How to Pick the Right Investments

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Most of the financial services industry is involved in selling products to the public. That is their primary purpose to make money for themselves and their companies, says David Frum. There are no free steak dinners for buying low-cost index funds,. Investing blindly on free tips or recommendations. Trying to get guess at future interest rates. Prognosticating on headlines or predictions about the future.

In this episode we discuss how NOT to choose investments and how to employ a good process to analyze an investment. We adopt the process of David Stein's 10 Questions To Master Successful Investing and apply it to PFF, an exchange-traded fund of preferred stock.

Links:

Investopedia Article -- "How Does Preferred Stock Work?": https://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/06/preferredstock.asp#:~:text=Preferreds%20are%20issued%20with%20a,of%20the%20preferred%20shares%20falls.

Ishares description of PFF: https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239826/ishares-us-preferred-stock-etf

Portfolio Visualizer's Asset Correlation Analyzer: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/asset-correlations

"Money for the Rest of Us: 10 Questions To Master Successful Investing": https://moneyfortherestofus.com/how-to-invest-book/

The 10 Questions To Ask When Considering An Investment:
1. What is it?
2. Is it an investment, a speculation, or a gamble?
3. What is the upside?
4. What is the downside?
5. Who is on the other side of the trade?
6. What is the investment vehicle?
7. What does it take to be successful?
8. Who is getting a cut?
9. How does it impact your portfolio?
10. Should you invest?