Читать книгу Personal Finance After 50 For Dummies - Eric Tyson - Страница 91

A critical issue to weigh when investing a chunk of money toward a specific goal like retirement is knowing your time horizon, or the length of time you have in mind until you need the money.

The potential problem with timing is this: If you invest your money in a risky investment and it drops in value just before you need to sell, you could be forced to take a loss or a much lower gain than you anticipated. So you should be concerned about matching the risk or volatility of your investments with the time frame that you have in mind.

Suppose you’re investing some money that you plan to use for one-time expenses in a few years. With a short time frame in mind, investments such as stocks or real estate aren’t be appropriate, because they can fluctuate a great deal in value from year to year. These more growth-oriented (and volatile) investments, on the other hand, can be useful in working toward longer-term goals, such as retirement, that may be a decade or more away. (Chapter 3 provides information on how to figure out when you can afford to retire.)