Free Sample
The Beginner's Guide to Investing Without Fear
A step-by-step system for regular people to build wealth through evidence-based index investing - without fear, jargon, or guesswork.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Why Most Approaches Fail — and What Actually Works
You are not reading this book because you are lazy. You are likely reading it because you have tried, and what you have tried either has not worked or has left you confused and a little bit poorer. You have probably heard that you should start investing. Maybe you have a 401(k) through work, or maybe you opened a brokerage app and bought a few shares of a company your friend mentioned. You have read articles about how a $20 cup of coffee a day can make you a millionaire, and you have watched the financial news for thirty seconds before feeling your stomach drop.
And yet, here you are. You have money in a savings account earning a pathetic interest rate, or you have a portfolio that is a random collection of stocks that have no clear purpose. Your approach lacks structure, and without structure, there is only anxiety. That anxiety is not a personal failing. It is the direct and predictable result of following the common wisdom about investing, which is almost universally wrong for the individual investor.
The central, destructive lie of most investing advice is that you can win by being smart, fast, or lucky. The financial media, powered by a multi-trillion-dollar industry, needs you to believe that the market is a game of skill that you can master with the right information. They push a narrative that you need to identify the next Amazon,