What To Do Now in 2019

It is a sad state of affairs when I hear statistics like 50% of the people are living pay check to pay check, and 50% of the workers are not invested in the stock market, and 50% of employees are not invested in their 401K or 403B plans at work.

Here is some simple advice for all.

- Mar. 2019

1. Get educated on financial planning and investing.

2. Start by tuning in to Fox Business Channel every weekday morning 6am-9am, Morning with Maria show. You will learn so much about the state of business in America and the world.

3. Save, save, save...if you have a job or are working P/T, put a little money away each pay period. You should have enough of savings for approximately 6 months of your basic expenses. These includes housing, food, gas, taxes, utilities, and outstanding loans.

4. After that, start saving for your retirement. Take advantage of your company’s 401K plan. Contribute the maximum if you can. If not, whatever you can affort.

5. Learn how to invest. It does not have to be complicated or exotic. The most basic plan is to invest in index funds. If your company have a 401K plan, they will usually have a few investment options. Select the one with the highest return history and with the lowest fees. Usually, they are the index funds or no-load mutual funds.

The above is the basic minimum. In addition, you might want to spend some time and learn our country’s civics. Learn about local politics. Make sure you know the issues before every election. Vote the best candidates that agree with your own beliefs.

We have a democratic republic form of government. This means we elected representatives in the local and federal levels who in turn pass laws that govern all of us. These laws have short and long term implications on our lives...including money, taxes, investments, deficits and wars and conflicts and immigration.

Knowing civics is the only way to protect and preserve our freedom and our individual rights as stated in the Constitution.

It may help to read the Constituion once a year just to refresh your memory. It is only 8000 words or so and it was written in common language, so everyone can comprehend it.

Just for a sample information. If you have invested in SPY exchange traded fund on Jan. 1, 2017, you would have received a gain of 20% at the end of 2017. And if you continued investing in SPY, it would have risen another 10% in 2018 up till the November mid-term election and then dropped back down below the start of the year.

Now, in Mar. of 2019, the SPY fund has gained approximately 7% so far. In approx. 2.25 years, since the election of Trump, the market return accumulated a total of 27%.

That is a very impressive return.

My objective in this article is very simple. I want all Americans to learn to be self reliant. You cannot be self reliant unless you are economically savvy. You must understand how to make money, and then how to invest so you get the maximum returns. It is just common sense.

Also, notice these ideas are not politically based. Regardless who is president or in control of DC, these advice and ideas are sound.