Krueger & Catalano

If it helps the best savers out there not cringe at the concept of spending more money, let me explain why I call vacations my Adventure Capital account. It may also help to know that I do not like spending it; I choose very carefully how to invest it, and the returns have been spectacular.

Here’s the reality. There is an over-crowded supply of things that can go wrong on expensive, commercialized vacations. I’m not talking about any of these, though you may have a similar memory as Chevy Chase in Vacation.

‘Tis the season for stock market year-end reviews along with 2020 predictions to get spread across investors’ tables. Our recommendation is to use a table with four legs.

Finding the next dollar of growth will get all the attention. But, that’s just one leg. There are three more that can put the same dollar in your pocket.

‘Tis the season for stock market year-end reviews along with 2020 predictions to get spread across investors’ tables. Our recommendation is to use a table with four legs.

Finding the next dollar of growth will get all the attention. But, that’s just one leg. There are three more that can put the same dollar in your pocket.

1. Risk

2. Cost

3. Tax

4. Growth

The dollars in your account from the first three are much easier to find because you already have them. All you have to do is keep more of them.

[Read Part 1 of our Year-End Financial Planning Series on Risk]

If the COST leg is just a little too long, then many of your dollars are sliding off your table and hitting the floors on Wall Street, perhaps without you even noticing.

‘Tis the season for fearless forecasts of where to find GROWTH in the stock market. Investor roundtables are recorded and written about, then distributed in several popular financial publications to be discussed and read all over the country.

When someone is just starting to invest for the first time -- regardless of age and amount -- my best advice is to learn how to bank yourself.

Empowering yourself with solutions based on informed simplicity can provide independence from large brokerage firms and banks that are obligated to perform for shareholders first, then customers second.

This is not just a beginner’s guide, but the exact same approach I use in my own account to this day, as a professional money manager through multiple Bull and Bear Markets.