General Investing

Recent economic events have made the investing arena a pretty scary place to be. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation out there. Equally unfortunate is that there are any number of individuals who may hold their interests a little higher than yours. Remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There really are no real get-rich-quick options.

As you progress financially, things can become more complicated. You can invest the time and money in educating yourself. If you are normal, you will make lots of costly mistakes traveling this path, and getting ahead will take longer than necessary. Instead, you could invest some time in finding a trusted financial advisor. Yes, the advisor will cost you money. However, you are going to pay one way or the other. The key is determining which way will be the most cost effective and efficient. See the sidebar for help on how to identify a trusted advisor.

The resources on this page can get you started. Two names may need some explanation: FINRA and SEC. FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA is not a government agency. Instead, it is a regulator of securities firms in the U.S. The SEC on the other hand, is a federal agency. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a good place to go for investment-related information from the U.S. government. As you explore both the FINRA and SEC websites, you can get lots of really good investment and regulatory information.