Four Steps to Long-Term Financial Success

I recently read The Lies About Money. I wasn't really wild about the book, but it did have a few tidbits that I felt were worthwhile. One was their list of four steps to financial success:

1. Save regularly.
2. Hold your investments for very long periods.
3. Build a highly diversified portfolio.
4. Periodically rebalance that portfolio.

Good stuff, huh? Sound familiar? It's very similar to How to Get Rich in Three Easy Steps.

That's what I love about personal finances -- you don't have to be a rocket scientist to succeed with your money. If you simply do the basics and remained disciplined enough to keep at them for years and years, you will become wealthy.

For more on this line of thinking, see these posts:

• My Best Financial Advice: Spend Less than You Earn

• The 10 Best Money Moves You Can Make

• Poverty to Prosperity

Comments

[The Saving Freak]

In the last 100 years the only things that have changed is the amount of money we make, the number of places we have to spend it, and the options we have for investment. The truth is the keys to prosperity have not changed one bit. Stay out of debt, save consistently, spend responsibly.

[Aaron Stroud]

FMF, when I saw this post's title I thought for a split second you'd come across my ePamphlet of the same title (minus the Long-Term part). heh

@The Savings Freak, one thing that has changed is the tax burden. It has fluctuated up and down over the past hundred years with some earners paying over 90% on the majority of their earnings!

Unfortunately, it looks like we're trending upward again where the government is going to spend more of our money than we do!

[Ryan S.]

Who said there's no such thing as timeless advice? That right there is out and out classic.

[Edmund]

Doing the right thing in personal finance is not rocket science.

It just seems like it is so easy to go off on the right path.

[Double Journey]

I posted about my secret to building wealth just a few days ago on my blog. My secret is to just start. It's easy to make excuses not to do it, but I find that if people just start trying to build wealth, they find it's not that hard and that they really enjoy it.

[Aaron Stroud]

Double Journey, you're right that simply starting is the key to success. Not because you have to start to make progress, but because when you start plays a huge role in how hard you have to work at saving and investing.

The importance of starting now can be summed up in one sentence: You'll have to save twice as much for every decade delayed.

The contributions required get astronomical when you compare late starts (40's and 50's) to someone starting fresh out of college.

[CHM @ chancefavors]

I agree, whole heartedly, with the 4 points highlighted. If you view them as mantras and stick to it, this whole process is simplified.

Last week I examined a piece written on Moolanomy about '12 investing mistakes' and all of the points mentioned here came up.

The only thing I'd add to the list is complete a financial plan, at some point. Although, not a necessity in your 30's, if you follow the first 4 steps and end up building a nice nest egg or substantially increasing your net worth, a formal financial plan becomes a near must.