Wisdom from a 92 year old grandmother: “The hardest ship to sail is a partnership.”
That leads us directly into Jason’s 3rd Commandment Of Successful Investing. Thou shalt maintain control of your investments. Don’t put the reins in another person’s hands or any non-transparent investment vehicle.
The name Bernie Madoff ring a bell recently? Though renowned as an investor with the magic touch, who really knew what he was doing? Yet people fell over themselves in a headlong rush for the double digit returns. Nothing wrong with double digit returns. We like them here at Empowered Investor but Bernie’s little $50 billion Ponzi scheme illustrates the critical nature of this commandment perfectly.
Does that make you a control freak? Who cares? You need to be a control freak, in this case. A nicer phrase would be direct investor.
By the way, Madoff’s rip-off involved…all together now…stocks. Don’t be in stocks. Be in income producing property and guide the portfolio yourself. The three major problems with relinquishing control of your investments are:
1. You might be investing with a crook.
2. You might be investing with someone who is incompetent.
3. You could get dinged with a large handling fee to manage your account.
Any or all three of these factors can and do take place on a daily basis. Unfortunately, all investment industries have their share of unethical, incompetent, and greedy people sitting across the desk from you with a crocodile grin and palm held out. Don’t play their game. Maintain control of your own investments. Grow wealthy. ‘Nuff said.
Flickr / Combust
