Saving and Investing

Why is this blog about saving and investing? Well, they really go hand in hand. If you can't save any money, investing doesn't matter much. Conversely, even if you save a lot of money, it is difficult to accumulate significant wealth without at least reasonable investing returns. For example, if you can only save $100/year, it doesn't matter what return you get on your money, you aren't going to be wealthy. On the other hand, if you can't beat inflation with your investment returns, you are not going to accumulate wealth at any type of pace. I will give a little caveat to that. I have an uncle who is a ferocious saver. There aren't too many things harder to do than separate him and his money. Although not privy to the details of his finances, I am of the impression that he has made very mediocre investment returns. But by saving 60%, 70% or more of his income he has become wealthy even with bad investment returns. But who wants to save 60% of their income? Not me, and I have to imagine not you. If you don't mind saving most of your paycheck, then I guess you can get rich without worrying about investment returns. For the rest of us, it is important to both figure a way to save a reasonable amount and also find a way to maximize our investment returns.