The Elements of Investing: Easy Lessons for Every Investor, Updated Edition

A SUPER SIMPLE SUMMARY: KISS INVESTING

The steps to a comfortable, care-free retirement are really simple, but they require discipline and emotional fortitude.

1. Save regularly and start early.
2. Use company- and government-sponsored retirement plans to supercharge your savings and minimize your taxes.
3. Diversify broadly over different securities with low-cost “total market” index funds and different asset types.
4. Rebalance annually to the asset mix that's right for you.
5. Stay the course and ignore market fluctuations; they are likely to lead to serious and costly investing mistakes. Focus on the long term.

KISS investing—Keep It Simple, Sweetheart—is the best and easiest and lowest cost and worry-free way to invest for retirement security. Go for it!

Speaking of sweethearts, all wives and all husbands should be sure they both know all the facts about their investments. And because we are each different in our emotions about investments, markets, and money, families should strive again and again to share their thoughts and feelings so they can understand each other and make decisions together.