In this updated edition of Rescue Your Money, New York Times bestselling author and investment guru Ric Edelman offers no-nonsense, practical advice for how to keep your investments safe in any economic climate.

Everyone knows that the ideal investment strategy is to buy low and sell high. But how do you know what stocks will pay off? And how do you know when it’s the right time to sell? No matter what you hear, there’s no such thing as a sure bet: following fads, listening to the media, and even taking the advice of an investment manager on a roll won’t guarantee a payout. To help you understand how to do it correctly, Edelman shows you the one major goal you should have as you seek investment success; the two major obstacles you’ll encounter; the one big question you’ll have to face; and two basic “truths” that confront—and confound—every investor.

If you’re scared or confused about how to handle your investments and fed up with “advice” from brokers, advisors, and media darlings that has cost you huge sums and placed your financial security at risk, the cure is in your hands. With a cheerful tone that will boost even the most panicked investor’s spirit, Edelman reveals the best investments you can make right now to Rescue Your Money.

Excerpt

Rescue Your Money CHAPTER

ONE One Major Goal You Should Have
When people seek investments, they tend to have one goal in mind: They want to beat the market.

Don’t agree? Then tell me why you compare the performance of your investments with the S&P 500 Stock Index. You’re gauging your success by comparing your investment results with the overall market, as measured by the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or some other stock-market index. If you’re beating the market, you’re happy. If you’re not, you’re unhappy.

Guess what? Trying to beat the market is the wrong goal.

In fact, that’s a disastrous goal. Taking that approach sets you up for failure.

Why? It’s really very simple. And we need look no further back than 2008 to understand why. In 2008 the S&P 500 lost 38.5%.I 1 If you lost only 30%, congratulations! You beat the market!

Somehow I doubt you (or your spouse) would be thrilled at such news.

Thus we must remember that “beating the market” isn’t the point. In fact, only one thing matters when it comes to investing: achieving financial security. That is your one major goal.

Think about it. The purpose of investing is to help you achieve your goals, whether that means sending your kids to college, retiring comfortably, or caring for aging parents. It’s financial security that matters, not some benchmark that has no relevance to your personal life.

People who focus on the stock market are missing the point. You need to emphasize your goals.

I. The sources for all statistics can be found on page 175.

About The Author

Courtesy of the Author

Ric Edelman

Ric Edelman is among the financial profession’s most influential people according to Investment Advisor, RIABiz and InvestmentNews. Barron’s ranked him three times as the nation’s #1 Independent Financial Advisor and he’s in Research magazine’s Financial Advisor Hall of Fame. Ric is founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals and Funding Our Future Coalition and holds two patents for financial product innovation.

Ric is the industry’s top financial educator, for thirty years the award-winning host of his national personal finance radio show. He’s also produced award-winning specials for Public Television, and is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of ten books on personal finance. He taught personal finance for nine years at Georgetown University and is now Distinguished Lecturer at Rowan University, which named its communications school the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts in 2020.

Ric and his wife Jean live in Northern Virginia. They are benefactors of the Edelman Center for Nursing at Inova Hospital Foundation, the Edelman Indoor Arena at Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program, and Rowan University’s Edelman Planetarium and Edelman Fossil Park.