Getting Ready to Invest    Most people invest to achieve
specific financial goals. Some of these goals are widely shared.
For example, many people want to own their own home and send
their children or grandchildren to college. And there's an
almost universal desire to retire comfortably, with the
reasonable expectation that you will have adequate income for as
long as you need it.  Before undertaking any investment program,
though, it is critical that you assess your current situation
and form goals. You'll need to take an accurate measurement of
your finances to determine how much you can invest reasonably.
Then you'll need to ask yourself a few key questions: What are
your goals and what will they cost? When do you want to achieve
each goal?    • next     Assessing Net Worth