How to Avoid Making Rookie Mistakes
Practice makes perfect. It's a shame we don't get much practice.
As adults, we might spend six or seven decades managing our money. That might seem like a decent chunk of time. And it does indeed give us ample opportunity to get proficient at tasks we do frequently, like paying bills and balancing checkbooks.
But when it comes to many key financial decisions, there is little or no chance to sharpen our skills -- and, I fear, it often shows in the results.
Once in a Lifetime
Take the issue of when to apply for Social Security retirement benefits. For those age 65 and over, Social Security is the most critical source of spending money, accounting for 39% of income, according to the Social Security Administration.
Think you will live past age 82 or 83? You are typically better off delaying Social Security until age 65 or 66, so you get a larger monthly check. Yet many seniors shortchange themselves, by taking Social Security at age 62 and thereby accepting a permanently reduced benefit.
But maybe it isn't any great surprise that folks get it wrong. After all, we don't get any practice. Instead, we make the choice just once, usually based on hearsay and gut instinct.
While Social Security is often our most important source of retirement income, our house is typically our biggest asset. But unfortunately, as with Social Security, most of us are rank amateurs when it comes to real estate.
During the course of our lives, we might buy four or five homes. As a result, we just don't have a lot of experience at valuing real estate, picking the right mortgage and dealing with real-estate brokers and home inspectors. Result: Mistakes are all too common.
Never Going Back
This lack of experience spills over into crucial investment decisions, like how much to contribute to our employer's 401(k) or 403(b) plan, what mix of stocks and bonds to own and how quickly to draw down our savings in retirement. True, we can endlessly revisit these decisions.
But in reality, we tend to make our choices and then let them run. For instance, after settling on a 401(k) contribution rate and on which mutual funds to buy, employees rarely re-examine these decisions, so they never learn from their mistakes and thereby become more proficient investors.
"In one large plan I looked at, 65% of the participants didn't make any trades during the four years I studied," says Julie Agnew, a finance professor at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. "That's a clear sign of inertia."
It's also worth pondering the issue of experience when selecting money managers. I am always skeptical of those who claim they can outpace the stock-market averages.
My skepticism is especially great when the claim is built on just a couple of investment decisions. For instance, a market timer can generate dazzling results by selling stocks just ahead of a crash and then buying back in at the market bottom. But with just two decisions involved, there's a decent chance it was all luck.
By contrast, if a fund manager puts together a decent long-term record by picking stocks, I am inclined to be a little less skeptical. Why? To generate the fund's record, the manager might have picked hundreds of winning stocks, suggesting that maybe there is skill at work.
Advising Against
Given our lack of financial know-how, hiring a broker or financial planner might seem like a smart move. But because of our lack of know-how, we immediately hit a few stumbling blocks.
Do we really know how to find a good adviser? It's something most folks don't get a lot of practice at, and if they do, that suggests they didn't do a very good job on the previous occasions.
Moreover, when we use advisers, we are at a distinct disadvantage. The broker or planner should know a lot more about personal finance than we do. Problem is, this also makes it tough to gauge whether we are getting sound advice or whether the adviser is recommending investments simply because they generate fat fees.
Finally, even if we find a good adviser, we may not get much help with truly critical issues, like when to take Social Security and how to handle our next home purchase or sale. Sure, these are big issues for most Americans. But because Wall Street doesn't have a direct financial stake, there isn't a lot of good research available.
Wising Up
Because experience is such a great teacher, those age 50 and older are often much wiser investors. They have a better sense of their tolerance for risk and of market history, and that gives them the fortitude to stick with the right investments and the savvy to avoid the wrong ones.
Of course, by that point they have less time to take advantage of their wisdom. How can we get ourselves up to speed earlier? Try to gain insights by talking to family, friends and colleagues.
But don't ask about their successes. Folks will often boast of supposedly clever decisions that, upon closer inspection, turn out to be nothing more than mediocre. Instead, ask about mistakes. If somebody is willing to admit having done something wrong, it was probably a doozy.
Not surprisingly, I also think that reading widely helps. People often ask me to recommend books. But even though I have written a few books myself, I don't think sitting down and trying to absorb 60,000 words is the best way to get educated.
Instead, whenever you get the chance, spend a little time perusing personal-finance magazines, investment newsletters, financial Web sites and your local newspaper's business section. To be sure, at least half of what you read will be garbage.
But if you keep at it, you will eventually transform yourself into a well-educated investor. And you will get this education by learning from others, rather than having to learn from your own costly mistakes.
