Author Topic: Investing, fear, and education  (Read 2069 times)

andrec

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Investing, fear, and education
« on: August 24, 2015, 10:42:43 AM »
Greetings to the stash community,

This question comes from a 30 year old musician trying to work towards financial independence.  I've been reading the blog for about a year now and it's amazing how much this has blown my mind and given me new goals.  Simplicity, minimalism and frugality have come somewhat naturally to me.  I am a musician and I don't make very much money so I am accustomed to living simple.  But, what I have realized is that I have a very real fear of investing.  Last year I finally opened a Roth IRA, contributed the maximum, decided that I would continue to do investing research before I purchased anything.  As a consequence, I have $5500 sitting in my IRA and $30,000 sitting in my checking account doing nothing.  I feel that educating myself is the most powerful way to overcome these fears.  I read a Random Walk Down Wall street, and the Intelligent Asset Allocator, but I still feel like my understanding of investing is incredibly limited.  I don't really understand much of the terms and vocabulary used in these books and I still feel to afraid to make any decisions.  Is there some books out there that are more rudimentary that perhaps I should read first? 

So, I am asking for recommendations on reading lists/resources that I can use to get  my shit together.  Thanks

Dicey

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Re: Investing, fear, and education
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2015, 10:48:45 AM »
Not sure what to recommend, because I used a financial planner, which actually got me to FIRE, so hold your fire, please. Just commenting to say that I did what you did (saving but not investing) until the same age and still crossed the finish line early, so there's hope. I would recommend jumping over to our MMM friend's blog and  start at the beginning. Not a book, but good great advice.

http://jlcollinsnh.com/about/

Seppia

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Re: Investing, fear, and education
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2015, 10:49:01 AM »
I think everybody can benefit from reading the intelligent investor by Ben Graham.
He was warren Buffett's mentor.

Honestly though the strategy recommended for those who want to be "passive investors" (meaning: you don't want / cannot dedicate a ton of time to research) is incredibly simple:
buy index funds regularly and/or whenever you have the money to.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!