Devoted to understanding the basics and fundamentals of investing

Your last paragraph makes a critically important point. The last decade distinguished itself as a decade to take advantage of multiple opportunities to make a lot of money. The current decade will be known as the one in which it became crucial to figure out how to preserve all the money you made in the last decade.

So Bob, what would you do to protect the money you made previously during the balance of this decade? What are some strategies you can use?

1. Invest it in asset classes with robust growth potential and reasonable risk. At a minimum, keep your ROA even with inflation. (It could become tricky to beat future cost of living increases).

2. Don't spend down large chunks of the principal on non-earning assets. (In periods of economic uncertainty and inflationary fears, worst expectations can often become self-fulfilled, and non-earning assets become wasting assets.)

3. Don't gamble it away. Find some other less self-destructive vice, and indulge it instead.

4. Don't give it all away. Everybody's got their hand out. Use some discretion and lots of good judgment.

5. Don't do anything really stupid in reaction to a mid-life crisis.

6. Don't get divorced.

7. Exercise strict self-discipline and control over all matters fiscal. Don't rely upon a proxy to manage your assets blindly.

8. Keep educating yourself about helpful financial strategies and money preservation techniques, such as those suggested by the author of this blog. You don't have to employ every idea offered, but you do have to continue educating yourself!

How's that for starters?

Great start! Thanks!