Saturday, November 28, 2009

Sustainable Wealth

I finished reading Sustainable Wealth: Achieving financial security in volatile world of debt and consumption by investment dude Axel Merk. It is a good read and I recommend it to anyone interested in saving and making money.

The key tenants:

Spend less than you make
Create concrete savings goals
Avoid or pay down debt
Keep abreast of economic trends and diversify your risk
Invest only what you can afford to lose
Don't trust the government to save you
Work for yourself if possible and realistic

Some specific ideas he included:
pick up foreign currency instead of all US dollars
real estate / rental property
Don't count on the stock or bond market for all your returns

1 comment:

Steve said...

If you don't have 60 hours each week to study investing, I don't think you should invest your own money. I would not invest with anyone who says the historical trend of the stock market is up. Even before the crash.

Conservative investing is the way to go. Warren Buffett is a conservative investor, or was before the bailout. Take this with a grain of salt, as I don't have much money, and I don't invest. My 401K, and my wife's 401K did make money last year. I bet a lot of people cannot say that. Very little is in the stock market. None last year. I think the stock market is a bailout bubble probably right now. Who knows though??

Good Luck!!