怎样避免犯新手出现的错误
熟能生巧。但是，很遗憾我们练习的机会并不多。
对于成年人来说，可能一生要用60到70年的时间来理财。听上去时间可真不短，而且事实上我们的确有足够多的机会熟练掌握我们经常做的事情，比如支付账单和平衡支出等等。
但是，在许多重要的财务决策问题上，我们就鲜有机会提高自己的水平了，或者根本毫无机会可言。恐怕这种情况通常也会反映在你理财的收益上。
一生只有一次
以应该什么时候从联邦社会保障机构申请退休金的问题为例。根据美国社会安全局(Social Security Administration)的统计，对65岁及65岁以上的老人来说，社会保障金是其日常开销最重要的来源，占他们总收入的39%。
觉得自己能活到82或83岁以上么？那样的话，你最好等到65或66岁的时候再领退休金，这样每月拿到的金额多一些。但事实上，很多老人自己没想清楚这个问题，从62岁就开始领退休金了，结果以后每月领的钱就少一些了。
人们在这个问题上犯错可能并不奇怪。毕竟，我们没有任何经验。相反，我们一生只做一次这类决定，而且通常是基于道听途说和本能的反应。
社会保障机构的退休金是我们退休生活中最重要的收入来源，而我们的住房则通常是我们最大的财产。但很不幸，和退休金问题一样，在房地产问题上，我们大多数人也是毫无经验。
在一生当中，我们可能会买四、五次房子。其结果就是，我们在评估房地产、挑选合适的抵押贷款以及与房地产经纪商和住房检测人员打交道等方面，缺乏丰富的经验。这样一来，犯错误也就在所难免了。
从不回顾以前的决定
缺乏经验的现象在其他重要的投资决定上也司空见惯，比如对于雇主的401(k)或403(b)计划应该投入多少钱？自己的投资组合中，股票和债券应该是怎样的比例？什么时候开始提取退休储蓄？等等。
固然，我们可以不断地修改我们的决定，但在现实中，我们通常在做出决定后就放任自流。举例来说，在确定了401(k)计划的投入比例和选定了要购买的共同基金后，雇员们几乎不会再重新考察这些决定，因此，他们永远不能从错误中吸取教训，而成为更有经验的投资者。
茱莉?阿格纽(Julie Agnew)是位于弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡的College of William and Mary的金融学教授。她表示，在她考察的一项大型投资计划中，65%的参与者在她进行研究的4年中没有从事任何交易。这是一种惯性作用的明显标志。
在选择基金经理的时候，也值得好好考虑一下经验的问题。我对那些声称能够超过股市平均回报水平的基金经理总是心存怀疑。
当他们基于一两个投资决定就如此声称的话，我的疑心就更大了。比如说，一个市场投机者能够通过在股市下跌前卖出股票，然后再在市场底部时买进的方式大赚一笔。但仅凭借两个决定就大发横财，这实在是运气使然。
与此相反，如果一个基金经理通过选股获得了较高的长期收益，那么我的疑心就没有那么大了。为什么？因为要想获得较高的基金收益，基金经理可能要选上百只赚钱的股票，这表明仍然是投资技巧在发挥作用。
顾问“顾而不问”
鉴于我们缺乏金融专业知识，雇一个经纪商或者财务顾问看上去是个聪明的举动。但是，正由于我们缺乏专业知识，我们会遇到一些麻烦。
我们真的知道怎样找到一个好的财务顾问吗？这也是大多数人缺乏经验的事情。如果有人真有点经验的话，说明他也曾经先“吃了一堑”，然后才“长了一智”。
而且，当我们使用顾问的时候，我们处于明显的下风。经纪商或者财务顾问应该比我们懂得更多个人理财的事情，但问题是，这也使得衡量建议变得十分困难，比如我们是否得到了合理的建议？或者顾问是否在推荐能让他自己获得丰厚回报的投资？等等。
最后，即便我们找到了一个好的财务顾问，我们也无法在一些真正关键的问题上得到很多帮助，比如什么时候申请社保退休金？怎样处理下一次房屋买卖的问题？的确，对于大多数美国人来说，这些都是很重要的问题。但由于华尔街没有直接的金融风险在里面，所以在这方面我们看不到很多好的研究报告。
变聪明起来
经验是最好的老师。因此，50岁以上的人通常是聪明的投资者。他们对容忍风险和市场历史有更深刻的认识，这使得他们更有毅力坚守正确的投资，也更有智慧躲避错误投资的陷阱。
当然，到那时，他们能利用自己的睿智的时间就很少了。我们怎么样才能让那时的智慧提前到来？尝试通过与家人、朋友和同事聊天来提高见识。
但是，不要问他们的成功经验。人们通常会吹嘘自认为聪明的决定，但是经过深思熟虑之后，你往往会发现那不过是些平庸之见。相反，你应该问问他们犯过哪些错误。如果有人愿意承认自己犯过错误，那么错误很可能会成为宝贵的经验。
毋庸置疑，我也认为广泛阅读会有所帮助。人们经常让我推荐一些书。尽管我自己写过几本书，我并不认为坐下来尝试消化60,000字的大部头是接受教育的最佳方式。
当你有空的时候，不妨翻翻个人理财杂志、投资通讯、金融网站和地方报纸的商务版。你看到的东西可能至少一半是垃圾，但如果你持之以恒，最终会成为一个博学的投资者。你将通过吸取别人的教训来提高，而无需自己付出高昂的代价。
