Paul Petillo provides you with practical, proven advice on finding the right places to invest, weighing risk versus return, anticipating pitfalls in the market, and maintaining a diversified portfolio.

Investing for the Utterly Confused now available at booksellers worldwide.

Introduction
When you Invest, You win

I want to assume that you are the reader that will become the next Warren Buffet.

Outside of the world of investing, Mr. Buffet is just another grey-haired Midwestern man approaching his eighth decade living in a modest home in Nebraska. But to those who know of his accomplishments, he is something of an investor¹s idol. He has a sort of matter-of-fact, gee-whiz approach to investing that many have written about and more than a few have worshiped. In the world of investing, this man is an icon.

But why would I want you to become like him, achieve success, and become an investor¹s goal? Buffet is an opportunist, who searches for values where others find none.

Do I suppose that with a basic education in investing, you could one day be worth billions? Hey, it could happen. And if it did, wouldn¹t that be cool!

Can I make the seemingly outlandish claim that if you harness the simple ideas that Buffet and numerous others also educated in the school of value investing, they could work for you as well? I do.

Unfortunately, no icon, no successful investor, no one, including Warren Buffet has done it overnight. Nor have they done it without repeating some basic concepts to themselves, whispering in their own ears, recalling all that they have learned, the mistakes they have made and then used it without fail over and over again.

And that is a talent that is only learned with time. Time, that abstract measure of success or defeat, the difference between winning and losing, or in the case of investing, the single greatest asset you will ever own needs to become your ally. In the Utterly Confused series, you will find time as your guideline, your template to achieving success, your friend, and your benefactor.

Investors fall into three categories. The first kind of investor understands that investing is something they should be doing but haven¹t quite got around to it. The second group, equally as large as those who know little or nothing, invest in a haphazard way often using what is available to them, usually an employer sponsored retirement plans like a 401(k). And the third group, by far the smallest, know quite a lot about investing ­ or so they think ­ and can engage you with their philosophical approaches, talk at length about their strategy, offer sage advice on the direction of the marketplace, and ultimately, only tell you about their winning picks.

To each of these investor groups, the ³want-to¹s², ³the know-some¹s², and the ³smart-ones², the only thing that separates you from a feeling of accomplishment is a grasp of the basics. More

Part One:
Building Lifetime Wealth

Imagine a driving down a road with an ever-changing road signs over shifting terrain and in all sorts of weather. Imagine driving as not just a trip from point A to point B. Instead, imagine it as an experience that requires nerves of steel, the courage of conviction, and the need for superhuman concentration. Investing can be all of that and more. More

Part Two:
Profiting from Groupthink Using Mutual Funds

There are numerous approaches to investing. There those that are market timers while other use charts. Some books act as entrepreneurial coaches prodding you on to millionaire status sit on the same shelf as the ones who harangue, demand frugality, or try and coax you to think in a common sense way. To those of my fellow authors who have had the opportunity to publish, congratulations. Trouble is you, the reader, have often missed the point.

You are, if you are like me, somewhat cynical, eternally curious, and able to walk and chew gum at the same time. Yet, when it finally comes to making any financial decision, we are on our own. More

Part Three:
Long Term Coming

Long-term investing harnesses the great American spirit for adventure. It offers thrills and sometimes chills. It offers the rider on those open roads the opportunity to feel the wind at their face and hopefully more often at their back.

It allows you to map out a destination and travel that route, a road that heads over that hill just ahead and around a bend that holds who knows what beyond your line of sight.More

Part Four:
What Every Investor Needs

Investors do not have a second or third place. They either finish in the money or they do not. They either win or they lose and this is because the only race you are actually running when you invest on a short-term basis is against yourself. If you desire speed, you have only two options.More