And you don’t advise going it alone.

No, you’ve got to get some professional help. No matter how much I have looked at this issue, I have to say with a great amount of discouragement that not more than 2 to 3 percent of our population wants to think about any of this. The rest of us need good, ethical, cost-effective assistance.

Why does your company do well when the market is down?

We’re a well-established, well-regarded company. People gravitate to us. At a time when people are very worried about the news on the front page and various economic crises, that tends to make them more fearful.

What’s the biggest miscon­ception about investing?

Many people confuse investing with big short-term hits, “the next great thing.” That’s not investing; it’s gambling. Bad advice feeds on that, by trying to sell us the next great thing. It’s okay if investing is a little dull, as long as it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing, which is to help you build financial independence.

What should people be investing in?

I don’t believe that sector investing—picking investments by industry—is a wise move for the average person. If you were smart enough to move into oil, will you be smart enough to move out? Nobody’s really that smart.

Look, I’m the biggest advocate of entrepreneurial people making speculative moves. But you don’t want to be making those moves with your investment.

So if I call one of your advisers and ask which companies to invest in, they won’t give me names?

They’d better not. They’ll encourage you to have five to 10 sectors in your portfolio. When you buy a great index fund, that happens anyway.

You’ve been consistent about the need to stay the course, even in down cycles. In a market like this, should investors do anything different at all?

There’s no harm in taking the opportunity to think about whether your portfolio is structured the right way. If it is, and it doesn’t need rebalancing, it’s not a time to be making big changes. But again, down markets are an opportunity to invest at a discount. That’s hard for most of us to do, because the chances are good that we could go further downward. And that’s a tough emotional ride.

What’s the best piece of investing advice you ever got?

Start saving today and start investing tomorrow.

And the worst?

You should get out of the markets now.

Stocks, real estate, gas prices—got a question for Condé Nast Portfolio’s overqualified

advisers? Email experts@portfolio.com.

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