Do It Better
How to Invest Your Money
by Jean Chatzky, Money magazine editor-at-large and author of Make Money, Not Excuses
Boring is better—that's my mantra. I decide, when I first invest it, how I want to divvy up my money between stocks and bonds. As markets fluctuate, that distribution can get thrown out of whack. If I put 60 percent in stocks and then those prices go up, my investment will increase and—because stocks are less stable than bonds—I'll be taking on more risk than I originally planned. But I set it and forget it—I choose my mix and tell my 401(k) plan or brokerage firm to rebalance it, so my investments run on automatic pilot.
by Jean Chatzky, Money magazine editor-at-large and author of Make Money, Not Excuses
Boring is better—that's my mantra. I decide, when I first invest it, how I want to divvy up my money between stocks and bonds. As markets fluctuate, that distribution can get thrown out of whack. If I put 60 percent in stocks and then those prices go up, my investment will increase and—because stocks are less stable than bonds—I'll be taking on more risk than I originally planned. But I set it and forget it—I choose my mix and tell my 401(k) plan or brokerage firm to rebalance it, so my investments run on automatic pilot.
From the November 2006 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine