By: Laura Walton AFC®
When Dr. Randy Horwitz said these words, he was talking about a ‘healthy diet’. Dr. Horwitz is the medical director of the UA Center for Integrative Medicine and recently spoke at Banner-UMC. He went on to say “People may be disappointed to hear it, but the truth is, moderation is what turns out to be the answer. Moderation in everything.” Funny how doing the simple and obvious thing is a challenge for many of us whether it’s eating, investing or…you fill in the blank.
Dr. Horwitz’s tips were:
(1) Eat slowly
(2) Don’t eat in front of the computer or TV
(3) Avoid fast food and processed food
(4) Eat a lot of vegetables
(5) Avoid the hype of highly specialized diets especially when they advocate extremes. He adds that going to extremes brings too much risk of adverse effects.
TCI Foundation’s investing tips might be:
(1) Slow but steady saving, starting when you’re young, gives the best results. Investing regular amounts over regular intervals gives you the advantage of dollar-cost averaging and the powerful gift of compounding over time (Rule of 72).
(2) Don’t rely on media to influence your investing strategy. The goal of media is to grow their readership or viewership, not to insure your financial security.
(3) Stick to the basics. Spending less than you make is the best home cooking for investors. Savings 10% of every dollar that passes thru your hands may be boring but it works. And, when you do invest, keep it simple – don’t invest in what you don’t understand.
(4) Low-cost index funds are the vegetables of investing. They’re packed with vitamins: reduced risk through diversification, low costs, ease of access and use, liquidity and more.
(5) You can’t lose weight or make a fortune quickly and safely. Fast suggests high returns; high returns suggest high risk. The lure of making a quick buck has been the downfall of many investors, both rich and poor, educated and naïve, over the years. Think of the tortoise versus the hare – be the tortoise.
A sound investment strategy can contribute to your well-being in the same way that healthy eating habits do. Remember – moderation in both and stick to the simple and obvious.