According to Charles Schwab’s 2025 Modern Wealth Survey, Americans believe that it takes an average of $2.3 million to be considered “wealthy” and $839,000 to be “financially comfortable.”
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If you want to build your net worth up to this kind of level on your own, you’ll have to start investing early on. A former Fox Business anchor and current host of “The Claman Countdown,” Liz Claman, shared investing secrets to crack the stock market in an interview with The Daily Mail, which she claims she shouldn’t be giving out.
We will share these five tips, along with expert insights, to determine if the advice has merit.
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Start Now
Claman pointed out that many potential investors will delay starting as they wait for “someday” to arrive, but there is never a perfect time to begin. You just have to start right now and get the power of compounding on your side.
“Consistency and patience are the virtues associated with accumulating wealth over the long run,” said Robert Johnson, Ph.D., chartered financial analyst (CFA), chartered alternative investment analyst (CAIA) and professor of finance at Creighton University. “The surest way to build true long-term wealth and higher net worth is to invest in the stock market.”
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The experts agreed that starting early is the key to successfully building wealth because of the effect of compound interest. The longer that you put off investing, the longer that you’ll have to wait to retire and to enjoy the power of compounding.
“If you’re always saving something, then barring any crazy catastrophes, you shouldn’t run out of money,” said Elizabeth Buffardi, certified financial planner (CFP), certified public accountant (CPA) and founder of Crescendo Financial Planners, Inc. “Also, because of the compounding of money, the longer your money has to grow, the better.” You want to focus on time in the market instead of trying to time the market.
Don’t Pay Someone To Invest Your Money
Claman acknowledged that money managers would be furious with her, but she said you’re much better off investing your funds in an S&P 500 index fund. With this approach, she stated that you’ll get better returns while avoiding the fees.
The experts agreed with this advice because investment fees could erode your portfolio. “Just as stock market returns compound over time, the deleterious effects of high fees and transaction costs also compound over time,” Johnson said. Buffardi pointed out that if you’re not confident about investing, it helps to seek some help from an advisor. “The last thing you should do is not start because you lack the confidence to invest. I like her advice about the S&P 500 funds. Investing doesn’t have to be complicated. A couple of index funds are a perfect start,” she added.
Wait for the Sales
Claman said if you want to invest in individual stocks, you’ll want to wait for them to go on sale in the sense that prices drop. To recognize good opportunities, you must find the right companies that are going through difficult times so that you can invest when prices are temporarily down in hopes of cashing out when the prices shoot up.
Buffardi isn’t sold on this one. “While I believe in buying low, you don’t want to be waiting such that you’re missing out on having the money invested. For example, if you’re building your base of index funds, consider buying one each month. If you decide that you want to invest in individual stocks, then you can wait for the sales. But keep in mind that you may be waiting for a while,” Buffardi said.
Understand the 110 Rule
This rule of thumb is an investment strategy where the percentage of money invested in stocks should be equal to 110 minus your age. So, this means that a 20-year-old would have 90% of their money invested in the stock market.
Johnson isn’t fond of this rule as he feels that it understates the amount of money you should have invested in stocks when you’re young. “I would contend that at ages 25 to 45, one is best served by having 100% invested in stocks. Those are the prime wealth accumulation years and the opportunity cost of investing in bonds is simply too great for someone with a long time horizon,” he said.
Buffardi feels that it’s a decent rule of thumb, but it doesn’t take into account other factors. She urged people to establish an emergency fund, where they save money in case of an unexpected expense and to review their accounts annually to ensure they have the right allocation.
Don’t Run From the Bear — Hug It
This final rule acknowledges that market downturns and stock price drops are inevitable, which can leave you feeling stressed. Claman urged investors to hold on during periods of market uncertainty because these are prime opportunities for building wealth.
“Active trading of the market is, for most investors, a wealth-destroying activity,” Johnson explained. “That is, most investors sell after a market decline and buy back after a market rally. The patient investor stays in the market during bear markets — they hug the bear.”
When investors attempt to time the market, they believe they can sell before the market declines and buy back in before it rallies. They usually don’t get the timing right since it’s impossible to determine the exact timing of market swings. The experts warned that you could destroy your portfolio by panic selling because of an overall market downturn.
Buffardi agreed that you should embrace a bear market and that this is when having some extra cash on hand comes in handy. However, she added the caveat that you shouldn’t sit around waiting for that market decline because you could miss out on compounding.
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