How many truly stupid people do you know who are rich? The objective today is to avoid being consistently stupid. Stupid happens every day and it happens to the best of us. But you can learn from others and from me to avoid making stupid investments. You are on your own in other matters.

My definition of stupid: – Making decisions that appear to lack common sense. I cannot count the number of times I have made stupid decisions. Contrary to what my wife will tell you, I am referring to my early investment choices! Over the years, I have been offered multiple “too good to be true” deals. Surprise-these deals were too good to be true -100% of the time. My good news, I said “No” to majority of the stupid investment ideas, but far too many got by me. And over the years I have lost crying money! Who do I blame- my wife! Kidding!

Let me tell you about one STUPID investment. Do you remember the George Foreman grill? Just ask your parents or older friends to dig through their pantry! I was offered the opportunity to invest in two new “supposedly” Foreman endorsed products, with an “unbelievable” dividend of 12 percent, annually. I was going to double, maybe triple my money in less than 24 months. Sound too good to be true? I lost $50,000. While I saw several warning signs, I still did the Stupid Investment. Why did I do it? Greed and stupidity! Did Foreman, even endorse these products? I have my doubts. The leading partner in the above scheme showed up at my house driving a flashy Hummer. All FLASH! What should I have said- No! But alas, I said yes, and the only good thing I have from that experience is an opportunity to hopefully make you think twice, no make that 10 times, when you are offered the impossible.

There is no way, short of winning the lottery or slots to legally and quickly get rich. So what can you do to avoid my loss of common sense? Here’s how you can tell when a pitched investment idea is STUPID:
First, when the returns and dividends promised sound like the product or company will need a divine intervention- SAY NO!
When the Uber/taxi driver, bartender, anyone who is not an expert tells you this is a sure thing- SAY NO!
When the idea is presented that you do not have to sell anything, but rather get more people to sign up under you. This is commonly referred to as a pyramid. Not only STUPID, but potentially illegal. SAY NO!
When you partner, your Mom/Dad, your three year old says, “you want to invest in WHAT! SAY NO!
Other Stupid Investment decisions:
Buying Mutual Funds with no consideration to their annual fees when there is a similar much lower cost fund or ETF.
Buying a stock, mutual fund, etc., you know nothing about.
Picking your investments based on last year’s performance.
Not investing in your 401 account and losing company matching funds.
And the list goes on and on

Making money requires work. There are no short cuts. When you are offered these super fantastic deals because you are special, lucky, etc. – Say NO. When the terms are better than anything you have seen. Say NO. When you suspect the people are dishonest-what do you do? Say NO!

Slow, smart and steady hard work will lead to wealth. Short cuts will set you back as my mistakes did. Fortunately, I recovered. You have the opportunity to learn from my mistakes.

Every day, thousands of Americans are cheated out of their hard earned money. So if you have ANY doubt- Just Say NO! Or pass it to your brother or sister in law!