Here’s a Money-Making Strategy: Save More

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from someone living nearby who wanted to talk about his investment plan. We arranged a time to meet, and I got to spend an hour being a sounding board. It didn’t take long to discover that he was making a common mistake. It’s one I’ve made, too, and continue to make if I’m not paying attention.

When we focus on the market and our investments, we usually do so at the expense of many other important things. We trick ourselves into thinking our investments matter more than anything else, in large part because it’s what we hear the most about. In fact, it’s not unusual to hear people say if they just find the right investment strategy or the next Apple stock or the right “alternative” investment or the right market-timing strategy or the right fund manager, they’d solve all their financial issues.

My new friend made a similar argument during our conversation. He followed and read the work of many self-described market strategists, and he tried to translate what they said into his personal investment strategy. That muddle wasn’t leading to a very good outcome.

Read the rest of the article on the New York Times.