Five Good Things to Know About Investing

Every now and then you stumble upon a good article on Motley Fool.  One that grabbed my attention is If You Only Know 5 Things About Investing, Make It These.  I normally don’t bother with articles like these but this one is pretty good.  I think a more suitable title would have been less definitive: “Five good things to know about investing”.

The list is as follows – go read the article to get the full explanation and context:

1. Compound interest is what will make you rich. And it takes time.
   
2. The single largest variable that affects returns is valuations — and you have no idea what they’ll do
3. Simple is usually better than smart
4. The odds of the stock market experiencing high volatility are 100%
5. The industry is dominated by cranks, charlatans, and salesman

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