In a 2006 women’s magazine survey, nearly half of the women respondents have imagined themselves ending up as a bag lady – homeless in their old age.

It is a real concern as women are not as financially well off as men; they outlive men and have not been smart about saving.

Become a Streetwise Investor.

First, concentrate on putting as much money away as possible. The younger you are when you start, the more you will have at retirement.

Second: Invest in what you know best. Utilize your IRA and invest in what you believe in. Many of us worry that if we invest in real estate, for example, it will go down in value or worse, crash. Same with the stock market or investing in a business. You have to feel comfortable. Most people are not aware they can utilize their IRA to invest in over 40 different types of assets. Visit The Entrust Group (www.theentrustgroup.com) to learn how this is done. Streetwise Investors educate themselves and know their options.

Third: Don’t put your all of your eggs in one basket. We should all diversify our portfolio to meet our needs. The needs of a 60 year old female close to retirement are different from the needs of a 30 year old new to a career. That’s the purpose of asset allocation. The streetwise investor studies the market.

Fourth: seek advice, but make your own decisions. Financial Planners, CPAs, stock brokers, realtors, can all give you advice based on the particular investments you are interested in. However, the final decision should be yours! Streetwise Investors use common sense and are involved in all aspects of their financial plan. They don’t allow others to totally control their assets.

Change your thinking and start taking control of your future today. If you don’t, no one else will.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:32 am and is filed under Investing, Self-Directed IRA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.