To Get Ahead, Stick Your Neck Out

Nobody’s forcing you to take risks as an investor. You’re free to stash your savings in three-month Treasury bills at a current yield of 0.02 percent a year. Just bear in mind that if that rate persisted, it would take you 3,500 years to double your money. Actually, it’s worse: If inflation averaged 1 percent annually, the buying power of your ultrasafe T-bills would be reduced over that period to one-quadrillionth of its current value.

Hunkering down may be a prudent short-term strategy, but eventually you need to poke your head out of the foxhole and look for ways to make some real money. The good news is that stocks, high-yield bonds, and real estate are cheap by historical standards and stand a good chance of appreciating strongly over the next decade or so. In fact, after five monthly declines in a row, stocks jumped 9 percent from Oct. 1-Oct. 25.