What can you do if you’ve lost your retirement?

	Learn Successful Investing
	Understanding Investment Types and Account Options Talking the Market Talk Trend-Based Trading Smart Growth Investing

And what if you haven't started investing yet?

If you lost a chunk of your savings or retirement in the recent stock market free-fall, you aren’t alone. But you didn’t have to lose so much.

LearningMarkets.com was created to help investors like you. And it's also for those who haven't even started investing yet, but know they need to.

When it comes down to it, the things you need to know and understand are the same whether you've already lost money, or you haven't even begun investing yet.

Problems investing in just a 401(k), IRA or Mutual Funds

Most Americans who have money in the market have it in the form of mutual funds in a 401(k) or an IRA. Or they've trusted a financial planner or money manager to handle their money. He then puts their money in mutual funds.  

Mutual funds have some advantages, but these days, even more disadvantages, which we'll discuss. There are simply much better alternatives these days. Mutual Fund fees can not only be staggering, but despite the way they are sold, they are rarely diversified properly to help you avoid major losses when the market plummets. You may have learned this the hard way.   

"Buy and hold" investing is the past. Learn a better way.

Most financial planners and investment advisors try to convince you that buying and holding mutual funds or stocks is a solid strategy, because historically the market goes up.

Sure, that's been true at times in the past. But this recent downturn shows that the market can, and will lose money over long stretches. We are at lower market prices today than we were ten years ago.

There’s simply no guarantee the markets will go up in the future, so buy and hold will always be risky.

But for all its issues recently, the stock market (when managed correctly) is still a tremendous opportunity for access to investment opportunities. But it's important to remember, ALL investments carry risk. If you can't cope with that risk, you should leave your money in a savings account. 

Luckily, there are better ways to invest. We'll discuss Smart Growth Investing and Trend Trading two long-term strategies that allow you to keep a focus on solid growth, but can help you avoid or minimize the major downs that "buy and hold" investing inevitably delivers. And after learning these two strategies, you'll be able to decide which -- or what blend of the two -- suits your time, risk tolerance and retirement goals.

Even if you decide investing your own money isn't for you, read the materials and you'll know enough to make a smart decision on a good broker, financial planner or money manager that has your best interest in mind.

Educate yourself, and dedicate the time required

You can make money in the markets, and you can avoid catastrophic losses. But you can’t do it by just putting money in a 401(k) or IRA and hoping the market goes up.

First, you have to educate yourself on some investing principles beyond the basics. It’s not rocket science, but it takes time to fully understand these principles and put them into action.

Then, you have to take the time to manage your money. With proper understanding and application, you will manage your money more effectively than any broker, money manager or mutual fund. It doesn't take hours a day, but it does take commitment and some dedication.

Again, after getting through the material, if you decide not to invest on your own, at least you'll know enough to pick someone who can do it for you.

A Four-part Foundation for successful long-term investing

They aren’t magic. Just practical. And they take some time and effort to understand and master. But they can literally be the difference between retiring, or not retiring. Click on the "Learn More" links for each section dive in. Each section has multiple articles to read, all in bite-size chunks, all with video to demonstrate the principles.

Note: From here on out, we're assuming you have a basic understanding of the stock market. If you don't understand the stock market at a basic level, you can read Understanding the Markets first.

1. Understanding Different Investments and Account Types.  Learn more now...
   
2. Becoming Economically Literate.  Learn more now...
   
3. Trend-Trading: Find and Manage Investments and Market Trends.  Learn more now...
   
4. Smart Growth Investing: Building Your Personal Portfolio and Protecting It.  Learn more now...
   

Understanding Different Types of Investments and Investment Accounts

And if you really want to take control of your market investments, you have to get out of mutual funds as your primary investment vehicle. In this section we talk about, and go into detail on the investment choices that are available to you that move past the sluggishness and rigidity of mutual funds, IRAs and 401(k)s.

Every day we get this question: “What should I be investing in now?”

The answer today isn’t much different than it would have been before the stock market started sliding: A solid blend of diversified “financial instruments.” Put simply, your investment portfolio should always have more than one type of investment. Never put all your eggs in one basket. We'll even talk about how you can easily invest in bonds, oil, gold and currencies through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).

Becoming economically literate

No successful investor has ever become so without at least a basic knowledge of economics and the financial system.

We’re not talking about becoming one of those humorless economists with thick glasses and wily hair. We’re talking about understanding things like Supply and Demand, LIBOR, Treasuries and Yields, Mortgage Rates, what caused this current downturn and other key financial principles that are necessary to keep abreast of the news and keep on top of the events that will affect your investments.

Learn basic economic principles now...

Trend Trading: Learning to find investments and follow market momentum

Once you're sound on the principles of investing, you'll have to learn to step out and start identifying good buys. In order to do that, you have to have a basic understanding of all those numbers that show up with the chart of a stock.

Traders call these "fundamentals" or Fundamental Analysis. It is often over-complicated unnecessarily. We offer some simple tips and tricks to make sense of it all.

Along with that goes reading stock charts. Surely you've seen them, but do you know how to read it and use it to make investing decisions?

Smart Growth Investing: Building a solid mix of investment types and protecting against risk

Once you've got the basics understood, we discuss developing an investing mix. And then you've got to learn to control and manage risk. These are the little things that a money manager or financial planner does not do for it's clients.

We have put together the information you need to begin formulating your personal strategy for long-term growth.