A random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing

TOTAL RETURN INDEXES

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If you want a get-rich-quick investment strategy, this is
not the book for you. I’ll leave that for the snake oil
salesmen. You can only get poor quickly. To get rich, you
will have to do it slowly, and you have to start now.
What if you did not save when you were younger and find
yourself in your fifties with no savings, no retirement plan,
and burdensome credit card debt? It’s going to be a lot harder
to plan for a comfortable retirement. But it’s never too late to
make a plan. There is no other way to make up for lost time
than to downsize your lifestyle and start a rigorous program
of savings now. You may also have no other choice but to

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remain in the workforce and to push back retirement a few
years. Fortunately, it is easier to play catch-up with tax-
advantaged retirement plans that will be described below.
So put time on your side. Start saving early and save
regularly. Live modestly and don’t touch the money that’s
been set aside. If you need further discipline, remember that
the only thing worse than being dead is to outlive the money
you have put aside for retirement. And if projections are to
be believed, about one million of today’s baby boomers will
live to be at least one hundred.
EXERCISE 2: DON’T BE CAUGHT
EMPTY-HANDED: COVER
YOURSELF WITH CASH
RESERVES AND INSURANCE
Remember Murphy’s Law: What can go wrong will go
wrong. And don’t forget O’Toole’s commentary: Murphy
was an optimist. Bad things do happen to good people. Life
is a risky proposition, and unexpected financial needs occur
in everyone’s lifetime. The boiler tends to blow up just at the
time that your family incurs whopping medical expenses. A

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job layoff happens just after your son has totaled the family
car. That’s why every family needs a cash reserve as well as
adequate insurance to cope with the catastrophes of life.