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pitfalls abound and you will have to be prepared to make plenty of mistakes before you get the hang of this. The good news is that there are virtually unlimited options and programs available to the investor; you will undoubtedly find a few that will suit your taste. The bad news is that if you are not careful you could lose everything.We will devote the rest of this book to educate you about the many ways you can invest in the financial markets and the choices that are available to the average investor, that is, you and me.

Financial Investing

Have you ever put money in a savings account? Have you ever loaned money to a family member or a friend with a promise of payback with interest? If you have, then you are already an investor. My definition of an investor is a person who uses money to make money without actually producing a product or service. In other words, without working. We all know that something doesn't come from nothing, so how could the investor make money without being productive? The answer to that question is that the investor relies on the party who has received the money (directly or indirectly) to be productive and successful so the investor can collect a portion of the profits and therefore increase his initial investment. One might be tempted to compare the investor to a leech, someone who lives off another's work. But in reality, in most cases the investor and the investee have a symbiotic relationship, one that each party cannot prosper without.We all know that it takes money to fund projects, hire a capable work force, market products and services, and most of all try to stay ahead of the competition. The investor provides the capital to make all of this possible. …