Wall Street- Is it Possible??

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I'm no longer a young man, and I've taken safe positions for the last few years, only dabbling a little, but for young folks today, what are they supposed to do to build their future security? I have 4 adult children, all gainfully employed, what advice should I give them? What advice do you guys give your kids? For me, and maybe this is wrong, but when it appears to me that the investment landscape is a tilted playing field, I don't play, I won't invest, even if I might make a small profit over time. What I've been telling them is build an emergency fund, pay off your debt, then save and look for the right investment property, whether it be land or building. We have even been discussing pooling some money to buy a bigger parcel of land in hopes of building "family" wealth.

I recently read a book about Goldman Sachs...they don't hire just the best business people, they hire the smartest people they can find including Computer Scientists, Mathmaticians, Engineers, Physicists, Chemists, etc. They want the best minds in the world analyzing the financial situation, not just the best business minds. You CANNOT compete with these guys. The book is "Wealth and Power, How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World" or something like that.

You can't compete with the high frequency traders with their mega-computers but the average guy can still make a decent return in the market if you buy good quality stocks and ride out the artificial highs/lows created by the program traders. However, you need to keep up on what's going on in the market, find and follow some good stocks (10-50 maybe), buy good stocks when they've taken a bit of a beating for some reason, etc., but this takes time and dicipline.

Don't be afraid to take a profit. These days aren't like times 30-50 yrs. ago where you would buy some GM, AT&T, TWA, IBM, and ConEd and watch them grow forever.

Probably the best way for the average guy to be in the market is via some good mutual funds. You won't get rich but over time you'll do better than bank CD's.

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This is another example of how we're all be cheated.
http://www.economist.com/node/21558281

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Originally Posted by mudpuppy

Yeah it's a rigged game. You can't even keep up with the scandals. Barclays recently, JP Morgan last month. The invisible world of high frequency traders. Derivitive contracts that nobody understands. Insider trading, privileged information, black holes, government manipulation...... Do you see how pathetic it is? Your quote about the 401k investor "dutifully" putting his monthly percentage in vs a room full of Ivy League mathematical/financial experts with high speed computers is a good example of why hard working people who do the right things every day of their lives will probably never be able to retire comfortably, or at all.

well said:
these big players are also being provided the "TOOLS" to do most of this stuff.

could be wrong on this! BUT; IMO!
"BOOMERS" 1946 + 62 yrs. (eligable for SS pension) = 2008.
CD, MM, homes, investments, etc., all went south. UMMM!
NAH! nobody would do that to us!