non-financial rewards that come from other investments. There's a lot to be said for joy in life. No stock can compare to a well-stocked wine cellar or a beautiful painting on the wall when it comes to personal satisfaction. When it comes to financial performance, though, stocks are hard to beat.

What are some simple steps to take in the first 30 days of smart investing?

Open a brokerage account, put your first amount of money into an index fund, and set up a regular automated investment schedule to put more money in each month.

If that's all you ever did, you'd come out ahead of 80% of investors. That's the dirty little secret of the investing world. No broker wants you to know that you don't need any of their services, but it's true.

SIGNATURE QUESTIONS

What is the belief you personally go to during times of change?

That this too shall pass and that the same skills that served me before will serve me again, and that I rather like all this excitement because there's nothing worse than boredom.

The best thing about change is...

...It can be carried in a pocket. Oh, not that kind? Then I guess the chance to improve.

What is the best change you have ever made?

Leaving my life in Los Angeles behind and moving to Japan without speaking a word of the language. I was 31 and everybody said I was too old for such things.

Mary5432

Great Mother is Real... I am Aisha Kun and i want to testify about Great Mother how she cured me of hiv aids. I was diagnosed of this disease some time ago and i was worried. when i was searching the internet looking for a cure, i came across some testimonies of Great Mother how she has helped a lot of people and i decided to contact her on her info and explained to her. She laughed and told me that she will help me and i was surprised. She sent me the cure and it was a spiritual holy oil and water which is more than a medicine. She directed me on how to take it and i did. I took the cure for 3 weeks and i went to the doctor for check up and to my greatest surprise the disease was no longer in my system. I am so glad and i want to thank Great Mother for helping me. Contact her now on her website ourgreatmother1.com   and her email is Greatmotherofsolutiontemple1@yahoo.com  you can also reach her on her whatsapp number  +17025514367. If you have any disease, she can help you. Contact her now

Mary5432

Great Mother is Real... I am Aisha Kun and i want to testify about Great Mother how she cured me of hiv aids. I was diagnosed of this disease some time ago and i was worried. when i was searching the internet looking for a cure, i came across some testimonies of Great Mother how she has helped a lot of people and i decided to contact her on her info and explained to her. She laughed and told me that she will help me and i was surprised. She sent me the cure and it was a spiritual holy oil and water which is more than a medicine. She directed me on how to take it and i did. I took the cure for 3 weeks and i went to the doctor for check up and to my greatest surprise the disease was no longer in my system. I am so glad and i want to thank Great Mother for helping me. Contact her now on her website ourgreatmother1.com   and her email is Greatmotherofsolutiontemple1@yahoo.com  you can also reach her on her whatsapp number  +17025514367. If you have any disease, she can help you. Contact her now

Mary5432

Great Mother is Real... I am Aisha Kun and i want to testify about Great Mother how she cured me of hiv aids. I was diagnosed of this disease some time ago and i was worried. when i was searching the internet looking for a cure, i came across some testimonies of Great Mother how she has helped a lot of people and i decided to contact her on her info and explained to her. She laughed and told me that she will help me and i was surprised. She sent me the cure and it was a spiritual holy oil and water which is more than a medicine. She directed me on how to take it and i did. I took the cure for 3 weeks and i went to the doctor for check up and to my greatest surprise the disease was no longer in my system. I am so glad and i want to thank Great Mother for helping me. Contact her now on her website ourgreatmother1.com   and her email is Greatmotherofsolutiontemple1@yahoo.com  you can also reach her on her whatsapp number  +17025514367. If you have any disease, she can help you. Contact her now

KarenLola1

Great article! I hope this helps a lot of women out there.
Fix your marriage and relationship after a breakup or divorce, 100% guarantee Love spell..! A very big problem occurred in my Marriage seven months ago,between me and my husband .so terrible that he took the case to court for a divorce. he said that he never wanted to stay with me again,and that he didn't love me anymore.So he packed out of the house and made me and my children passed through severe pain. I tried all my possible means to get him back,after much begging,but all to no avail.and he confirmed it that he has made his decision,and he never wanted to see me again. So on one evening,as i was coming back from work,i met an old friend of mine who asked of my husband .So i explained every thing to him,so he told me that the only way i can get my husband back,is to visit a spell caster,because it has really worked for him too.So i never believed in spell,but i had no other choice,than to follow his advice. Then he gave me the email address of the spell caster whom he visited. I sent a mail to the address he gave to me,and the spell caster assured me that i will get my husband back the next day. What an amazing statement!! I never believed,so he spoke with me, and told me everything that i need to do. Then the next morning, So surprisingly, my husband who didn't call me for the past 7 months, gave me a call to inform me that he is coming back. So Amazing!! So that was how he came back that same day,with lots of love and joy,and he apologized for his mistake,and for the pain he caused me and my children. Then from that day,our relationship was now stronger than how it were before,by the help of a spell caster. So, i will advice you out there if you have any problem contact Dr Trust, i give you 100% guarantee that he will help you.. Email him at: Ultimatespellcast@gmail.com or Ultimatespellcast@yahoo.com Call +2348156885231 Thanks for reading.

nwesigwa

Hello dear friend,
To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love
someone who loves you is everything. Looking here for everything of my
life, I write some words. I am single and not engaged. I am in search of
true happiness and am hoping the future brings it. I am almost too honest
for my own good - and hate game playing.
nI am trying to handle some pretty encompassing issues in my life... but am
waiting to remain open-minded where the idea of romance exists. I am
looking for Honest, caring, patient, funny and loyal person. A man that
can be himself in the beginning and remain that same person all the way
through to the end of time !
nIf you are willing to love and be loved with your whole heart & willing to
make the people in your life a "solid' part of your soul... then maybe you
and I will connect. We might just have a lot to talk about through my
private e-mailbox(maryluveu@hotmailcom)
my contact info is.
Take care,
Ms mary maryluveu[at]ho/t/m/a/i/l/com

The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing

51svqzpmzul

In this revised edition, readers will learn: strategies on how to double the Dow with one simple investment and methods investors can use to avoid disasters such as Enron and WorldCom....

Www_jasonkelly_com