Kiplinger: Eight Keys to Financial Security

Knight Kiplinger, publisher of the financial magazine, wrote a good article on Eight Keys to Financial Security.


The eight keys:

• Key 1: Invest in yourself. By constantly improving your education and job skills, you are improving your chances of getting increases in salary, which amount to the same thing as the gain from larger investments.
• Key 2: Protect yourself and your loved ones. Before you invest, Kiplinger recommends insurance against serious illness, disability and early death, to protect your family against emergencies.
• Key 3: Borrow sparingly.Use credit only to purchase things of lasting value: a home, education, maybe a car. Pay cash for everything else.
• Key 4: Pay yourself first. This is very common advice, but very sound.
• Key 5: Don't go for the home run. Shy away from volatile stocks. Stay in it for the long run.
  
• Key 6: Diversify, diversify, diversify. Self explanatory.
• Key 7: Live simply today for a more comfortable tomorrow. Deferred gratification is no fun, but can get you to long-term goals, like college for your kids, dream home, early retirement, travel and more.
• Key 8: Give generously to create a better world. "When you share your good fortune by donating your money, time and talent to charity, you help create a stronger economy and a healthier, safer world."