535 546
536 547
537 548
538 549
539 550
540 551
541 552
542 553
543 554
544 555
545 556
546 557
547 558
548 559
549 560
550 561
551 563
552 564
553 565
554 566
555 567
556 568
557 569
558 570
559 571
560 573
561 574
562 575
563 576
564 577
565 578
566 579
567 580
568 581
569 582
570 583
571 584
572 585
573 586
574 587
575 588
576 589
577 590
578 591
579 592
580 593
581 594
582 595
583 596
584 597
585 598
586 599
587 600
588 601
589 602
590 603
591 604
592 605
593 606
594 607
595 608
596 609
597 610
598 611
599 612
600 613
601 614
602 615
603 616
604 617
605 618
606 619
607 620
608 621
609 622
610 623
611 624
612 625
613 626
614 627
615 628
616 629
617 630
618 631
619 632
620 633
621 634
622 635
623 636
Introduction
Successful investing takes diligent work and knowledge, like any other meaningful pursuit. Investing All-in-One For Dummies presents basic investing topics — such as building an emergency fund, determining your financial goals, and choosing a broker (if you’re not a do-it-yourself investor) — but also introduces some slightly more advanced subjects, like fundamental analysis, that can enhance your investing strategies. In between, you find the basics of investing in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, real estate, and trends like cryptocurrencies.
This book can help you avoid the mistakes others have made and can point you in the right direction as you build your portfolio. Explore the pages of this book and find the topics that most interest you within the world of investing.
In all the years that we’ve counseled and educated investors, the single difference between success and failure, between gain and loss, has boiled down to two words: applied knowledge. Take this book as your first step in a lifelong learning adventure.
About This Book
To build wealth, you don’t need a fancy college or graduate-school degree, and you don’t need a rich parent, biological or adopted! What you do need is a desire to read and practice the many simple yet powerful lessons and strategies in this book.
This book is designed to give you a realistic approach to making money. It provides sound, practical investing strategies and insights that have been market-tested and proven from more than 100 years of stock market history. You’re not expected to read it from cover to cover. Instead, this book is designed as a reference tool. Feel free to read the chapters in whatever order you choose. You can flip to the sections and chapters that interest you or those that include topics that you need to know more about.
Investing intelligently isn’t rocket science. By all means, if you’re dealing with a complicated, atypical issue, get quality professional help. Hiring someone is dangerous if you’re financially challenged. If you do decide to hire someone, you’ll be much better prepared if you educate yourself. Doing so can also help you focus your questions and assess that person’s competence.
Foolish Assumptions
No matter your skill or experience level with investing, you can get something out of Investing All-in-One For Dummies. We assume that some readers haven’t invested in anything other than baseball cards or Pez dispensers and have no clue of where to even start. If that describes you, the first part of the book is custom-made for you and takes extra care to step through all the key points in as much plain English as possible. (When we have no choice but to use investing jargon, we tell you what it means.) But we also assume that more advanced investors may pick this book up, too, looking to discover a few things. The book takes on more advanced topics as you progress through it.
Here are some assumptions we made about you as we crafted this book:
You have about seven cents in your checking account and you’re working to pay off credit card debt or student loans (or both), but you know you need to start