Wall Street – the great creator of wealth
By nature, I hate risk. Sure, I know on occasion circumstances demand or persuade me to accept more than I desire. In those instances, I’m way out of my comfort zone. Yes, it can be exciting, but I would much prefer life grant me slow, boring, predictable moments that are within the scope of my abilities and emotions to handle. That’s my personality.
It’s also why many people hate investing, especially when it comes to learning how to choose a mutual fund.
“Mutual funds are boring investments,” they say. “I want the sexy action of the newest individual stock.”
“Mutual funds are slow,” they say. “I want investing performance measured in days or weeks, not years.”
“Mutual funds are predictable,” they say. “They mostly track the performance of the general market.”
To “they” I say, “OK.” If that is your risk tolerance, more power to you. But I won’t be recommending a seat on that roller-coaster ride for investors, especially beginners. Too much risk, too little diversity for someone just starting out.
In part three of this series, I introduced the investing term “diversification.” Diversification means to spread our money around. When we diversify, we don’t put all of our hard earned dollars into one specific stock. By placing money in different investments, we protect the whole, should one of our investments falter. It’s the #1 reason mutual funds are the best place for the investors – because even by only owning one fund, you get instant diversification. Here’s how.
It is easy to get confused when you ask the question, “Where should I put my money?” I felt overwhelmed 
Once I graduated from college, I worked full-time in construction while I waited for my bride-to-be to finish her degree. As I recall those years, I really don’t remember having any focus on where my money was going. I was saving some, spending some and giving some, but I never took the time to understand how money, placed in the right type of instrument, could grow and enhance my lifestyle.
Welcome to the Luke1428 investing series. Over the next couple of weeks I will be unraveling the world of investing and setting you on a path towards long-term success. Success in our personal financial life is something we all shoot for and investing can help us hit the target. This series will be a primer for the beginning investor and a reminder for those of us who are more seasoned as to why we invested in the first place.
I’ve read a lot recently about people struggling to find time in their daily schedule to do the things they have to do and do the things they want to do. I felt this way not too long ago about 
Five years ago, my wife and I were killing it with the credit card rewards we were receiving. That’s right…free stuff! We exchanged our rewards for airline miles, countless merchandise items and even received cash back in our pockets on some cards. It felt great! We were really beating the credit card rewards system at their game.
No sooner has the ink dried on the April 15 tax returns, than investors are bombarded with cries from Wall Street to “sell in May and go away.” It can be a rather confusing statement, especially for a new investor. I know the first time I heard it many years ago I thought, “Why would I sell? I did 
