This is a basic guide to investing and succeeding at investing. It's a mind game at the end of the day.

I am also neither a financial advisor nor your financial advisor. Please keep this in mind.

Question What do I need to do to invest then?

Answer You'll need to take a portion of money and make a return over time to make more money, there are various ways to do this, such as real estate or land, owning a business, fine art and other collectibles, gold and other metals, and of course, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, and the like anything that has value that becomes more valuable over time.

Q Can AI help me invest?

A You're welcome to run anything you want to learn by your favorite AI. He gives some good advice, some bad advice so it's better to check everything you're not sure about, because they do get things wrong. Overall I think AI can save you time.

Q Why should I choose stocks or bonds over other assets classes?

A Generally stocks and bonds offer better overall returns for minimal work. Also, interestingly and often overlooked, stocks and bonds are actually a form of passive income. You own a share of a business, you get a return, for essentially doing nothing, passive income. The fees are generally known up front as long as you choose funds without load fees or AUM. Other assets, such as owning a business or real estate, require quite a lot of work and money to maintain. Most overlook the real cost of owning real estate, taxes, and maintenance, as well as utilities, which are often unknown before purchase. The S&P 500 generally offers about 10% nominally, whereas real estate, as a rule of thumb, offers 3% in real estate appreciation. When real estate offers more, it’s generally location-based and greater returns are generally a run-up. Real estate can often be stagnant for long periods of time if it is in the wrong location. Location is generally the most important factor in determining growth in real estate. The older generation under saved, and what they did save was largely in the value of their home, which, due to factors outside of their control, did very well. They are biased. They discount the amount they paid in upkeep of their properties.

Q What principles do I need to succeed in investing?

• Spend less than you earn or live beneath your means.
• Don't panic or panic sell.
• Buy low-cost, diversified index funds.
• Do some amount of continuing education.
• Be wary of financial advisors, especially because of excessive fees, but also scammy behavior.

Q What are some good resources to learn more?

See this page: blog.jeffreydinackus.com/finance-books-1

Q Is investing more or less important due to AI?

A Overall, it's impossible to know. However I suspect it is more important. This is because many people are likely to lose their jobs in the future. If you invest a large share of your income, and you invest enough, you may be okay. Assets are likely to go to go up in price over the next few years. AI automating your job is bullish for the stock market as long as nothing bad happens to the company. While this post has been bearish on real estate, the cash flow from being a landlord may do quite well especially if you can get a property for a good price.

Q Why do I need to invest at all?

A Because the powers that be in our society have decided we aren't worthy of pensions or being taken care of in retirement. Therefore, you need to take care of yourself and have large sums of money to take care of yourself when you are physically unable to work. Alternatively, if you have multiple children, and they like you, you could try to live with them. This does present a large burden for your child due to increasing lifespans and the increasing bottoming out of the middle class, but it could work perhaps ignoring AI. It's possible the government could make a basic minimum income if enough people lose their jobs to AI. But this is only a probability. It's your future and you need to take ownership of it. If the government makes a basic minimum income for us due to AI, it's likely to be extremely small. We will not be living like kings. The government is already trillions of dollars in debt. Therefore, investing (of all types) is the best way to navigate the changing times.

Q Are my investments safe from the dollar?

A I don't know the answer to this question. The dollar becoming worthless due to excessive inflation is a real concern, but aside from assets like real estate (you could still take a bath), maybe intellectual property or perhaps a successful business, it's hard to know what is safe. Stocks might fare a little better because you aren't holding cash, you're holding shares of a ETF following a index which tracks top companies, which will probably still be valuable after the dollar collapses, if they can hang on long enough. Eventually the government will create a new currency, so I don't see any reason we can't just start denominating our stocks in that currency. It's probably what will happen if we can just hang on. If you're really worried, buying gold, Bitcoin, real estate, or owning or buying a business might be the way to go. Bonds will do extremely poorly, if there are inflation, as the dollars you receive back from the bond issuer will be worth less due to inflation.

Conclusion

Like all things in life, we don't know the future, and we have to make choices based on our limited knowledge. I think investing is extremely important right now, as things increasingly become unstable in the economy due to AI, and other factors. If nothing extremely bad happens, I think the stock market is posed to do quite well. Any company who can lay off a percentage of their staff and replace them with an electricity bill will likely do extremely well in their profit margin. Do not be deceived, businesses will replace us as soon as they are able. The executives will get million dollar bonuses.