{"id":2877,"date":"2009-03-12T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=2877"},"modified":"2023-10-04T21:32:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T03:32:40","slug":"safe-money-in-tough-times-questions-and-answers-with-jonathan-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/safe-money-in-tough-times-questions-and-answers-with-jonathan-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe Money in Tough Times: Questions and Answers with Jonathan Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My wife is a public broadcasting fanatic. I recognize its value, but mostly I just tolerate it. (I often joke that NPR is “noise pollution radio” \u2014 I can’t think when it’s on.) Usually the television pledge breaks annoy me, but one night last week, the local station employed a clever tactic. They had a financial expert answer viewer questions between pleas for more money.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Pond<\/a> bills himself as “America’s financial planner”. He runs a financial planning firm in Boston, but last Tuesday he was here in Portland, Oregon, fielding questions from the folks who called in to pledge money to public broadcasting. (Pond was also giving away copies of his new book, Safe Money in Tough Times<\/i><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The questions Pond answered were a lot<\/i> like the questions I’ve been receiving here at Get Rich Slowly. I don’t have time to answer most of the questions readers submit, and some are beyond my ken. (Remember: I’m just an average guy.) When I realized that a financial expert was going to tackle topics of interest to my readers, I grabbed a pad of paper to take notes. I’ve reproduced some of the most interesting responses below.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/b><\/i> These questions and answers are not<\/i> verbatim. I wrote as quickly as I could while watching the show, but I missed a lot. I’ve tried to preserve the information as best I can.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does diversification still work?<\/b> It seems like the rules have changed over the past year.<\/i>
\nThe biggest risk in investing is taking no risk at all. The diversification rules have not<\/i> been thrown out the window. The actual problem is that people were not<\/i> diversified before the crash. Many folks had put all (or most) of their money into stocks. The solution isn’t to now just over-load in the other direction. Diversification<\/a> and asset allocation are about finding balance.<\/p>\n

This seems like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in stocks<\/b>, but my friends think I’m crazy for wanting to do so. They think I should stay away from them. What do you think?<\/i>
\nIf you’re any sort of contrarian, now’s a great time to get in, a little at a time. Use dollar-cost averaging<\/a>. Think about 10 years from now. Do you think the market will be lower or higher? Unless you need the money soon, don’t think about where the market will be next year, but where it will be in a decade.<\/p>\n

It seems like there’s no safe place for my money now.<\/b> Is there any safe place to still get a decent return?<\/i>
\nThere are four relatively safe places to put your money right now and still get an okay return:<\/p>\n