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Does Your Life Include a RIPE Plan?—Planning Tips
for Retirement, Investing, Protection, and Estate
Planning – Part 2 (Investing)
by: Janet L. Hall

After reviewing your retirement plan, or lack of one, you might have had a huge eye opener to the type of life you might have to endure after retirement. Did it become apparent that you HAVE to change your lifestyle NOW so you can enjoy your future? Did it become apparent that you better start learning about investing and start investing NOW?

TIP: Before you begin to invest you should also educate yourself into the vast arena of investing. You should have a game plan, know what your expectations are for investing, and your needs for now and the future.

The Internet has made it easier then every to start investing; at least you can sit in the privacy of your home or office and click away your money. BUT are you investing wisely? OR does the whole idea of investing have you so confused or scared that you don’t even think about it?

Let me tell you right up front, there are no PERFECT investments. Very few people (if any) get rich overnight by investing. Investing is more like a long-term savings plan, but hopefully with much better returns.

To make intelligent and wise investments, you should know and understand the economic conditions; not only of the US or country you live in, BUT the world economy as a whole. Stop, learn, and understand how inflation, interest rates, and taxes will affect your investments.

Once you have some understanding of economics and how it will affect your investments then you need to know and understand the different types of investment opportunities that are available and how your age and possibly even your health plays into those investments.

The 5 W’s of Investing:

~~ WHO do I use as my broker or do I go at it alone?
You can do most of your investing yourself but if you need or want advice, hire a planner or broker; you DO NOT have to be rich to hire a planner. Just remember, bottom line, it’s your money, not theirs, and it’s your life!

~~ WHAT type of investments should I make?
A lot of things come into play here – your age, income, available monies, your health, and your expectations. I’ve listed several types of investments for you. It’s your job to find out which is best suited for you.

Types of Investments:

For a small amount of money you can invest in many stocks by investing in MUTUAL FUNDS.

Under Mutual Funds you have:
Growth Funds, Income Funds, Bond Funds, Money Market Funds, Sector Funds, International Funds.

There are * open-ended * and * closed-ended * funds, * fund families *, and * big * funds and * small * funds (Isn’t this FUN!).

INDIVIDUAL STOCKS are publicly traded stocks that are over-the-counter and listed.

Under Stocks you have:
Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Cumulative Preferred, Stock Dividends, and Penny Stock.

IOU a BOND, which is what a bond is.

Under Bonds you have:
T-Bonds, T-Bills, Savings Bonds, Municipal Bonds, Corporate Bonds, and Stripped Bonds.

You can also invest in Real Estate, Art, Collectibles, Utilities, and Commodities.

There are Low Risk/Low Effort and High Effort, Medium Risk/Low Effort and High Effort, and High Risk/Low Effort and High Effort

~~ WHEN do I start investing?
If you’ve been doing your homework the last couple of months in OverHall IT! You should have a working budget in place, cut out needless or wasteful spending, and your financial area should be more in balance. The next suggested step before you begin investing is to build an emergency fund of three to six months’ salary. After all these tasks are completed, then and ONLY then should you think about investing.

TIP: You should only invest money that you can afford to * put away * for at least five years or longer. This means you must take a very close look at other things in your life, such as is your job secure, is your transportation reliable, are you in good health, is your business profitable and steady, and many, many other areas and things in your life before you start investing your hard earned money, because you want to make a profit, right?

~~ WHERE do I invest?
Only you can answer this AFTER you’ve done your homework!

~~ WHY do I want or need to invest?
Do you want to build an estate to leave to your loved ones or do you need extra money now? Are you investing to supplement your income or for your child’s future?

~~ HOW do I invest?
Invest the time in learning about investing your money, it’s your MONEY and your FUTURE. If you’ve already started investing, schedule a meeting with yourself or planner/broker and review your portfolio to make certain your investments are or will be meeting your needs. Make it a habit to review your portfolio at least yearly and especially when you have a * life * change.

As you can see, there is a lot more to investing then just * picking something * and laying out your hard earned cash!

How much time are you willing to invest in your investments?

The mantra for Investing is * Educate, Select, Monitor, and Review *!

TIP: Try playing * pretend investing * while you are learning. E-TRADE offers a * PLAY * area to do such a thing at http://www.etrade.virtualstockexchange.com

Here’s hoping you invest wisely and make the monies that you need or want!

Smiles, not Piles,
The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a Professional
Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is the owner of
OverHall Consulting, and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her FREE organizing newsletter at
http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm or visit
her web site at http://www.overhall.com

Copyright Ó 2000 by OverHall Consulting
P.O. Box 263, Port Republic, MD 20676
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