Are you surprised to learn that only 19% of the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) curriculum addresses investing? The other topics are insurance, employee benefits, income taxes, retirement planning, estate planning, and general principles (like cash and debt management, education planning, ethics, etc.). CFP(R) practitioners are taught to look at your whole financial situation and how everything fits together. The rest of the world, however, tends to think that financial planning consists of little more than the best way to invest.

The reality is, investing appeals to two of our basic instincts - greed and fear. This is what allows the media and Wall Street to manipulate us into chasing the highest returns and then holding those investments as they inevitably fall, hoping that if we just hang on long enough, they'll return to their former glory.

With this mentality, we're all hard-wired to be lousy investors - but with some education, a plan, and some discipline, most of us can be quite successful. Successful investing isn't rocket science (or my husband with the degree from MIT would be the financial planner). Over the next few months, I will share with you the 10 Keys to Successful Investing, but let's get started with the first - and most important key.

Key #1: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE. Even if you don't know a thing about investing, you can save - and it's hard to invest if you don't have something with which to invest. So saving is an excellent start to investing.

• If you're under 30, make sure you're saving at least 10% of your income for retirement. You'll need to save more if you're going to buy a house, build up your emergency fund, replace your car, send the kids to college, etc.
• If you're 45 and haven't been saving at least 10% for the last 20 years, you may need to start saving 30% of your income - and yes, that's just for retirement. The longer you wait to start saving, the more you're going to have to save from each paycheck in the future.
• If you wait until you can "afford" to save, you never will. Saving 60% of your income when you're 50, with two kids in college, to make up for lost time is tough.
• Start saving early, make it an intentional habit, and make it automatic. Contributing to your retirement plan (whether through a 401(k) plan at work or an IRA on your own, with automatic monthly contributions) is one way to make saving easier. After the first month or two, you won't miss the extra money, but you will be setting yourself up for financial independence.

Note: These recommendations are based on a study by the TIAA-CREF Institute in 2003 to help people realize how much they need to save for retirement. Simplifying assumptions: Retirees need 70% of their final year's salary to live on, Social Security retirement benefits per current rules, and no employer pension.

Retainer clients will be receiving a series of audio seminars (CDs plus booklets) during their first year with Nashoba Financial Planning. The first seminar in the series is The Big Lie: "Give Me Your Money and I'll Make You Rich", by Bert Whitehead, MBA, JD. Bert is a pioneer in the fee-only movement, founding his own firm in 1983 and the Alliance of Cambridge Advisors (ACA) in 1995. I'm a member of the ACA and with them, am committed to the fee-only, holistic approach to financial planning.

If you're not a retainer client, you may order individual seminars or the entire series at www.bertwhitehead.com.

Workshops will start up again in the fall. In addition to those workshops, I am available to speak to your group or organization. If you need a speaker, please call to discuss the topics your group might be interested in.

Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them: Lessons from the New Science of Behavioral Economics, by Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich. Economic theory assumes that we humans are rational. Learn more about the mental shortcuts we all take that are not particularly rational and how they affect our everyday finances.