Yes, I am here to tell you it CAN be done! Yesterday's blog got a comment to which I answered, but would like to be sure anyone reading today sees this as well.
I started educating myself about investing for our future just 9 years ago. I was 46 years old, and it had to be done. The so-called experts we had hired to help us actually lost us a significant amount of money. Part of this was because they were terrible at their jobs, but a large amount of responsibility falls on us (my husband Lewis & me). We were clueless about investing because we could not clearly articulate what we wanted to invest in, or even what our options were. I literally knew nothing, other than having money is good, and losing it is bad.
That being said, not all financial experts are disasters, and I am sure there are plenty of good ones with insight. But for your own sake, learn on your own too, if you decide to hire one! Informed investors can make choices that fit their needs.
So as I replied to my reader of yesterday's blog, YES, you can teach old dogs new tricks. Rupert at the age of 8 has proven to me that it is possible! He is slowly but surely learning what the word 'quiet' means (yes, Rupert is a YLD: "yappy little dog"-- and it can get pretty annoying at times). Rewards are used for desirable results (no commentary upon meeting other dogs, for example). Being squirted with water from a harmless pump bottle is a consequence of poor decision making on his part (yappying to demand his daily dental chew, for example). A few droplets of water have the mysterious power to help him refocus, for whatever reason.
Rupert at 2 weeks old, 2006
Rupert has come a long way since the above photo was taken, and we are all a work in progress! And we can all keep learning, as long as we live.