
1981The Ten Roads to Riches
calculating for how much to save each year, use a lower return
expectation.
It
will be tougher and slower to get rich on this road
if you don't use the magical power of stocks' superior compound-
ing returns. It can be done, though it takes longer. From our earlier
example, to get $6 million over 30 years with less stocks, maybe you
assume an average 7 percent return.
That
means saving $63,500 a
year with a better-paying job. If you can, great!
If
not, maybe retire
later, start saving earlier (you get to $6 million at 7 percent in 40 years
saving only $30,000 a year).
Or
maybe die sooner. It's up to you.
Stocks, Stocks,
and
More
Sto
cks
. . .
I spend no time telling you how to pick winning stocks because,
first, no one can teach you to do that in one chapter.
For
that, go to
my first and fourth books
(Super Stocks and The Only
Thr
ee Questions
That
Count). Next, the decision whether to hold stocks, bonds, or
cash, and in what percentage,
determines most
of
your
portfolio return.
Stock-picking, done right, still doesn't add that much to your
returns. My firm does that for a living. Trust me.
LIKE
HEm?
On this most common road there are few famous folks to learn
from.
One
famous character and one of my favorites was too
frugal
-Hetty
Green.
Hetty
didn't much do stocks. She rarely
sought big retums-e-aiming for 6 percent (before income taxes
existed) via mostly bonds. She only bought stocks at the height ...