Читать книгу Investing All-in-One For Dummies - Eric Tyson - Страница 98

Numerous good investing choices exist: You can invest in real estate, the stock market, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, or your own business or someone else’s. Or you can pay down debts such as student loans, credit cards, an auto loan, or mortgage debt more quickly.

What makes the most sense for you depends on your goals as well as your personal preferences. If you detest risk-taking and volatile investments, paying down some debts, as recommended earlier in this chapter, may make better sense than investing in the stock market.

To determine your general investment desires, think about how you would deal with an investment that plunges 20 percent or 40 percent, over a short period of time. Some aggressive investments can fall fast. You shouldn’t go into the stock market, real estate, or small-business investment arena if such a drop is likely to cause you to sell or make you a miserable wreck. If you haven’t tried riskier investments yet, you may want to experiment a bit to see how you feel with your money invested in them.

A simple way to mask the risk of volatile investments is to diversify your portfolio — that is, put your money into different investments. Not watching prices too closely helps, too; that’s one of the reasons why real estate investors are less likely to bail out when the market declines. Unfortunately, stock market investors can get minute-by-minute price updates. Add that fact to the quick click of your computer mouse or tap on your smartphone that it takes to dump a stock or fund in a flash, and you have all the ingredients for shortsighted investing — and potential financial disaster.

Making investing decisions and determining your likes and dislikes is challenging when you consider just your own concerns. When you have to also consider someone else, dealing with these issues becomes doubly hard, given the typically different money personalities and emotions that come into play. Usually one person takes primary responsibility for managing the household finances, including investments. The couples who do the best job with their investments are those who communicate well, plan ahead, and compromise.

Couples stuck in unproductive patterns of behavior should get the issue out on the table. For these couples, the biggest step is making the time to discuss their financial management, whether as a couple or working with an advisor or counselor. The key to success is taking the time for each person to explain their different point of view and then offer compromises. So be sure to make time to discuss your points of view or hire a financial advisor or psychologist/marriage counselor to help you deal with these issues and differences.