The Successful Investor Today : 14 Simple Truths You Must Know When You Invest

What does it take to achieve superior performance and become a successful investor? Rather than great stock pricing or market timing skills, it is far better for you to understand how the markets work and how to make them work best for you. Larry E. Swedroe argues that the right strategy never changes, no matter whether the bull is stampeding or the bear has emerged from hibernation.

The Successful Investor Today was written during one of the greatest bear markets of the post-World War II era--a bear market that was a result of the inevitable bursting of the technology-led bubble of the late 1990s (what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan called "irrational exuberance"). Although millions of investors unnecessarily incurred trillions of dollars in losses, neither this bubble, nor the ensuing devastating losses, were anything new.

Despite all the horrible investment experiences that have been reported, those investors who followed the fourteen simple truths outlined in this book--including the building of globally diversified portfolios-did not suffer the devastating losses experienced by many others. The fourteen simple truths withstand the tests of logic and time in the way the stock market really works, rather than the way Wall Street and the media would have you believe it works.

Since it is generally held that those who fail to plan, plan to fail, an investor must begin with an investment plan. Your plan should be tailored to conform to your unique ability, willingness, and need to take risk. In The Successful Investor Today, you will learn how to build, write, implement, and manage your investment plan over time. This book will help you become a better and more informed investor, and it will help you achieve your financial goals by gradually increasing your wealth. Apart from offering an up-to-date winning strategy, The Successful Investor Today presents an efficient and proven way to avoid the most common--and costly--mistakes investors continue to make.

Larry E. Swedroe graduated from New York University with an MBA in finance. He is the author of The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need, What Wall Street Doesn't Want You to Know, and Rational Investing in Irrational Times. Swedroe lives in St. Louis, Missouri where he is the head of research and a principal in the firm of Buckingham Asset Management, www.bamservices.com.