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Birds of a Feather / Teens and Their Money


Subject:  stuff and guts Date:  11/30/2001  10:23 AM
Author:  meadeoh Number:  1081 of 2674

ok,here we go again, telling you what to do. don't invest because someone tells you to invest, invest because you want to. so why should you want to? I have no clue, I don't even know you, but if your like I was as a teenager there is something out there in dreamland that you want and the only thing standing in your way of getting it is money. It may be something material like a cool car,something to experience like a trip to austailia, or something you feel necessary for yourself as a person like going to college in san diego to study whales. the deal is to have a goal, something you can picture in your mind and really get off on dreaming about actually having or doing someday. You need to write this down, cut out pictures, visualize. money doesn't do you any good until you spend it. but you have to have it to spend it.
next step is to believe in the benefit of risk. if something is worth having alot, it is worth taking some risk for. how much risk you want to take is as personal a decision as who you really want to go out with on a date. no one can tell you, only you know. this leads up to instinct. TRUST YOUR GUT. all the advice you get from reading, watching and listening to the so called experts is important, but not nearly as important as how you feel about what you are going to do. I have found that usually the first thought or feeling I have about something is my best guide to what I do when I decide to act. This works with investing and just about anything else of importance. my best time for this "gut crystal ball" is when I first wake up in the morning (or afternoon),whatever...the 'gut ball' hasn't been clouded by the days noise and stress. It is all you.
Finally, you don't have to be a genius to see that over time, and that is one thing you have in abundance investment-wise, an investment in the U.S. stock market will make more money for your desired stuff than anything else you could invest it in. In the stock market your money should double every 5 years or so. If you put that money in a bank account you'll be my age (52) before it doubles. If you buy cool clothes or video games it will never double. Think of it as paying yourself.