I had a lot of fun being right about the Facebook IPO and it has nothing to do with thinking Facebook sucks or hating Facebook or anything like that. Because I actually like Facebook and think its incredibly cool what they have built.
I revel in being right because I can’t stand the frenzy that gets chummed up by business reporters and other morons about stocks and IPOs which leads people to throw their money away on stupid investments and other such garbage that is shilled as “guaranteed” or “sure-fire” (both terms that are utterly worthless when used in the context of investments).
Since I am a big fan of the Tom Leykis show and Tom has a Money Monday segment on his show, I am going to copy that a little today and share a little bit more advice with you that can possibly keep you from getting burned.
Will this be a regular feature of the blog? Maybe or maybe not.
I’ll see what the reaction is and go from there.
Here are some tips.
1. You want to invest money in stocks and other investment tools? You need to know what you are doing. So I suggest you get this book The Intelligent Investor. This is the book that Warren Buffett has credited with teaching him a lot about value investing. And trust me, he knows more about picking stocks and investing than you do. So if he tells you that you should read a book, for God’s sake, read it.
2. If you don’t understand an investment, for God’s sake, don’t just put your money into it because everyone else is doing it. No! Stop it! If you have some money to invest and you aren’t sure what to do with it, get a financial adviser. At least, with their help you’ll learn more about retirement and what investments you can make to be able to retire in peace. But, make sure that you get one that you pay a fee to. If they get their fee from the products that you buy, you are just pissing money away because they have no loyalty to you, you are just a mark for them to make a commission off of. So don’t do it.
3. Pay yourself first. I know you guys and girls love to go out and party. You love to buy crap at Ikea. You love to get some ebooks from Amazon and everything else. Hell, you work hard, so its understandable, but you know what you won’t like, being broke when you are 60 trying to scrape by on Social Security because you weren’t smart enough to take 5-10% of your check and lock it away. Put it in a CD, or a Money Market Account or where ever it is that you set up your savings account for financial independence is.
That’s enough for this first edition.
I’d like to hear some of the common sense ways that you are not being stupid with your money. Leave them in the comments section, maybe you can help someone else with your ideas.