PART
1

Laying Your Investing Foundation

In Part 1 you’ll learn to make choices based on assessing your current financial situation. You’ll determine exactly how much you can invest, what dreams you want to achieve, and how long it will take you to achieve your goals.

We’ll think about how much risk you’re willing to take (if any) and how that will determine what investments you should choose. While no investment is completely safe, we’ll sort through the types of risk so you can weigh how to balance taking risks with maximizing your investment growth.

Because you’re reading this book, you’re probably eager to get started investing. Whoa, there! Take a little time to plan your strategy and learn the basics. We’ll look at how to build up the money to invest, and where to put it temporarily while you’re learning and accumulating. Let’s get started!