How To Build (Or Rebuild) Wealth

Our 11-part plan will help you establish a solid financial foundation or take stock of your progress.

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As distressing as the past year has been, most Americans’ balance sheets have survived more or less intact. But even if your finances are still healthy, take note: Amid the ups and downs and twists and turns of the economy and stock and bond markets—plus all the other forces that buffeted your finances—there are lessons that could help you make better decisions the next time calamity strikes.

Building wealth helps you reach your goals as well as survive setbacks—stock market cor­ rections and bear markets, recessions, health emergencies, and job loss. Your wealth­building refresher course should include an honest assess­ment of whether you allowed emotional, psycho­ logical or other behavioral miscues to nudge you to make money moves you may now regret, such as exiting the stock market near the bear­ market low and missing the rebound. “Our brains are not wired to easily make rational decisions when our fear is through the roof,” says Michelle Spaziani, a certified financial planner and founder of Summit Behavioral Wealth. To avoid making the same mistakes next time, she says, determine the triggers that can push you to upend your plan. The good news: Mistakes are learning opportunities that can put you on track to accumulate even more wealth.

STICK WITH STOCKS