13 Steps to Investing Foolishly - Step 13

Step 13: Make friends and influence Fools.In May 1997, the world's greatest chess master, Garry Kasparov, was famously defeated in an historic six-game match. What made the duel so momentous was that the winning "player" wasn't human; it was a computer built by IBM, nicknamed Deep Blue. The final game wasn't even close: Using its 11.38 gigaflops of calculating power, it took Deep Blue less than one hour and only 19 moves to crush the reigning world champion.So what exactly does the Deep Blue story have to do with you and your portfolio? Everything.Deep Blue is how you beat the market In the next day's paper the headlines blared, "Machine Beats Man!"Machine beats man? That's not how we Fools saw it. You see, the machine didn't beat Kasparov. His real opponents were the dozens of IBM programmers...

Read more »

13 Steps to Investing Foolishly - Step 12

Step 12: Pay It ForwardThe very fact that you are reading this sentence tells us a lot about your character.Clearly, you crave knowledge since you're actively seeking information to increase your financial smarts and portfolio returns. Having gotten this far in this 13-step primer, it's likely you've acquired the skills needed to handle most money-related matters in a take-charge, in-front-of-the-8-ball way. You have no problem picking out a decent bottle of red wine, are vigilant about using your turn signal, and are above-average looking.OK, those last three are just hunches. Still, we think the world of you, Fool. And we think the world will be a better place now that you've gotten a bit more Foolish.Have we sufficiently buttered you up? We hope so, because before we come to the grand finale...

Read more »

13 Steps to Investing Foolishly - Step 11

Step 11: Retire in StyleAnd now, ladies and gentlemen, the inflation-adjusted million-dollar question: Can you afford the retirement of your dreams?While you ponder that, it's likely that a few other questions will come to mind: How much money will I need when I retire? What kind of lifestyle will I be able to afford? What will my current savings be worth by then? How much can I afford to take out every year? Will I need to adjust my plan? Does anyone have a brown paper bag? I'm feeling lightheaded. Relax. We're going to tell you almost everything you need to know about retirement, right now, in less than five minutes. Ready? Here goes.1. Contribute to the right accounts. If you've read this 13-step investing primer in order and took the 15 to 30 minutes it took to complete the action...

Read more »