Dick Young

In 1981, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 875, 10% lower than its year-end value in 1965. During this wretched 16-year period, blue-chip stocks went nowhere. This was the ice age for stock prices. High and rising inflation and interest rates and big government were to blame. This sounds eerily similar to America’s prospects today.

In the November 9 Financial Times, Frederic Mishkin, a former Federal Reserve governor, proved that the Fed has learned absolutely nothing from its Greenspan-era forays into dangerously low interest rates.

The #1 item on my list of the top 10 mistakes investors make is...

The #2 item on my list of the ten most common mistakes investors make is discounting the importance of compound interest. Albert Einstein described compound interest as the greatest mathematical discovery of all time.

Number three on my list of the top 10 mistakes that investors make is performance chasing. Here's the easiest way to make a million dollars in mutual funds.