Top 3 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Life

You may have seen the TV show on Spike called 1000 Ways to Die which essentially profiles all sorts of deadly, freak accidents. Ghoulish stuff for sure, yet surprisingly thought-provoking. In some ways, author, actor and humorist Ben Stein has written the monetary equivalent of this quirky show, with a book that lists dozens of ways that people kill themselves financially.

Remember, these tips are things Stein advises you NOT to do.

1) Trade Frequently - "If you trade frequently you're almost guaranteed to lose money," Stein says in the attached video. "Unless you're a high frequency trader with access to incredibly powerful computers, a limitless base of capital and access to inside information" the only road to success is to "buy and hold big, broad indexes forever." 

2) Trade Foreign Currencies - The second financial landmine that Stein brings up is trading foreign currencies, a racket he describes as "so treacherous and so difficult" that the top dogs at the top firms can barely make a go of it with the very best resources and technology. He says ordinary investors should stay away from forex markets, and instead seek out what Warren Buffett urged him to invest in. "Just buy productive assets, in the form of stocks, and then buy the indexes and hold on for dear life," he says. 

3) Go With Your Gut and Pick Stocks - And finally, Stein adds to his financial disaster list the doomed notion of believing in your heart that you can pick stocks. "If you're Buffett and you have incredible opportunities and if you are an incredible genius beyond reasoning" then sure, go be a stock picker. "But for anyone else, no!" Stein advises.

Source:  Ben Nesto, Breakout

The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation, solicitation, or offer by D2 Capital Management, LLC or its affiliates to buy or sell any securities, futures, options or other financial instruments or provide any investment advice or service. D2, its clients, and its employees may or may not own any of the securities (or their derivatives) mentioned in this article.

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