Further Reading

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Following is a list of some of Rick Ashburn's most requested articles and essays.

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• Winning the Loser's Game. As in the game of amateur tennis, the key to winning the investment game avoiding mistakes. It takes patience to wait for the "other guy" to make mistakes. A powerful lesson for both pros and self-directed investors.
• Commodities - Speculation or Investment? Investments are inherently different than speculations. What is the difference, and where do commodities fit? Two millennia of data lead me to a fundamental conclusion.
  
• Diversification. Do you own several stock mutual funds in your portfolio? In a number of different styles? Think you are diversified? Think again. Diversification has a dimension that most investors—even the pros—forget all about. You need to develop more than one point of view about the world.
  
• Index Investing. I am a big fan of index investing. But not all index funds are created equal. Despite their "hot" status in the financial media, exchange-traded funds have serious drawbacks. These are the main reasons why. Nobody is looking out for you in an ETF investment.
  
• Growth vs. Value. Growth stocks are best! No - Value stocks rule! Is there really a difference? Do you buy white meat chicken for some dinner guests and dark meat for others? Or—is it best to just cook a whole chicken? My take on the growth v. value debate.
  
• The Most Important Question in Investing. If I am only allowed to ask an investor one question before suggesting a strategy, this is the one. All other questions follow and are related to this one—yet individual investors almost never ask it of themselves.
  
• Risk or Pain? The next time some broker asks about your "risk tolerance," tune him out and assume he said, "pain tolerance." Your portfolio is about to be constructed so that you experience the maximum amount of pain you can tolerate. I have a simple answer to the "pain tolerance" question—I don't like pain, and I'd rather not experience any if I don't have to.
  
• The Social Security Reform Hoax. The sound-bite policy makers are at it again. Boil a complex issue down to a simple slogan and assume the problem is fixed. Here is what is gravely wrong with proposals to "privatize" social security.
  
• Variance is a Drag. Risk is like a bed of nails: With a fat mattress of high returns on top, we can ignore it. When returns shrink back down like a thin camping mat, those very same risks can suddenly keep us awake at night. Here's how the math is working against you.
  
• Stock Market Expectations. Investors and advisors are prone to looking only at the recent historic record when forming expectations for stocks. Here is how it really works. Brokers and investors who cannot accept this math should be forced to walk around town with a sign around their necks that says, "I can't add."
  
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