1. I NVESTING & R ETIREMENT

2. L EARNING O UTCOMES Section 1: Investing 101 Section 2: Types of Investments Section 3: Employer Benefits & Retirement Plans

3. S ECTION 1

4. B ASIC R ULES OF I NVESTING 1. Keep It Simple, Stupid! (KISS) Investing does not have to be complicated. There really is no trick to it. NEVER invest in anything you don’t understand. 2. Never Invest Purely for Tax Savings If your investment is primarily for tax savings – it likely is not a good investment. Your Motivation should be to make money – not save on taxes. 3. Never Invest using borrowed money. Never Borrow Money – Period. Borrowing money for an investment is a BAD idea because it increases the risk of the investment. If you lose the investment you STILL must pay back the money you borrowed beyond.

5. D IVERSIFICATION Here is the thing to remember: Money is like manure. Left in one pile, it stinks – spread around, it will grow things.” -Dave Ramsey Diversification is a risk-management technique that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio. Having a variety of investments will yield higher returns and lower the risk.

6. R ISK R ETURN R ATIO & L IQUIDITY Risk Return Ratio: Used by investors to compare the expected return of an investment to the amount of risk they take to get the return. Calculated mathematically by dividing the amount you stand to lose if the risk goes down (risk) by the amount of profit you expect to make (return). Risk/Return With most all investments as the risk goes up, so does the potential return. Liquidity : the availability of an investment. The more liquidity there is typically the less return.

7. D ISCUSSION Q UESTIONS : 1. Explain how diversification helps to protect your wealth. 2. Explain what the risk/return ratio is. 3. Explain what the liquidity of an asset refers to & give an example. 4. Why does a CD have a slightly higher rate than a typical savings account at a bank? BE SURE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS – IN DETAIL – AND UPLOAD YOUR RESPONSES TO THE NOTES/PODCAST ASSIGNMENT ON CANVAS.