“The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear – fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety.”
– H. L. Mencken
Are you afraid?
Do you fear the stock market?
Have you given up on investing after being burned in the past?
Well, let me let you in on a secret… you aren’t alone.
Despite a record run for the stock market, Americans are downright terrified to buy stocks. In fact, half of the country doesn’t invest in stocks at all.
A recent survey from BankRate revealed that 52% of the country isn’t investing in the stock market at all — and that includes retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs.
That is simply crazy. If you do not have any exposure to stocks, the odds are heavily stacked against you living a comfortable retirement. Fear is no excuse to bury your head in the sand and hope that everything will work itself out. It won’t…
I’m here to tell you not to be scared, just be smart. You see, investing really isn’t that complicated.
All you really have to do is follow the KISS rule: keep it simple, stupid…
One of the most common reasons people gave for not investing is that they think it is too risky. I can’t really blame them for thinking that…
Depending on your age, you’ve almost certainly lived through one of the major crashes: Black Monday in 1987, the explosion of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the crash of 2008. They all wiped out a chunk of investors’ money in very short order.
However, the resulting bear markets only lasted a short while, and if you had the testicular fortitude to keep buying stocks during those times, you’d have made a pretty penny doing so.
If you kept investing in the broad market over the last 10 years — including that horrible crash of 2008 — you’d still be in the green today. In fact, even if you invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 right before the the 2008 crash (the worst possible time) — you’d already have made your money back. The S&P 500 is up over 200% since the bottoming out in March 2009.
And that is but one example. Just check out this chart from CircleBlack that shows exactly how long it takes to recoup your investments after a major crash:
So, as long as you aren’t planning on retiring in the very near future, you generally have some time to recover from even the worst crashes. That’s why I buy far more shares of my favorite stocks any time the market takes a hit. I know for a fact that the stock will eventually pull itself back up, and by buying at the bottom I get to scoop up shares at a radical discount.
It’s like investing legend Peter Lynch once said, “The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.”
He should know, his Magellan Fund typically doubled S&P returns and was the single best mutual fund in the world.
But the risk level isn’t the only reason that investors are terrified of the stock market…
The other reason Americans are staying on the sidelines during this record stock run is a flat out distrust of brokers, financial advisors, and money managers. This is one point I totally agree with. I don’t trust them either…
Why?
I think this old joke pretty much sums it up…
A brand new investor had just come in to see a famous stockbroker…
“Can you tell me how much you charge?” the investor asked.
“Of course,” the stockbroker replied, “I charge $500 to answer three questions.”
“Well, that’s a bit steep, isn’t it?” the investor replied.
“Indeed it is,” said the stockbroker, “And what’s your third question?”
You see, most brokers and advisors are paid commission for selling you more expensive financial products and selling as many of them as possible — even if it is not in your financial interest. And I’m not just talking about big-shot Wall Street hedge funds… this applies to your typical IRA and 401(k) retirement accounts as well.
Did you know that on average, you shed up to $150,000 of your retirement money on assorted fees? It’s borderline criminal.
But I don’t fear financial advisors and money managers — because I avoid them entirely. I don’t fear market crashes — because I set up my portfolio to work for me in good times and bad.
Here’s how to confront your fears and conquer them for good. You’ll be shocked at how easy it is once you get started…
I follow a two-part system that completely shields you from these two main fears. It is a system I set up to avoid losing my shirt during market downturns and keep my money out of the pockets of greedy financial advisors at the same time.
The first step is to buy a small handful of dividend stocks. But I’m not talking about throwing darts at a list of big blue chip stocks. I focus much of my portfolio on dividend aristocrats — a select group of companies that have raised their dividends for at least 25 years in a row.
Not only does this type of stock produce a consistent income stream for you to use as you please, but the stocks themselves have returned 183% over the last decade — almost double the S&P 500 over the same time frame. So while half of the country was hiding under their beds, I was getting checks in the mail every month and supercharging my portfolio at the same time.
The second approach I take completely bypasses the brokers and financial advisors. It’s a secret account that allows you to buy stocks directly from the company itself. The bulk of investors have never heard of this strategy because the SEC forbids companies for advertising them.
And your broker sure isn’t going to tell you about it because he won’t make a dime off of it.
I have packaged the entire strategy in an easy-to-follow program. I’ll give you seven companies you can use to get started.
Perhaps the best part of this strategy is that you don’t have to be swimming in money to get started. All you need to kick-start this program is one measly share…
With this special account, your portfolio compounds over and over again — and you don’t have to do a thing. If you want to build your wealth and security but were always scared to, you couldn’t ask for an easier or safer way to do it.
The best time to start investing was yesterday. The second best time is today. Get started right now…
There’s absolutely nothing to be scared of.
