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2-3: Even the bull market of the 1990s wasn’t kind to every company.

      Just as individual stock prices can plummet, so can individual real estate property prices. In California during the 1990s, for example, earthquakes rocked the prices of properties built on landfills. These quakes highlighted the dangers of building on poor soil. In the decade prior, real estate values in the communities of Times Beach, Missouri, and Love Canal, New York, plunged because of carcinogenic toxic waste contamination. (Ultimately, many property owners in these areas received compensation for their losses from the federal government as well as from some real estate agencies that didn’t disclose these known contaminants.)

      

Here are some simple steps you can take to lower the risk of individual investments that can upset your goals:

       Do your homework. When you purchase real estate, a whole host of inspections can save you from buying a money pit. With stocks, you can examine some measures of value and the company’s financial condition and business strategy to reduce your chances of buying into an overpriced company or one on the verge of major problems. Book 3 give you information on researching your stock investments.

       Diversify. Investors who seek growth invest in securities such as stocks. Placing significant amounts of your capital in one or a handful of securities is risky, particularly if the stocks are in the same industry or closely related industries. To reduce this risk, purchase stocks in a variety of industries and companies within each industry.

       Hire someone to invest for you. The best funds offer low-cost, professional management and oversight as well as diversification. Stock funds typically own 25 or more securities in a variety of companies in different industries.

      Purchasing-power risk (also known as inflation risk)

      Increases in the cost of living (that is, inflation) can erode the value of your retirement resources and what you can buy with that money — also known as its purchasing power. When Teri retired at the age of 60, she was pleased with her retirement income. She was receiving a $1,600-per-month pension and $2,400 per month from the money that she had invested in long-term bonds. Her monthly expenditures amounted to about $3,000, so she was able to save a little money for an occasional trip.

      Fast-forward 15 years. Teri still receives $1,600 per month from her pension, but now she gets only $1,800 per month of investment income, which comes from some certificates of deposit. Teri bailed out of bonds after she lost sleep over the sometimes roller-coaster-like price movements in the bond market. Her monthly expenditures now amount to approximately $4,000, and she uses some of her investment principal (original investment). She’s terrified of outliving her money.

      Teri has reason to worry. She has 100 percent of her money invested without protection against increases in the cost of living. (Her Social Security does have inflation adjustments.) Although her income felt comfortable at the beginning of her retirement, it doesn’t work at age 75, and Teri may easily live another 15 or more years.

The erosion of the purchasing power of your investment dollar can, over longer time periods, be as bad as or worse than the effect of a major market crash. Table 2-2 shows the effective loss in purchasing power of your money at various rates of inflation and over differing time periods.

      

Skittish investors often try to keep their money in bonds and money market accounts, thinking they are “playing it safe.” The risk in this strategy is that your money won’t grow enough over the years for you to accomplish your financial goals. In other words, the lower the return you earn, the more you need to save to reach a particular financial goal.

TABLE 2-2 Inflation’s Corrosive Effect on Your Money’s Purchasing Power

Inflation Rate	10 Years	15 Years	25 Years	40 Years
2%	–18%	–26%	–39%	–55%
4%	–32%	–44%	–62%	–81%
6%	–44%	–58%	–77%	–90%
8%	–54%	–68%	–85%	–95%
10%	–61%	–76%	–91%	–98%

A 30-year-old wanting to accumulate $500,000 by age 65 would need to save $440 per month if she earns a 5 percent average annual return, but she needs to save only $170 per month if she earns a 9 percent average return per year. Younger investors need to pay the most attention to the risk of generating low returns, but so should younger senior citizens. At the age of 65, seniors need to recognize that a portion of their assets may not be used for a decade or more from the present.

      Career risk

      

Your ability to earn money is most likely your single biggest asset or at least one of your biggest assets. Most people achieve what they do in the working world through education and hard work. By education, we’re not simply talking about what one learns in formal schooling. Education is a lifelong process. You may learn far more about business from your own front-line experiences and those of others than you learn in educational settings.

      If you don’t continually invest in your education, you risk losing your competitive edge. Your skills and perspectives can become dated and obsolete. Although that doesn’t mean you should work 80 hours a week and never do anything fun, it does mean that part of your “work” time should involve upgrading your skills.

      The best organizations are those that recognize the need for continual knowledge and invest in their workforce through training and career development. Just remember to consider your own career objectives, which may not be the same as your company’s.

Analyzing Returns

      When you choose investments, you have the potential to make money in a variety of ways. Each type of investment has its own mix of associated risks that you take when you part with your investment dollar and, likewise, offers a different potential rate of return. The following sections cover the returns you can expect with each of the common investing avenues. But first, you go through the components of calculating the total return on an investment.

      The components of total return

      To figure out exactly how much money you’ve made (or lost) on your investment, you need

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