Jay Peroni offers the following royalty-free article for you to publish online or in print. Feel free to use this article in your newsletter, website, ezine, blog, or forum. ----------- PUBLICATION GUIDELINES - You have permission to publish this article for free providing the "About the Author" box is included in its entirety. - Do not post/reprint this article in any site or publication that contains hate, violence, porn, warez, or supports illegal activity. - Do not use this article in violation of the US CAN-SPAM Act. If sent by email, this article must be delivered to opt-in subscribers only. - If you publish this article in a format that supports linking, please ensure that all URLs and email addresses are active links. - Please send a copy of the publication, or an email indicating the URL to [email protected] - Article Marketer (www.ArticleMarketer.com) has distributed this article on behalf of the author. Article Marketer does not own this article, please respect the author's copyright and publication guidelines. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this article. ----------- Article Title: Does Do It Yourself Investing Really Make Sense Author: Jay Peroni Category: Financial Planning, Investing, Personal Finance Word Count: 846 Keywords: financial planning, certified financial planner, faith-based values, investments, financial investme Author's Email Address: [email protected] Article Source: http://www.articlemarketer.com ------------------ ARTICLE START ------------------
Many investors choose to handle their own finances. Typical reasons why people choose to invest on their own include, but are not limited to: * Lack of trust in financial professionals. * Cost issues-don't want or cannot afford to pay for advice. * Expertise in the area of finance. * They enjoy and have time to do the proper research. Money can be a form of power, but the ultimate financial power is education. With the proper knowledge of how money works, you will enable yourself to make wiser financial decisions that foster a greater financial well-being. Commit to learning more about stocks, bonds, investing, and other financial topics. You can either continue working for money or find a way to make it work for you. One of the most important things to learn is not how to make money, but rather what to do after you make it. Always evaluate your decisions by asking, "Does what I'm doing make financial sense?" Keeping up with the Joneses and following the crowd is like a sheep being led to the slaughter. Dare to be different. Learn what it really takes to build wealth. Money may come and go, but if you have an education in how money works, you gain power over money and can continue building or rebuilding wealth if necessary. It is wise to use your gifts to the best of your ability. It also makes sense to seek help when your abilities are limited. Take me, for example. I have discovered what I am good at and what requires professional assistance. Household improvements and repairs are not my strong suit. I learned very early on that this is an area that requires help immediately. After several "experiences" of making bigger problems out of small routine repairs, it has become quite obvious this is an area where I lack gifts. I can make a mountain out of a molehill! Simple tasks for most people turn into a big mess for me. Believe me, it is not fun paying someone to fix not only the original problem, but also the new problems I have created. Sometimes, even when you have the expertise, knowledge, or skills, it is still important to have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of and receive wise counsel from. A prospective client, Bill, was a middle-aged CFO with more than twenty-five years of financial experience, an MBA from a good school, and decades of investment experience. The thorn in his side was his investment portfolio! Despite the schooling and book knowledge, Bill's portfolio was a mess and nearly impossible to keep track of. Like the weeds that took over the garden, Bill left his portfolio untamed. Bill had "over-diversified" his holdings. He owned hundreds of stocks, mutual funds, and bonds. Tracking, analyzing, and monitoring all of his positions would make a full-time job. Bill thought he knew what he was doing, but his results confirmed otherwise. Bill should have sought wise counsel. Most investors who manage their own portfolios fail to keep up with the stock market averages. For example, in 2007, DALBAR, Inc. found the average equity investor underperformed the S&P 500 index by 7.5 percent per year for the twenty-year period from 1987 to 2006. Remarkably, this was not the first time investors have failed miserably in their quest for stock market wealth. DALBAR had found similarly poor performance in each of its previous fourteen annual Qualitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB) reports. They concluded the problem is behavioral. Investors make poor choices, and their improper investment behaviors are corrosive to their success. Will Rogers once said, "Don't gamble; take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up, and then sell it. If it don't go up, don't buy it." Ironically, good investment choices are the goal of every rational investor. No one seeks failure, yet failure persists. Decades of data dispute the fact that most investors fail to recognize they have a problem, let alone pursue strategies that solve their shortcomings. Good choices and sound investing are illusive. If taming bad behavior was easy then everyone would make the appropriate course corrections as soon as they stubbed their investing toes enough to learn they were traveling on the wrong road. What should an investor do to fix his or her poor behavior patterns? DALBAR suggests professional help is critical to bridging the gap between purpose and performance. QAIB 2007 states, "The most important role of the financial advisor is to protect clients from the behaviors that erode their investments and savings." I will leave you with some common goals to help improve upon what you're already doing or motivate you to find professional assistance: The five common goals of every faith-based investor should be to: 1. Know yourself and not let emotions make your investment decisions 2. Listen and follow the Word of God as it relates to your investment portfolio. 3. Buy low and sell high. 4. Avoid unnecessary costs, fees, expenses, and taxes. 5. Sometimes paying for advice will cost you less than the mistakes you may make if you go it alone. Jay Peroni, CFP, and author of The Faith-Based Millionaire and The Faith-Based Investor. Jay is also the founder of http://www.FaithBasedInvestor.com, a faith-based investing newsletter and the founder of http://www.ValuesFirstAdvisors.com a firm dedicated to faith-based financial planning. ------------------ ARTICLE END ------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
