A lot of people put off investing for as long as they possibly can, coming up with all sorts of excuses and objections. I'd like to show you that there really is no excuse for neglecting your future. Let's address some of the most common excuses and objections one by one."The future is a long way away. There'll be plenty of time later to start investing".

The future may be a long way away, but the earlier you start investing, the more money you can make. A LOT more. Even starting just a few years earlier, the power of compound interest will help your investments grow to tremendously higher levels. Let's say a 20 year old starts putting away $100 a month, and continues to do so until he retires at age 65. At an interest rate of 10% (which is very realistically achievable), he will retire with almost $950,000. But let's say you spend your 20's just partying, and start investing at age 30. At the same interest rate, you'd retire with only $358,000. If you wanted to save as much as your friend who started investing at age 20, you'd have to save about $265 per month rather than $100! I don't mean to scare you if you are in your 30's, because it's never too late. But obviously the sooner you start the less of a monthly burden you will have to bear, and the more your investments will grow over the years. Try playing around with a compound interest calculator online and see what you discover:

A lot of people, both young and old, ask me `Why should I bother investing? I can save money in the bank.` The reason is very simple: you can make more money from other investments. Stashing your money in the bank may be very safe and secure, and it may be easy, but the returns (the money you make) will always be pretty damn low. Your returns probably won`t even keep up with the rate of inflation, so by keeping your money in the bank you will actually lose money over time. That kind of eliminates the purpose of saving, doesn`t it?

There are ways to invest that are still not too risky but give returns much greater than your bank account. If you are planning to invest for your future, would you rather have 11% annual returns, or 5% annual returns in your bank account? For long term savings there is no reason to settle for 5%. The investment that offers average annual returns of 11% over time will fluctuate year-to-year, but unless you need the money right away, short term fluctuations should not concern you. If you might the need money in the very near future though, keeping it in your bank account may make more sense.

A lot of people, particularly young people, tell me that investing is boring or lame, or that it`s something that boring old suit-wearing white people do. I feel like smacking these people! Are you telling me that you are too cool to make MONEY? You are too cool to wear brandname clothes, have a nice car, a hot girlfriend in the passenger`s seat, and be on the guest list for exclusive parties? You are too cool to have power and influence? You are too cool to be in control of your own destiny and would rather be at the mercy of your boss? I didn`t think so! All of your favorite celebrities who act like they don`t give a you-know-what (because that image sells), in reality are focussed and disciplined and have worked very hard to get where they are. You can, and should, do the same.

Now let's get movin'! Learn more about investing in stocks, mutual funds and more at http://www.learning-to-invest.net/

-Paul Jorgensen

eing not only an admirer of gold but also a gold investor, I get a lot of questions from intrigued acquaintances. They`re often interested in investing in precious metals but have fear because they don't know much about them. Rushing into an investment you don`t understand is always a bad idea, so I respect their caution. But I am very adamant that gold is the best place to have your money right now. So why own gold?



First off, if we look at the history of gold prices, we can see that gold acts as a preserver of wealth. Paper money was once a simple representation of an amount of gold stored somewhere on your behalf, but in this day and age paper money (or fiat currency) is not longer backed by real gold and it is susceptible to inflation and currency devaluation. Here in the United States, the government has been on a spending rampage and running massive trade deficits for decades, and funding those deficits by printing new dollars, devaluating our currency so that our buying power is steadily eroding. If you buy gold, however, you will maintain your buying power longterm because gold's value doesn't deflate. It's price fluctuates in cycles, but it has a core intrinsic value and gold will always be worth something.



Gold prices tend to increase along with high inflation, and when the stock market drops. They also tend to increase in times of great instability such as wars, when hyper-inflation is a threat. With the current economic chaos and further slide into a deep recession, many investors are beginning to look to gold as a safe haven for their wealth. This is a key reason to buy gold right now. The American monetary system, and by association much of the global monetary system which uses US dollars as its reserve currency, has some very serious problems that are just beginning to rear their heads. When the extent of these problems becomes clear, there will be a large transfer of wealth from paper fiat currencies into gold as people seek to escape from their currently overvalued slips of paper.

 Current government efforts to pump massive amounts of new money into the economy can do nothing but devalue the currency. When these dollars make their way into the system there will be high inflation. I think inflation will be further compounded by an expected rise in commodity prices since supplies decreasing. And government efforts to prop up dead companies and keep them alive as zombies will only compound our economic problems and lengthen their duration. With the unemployment rate increasing and the currency`s buying power decreasing, more and more people will seek gold as a safe haven.



Gold has been in a bull market since the start of the decade, and the keenest people bought into gold then. But I believe there are still several years left in the bull market, despite gold prices being near their highest ever level right now. if we adjust for inflation, the prices now are still nowhere near as high as during their peak in 1980. There's still a lot of room for the price to climb higher, as it will as this bull market continues.



Get into gold before the masses figure out where its price is headed. Because by then it will be too late. That will be the time to sell.



To learn more about gold visit The Gold Market .