Barron's best

Rowan alumnus Ric Edelman, named by Barron's magazine the #1 financial adviser in America for 2009, addressed the Rowan community April 21 with a simple but upbeat message: invest in the stock market now because the timing may never be better.

Edelman, a 1980 Rowan graduate whose firm, Edelman Financial Services of Fairfax, Virg., manages more than $3.5 billion in assets, said despite the stock market tumble of 2008 - a loss of roughly 45% from a high of more than 14,000 points -- it has since roared back and created vast opportunities for investors.

Edelman said the stock market remains the single best creator of wealth but cautioned it cannot be judged day-by-day, week-by-week, even year-by-year.

"The stock market is not risky over 15 years but it's very risky over 15 days," he said.

Edelman, who was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from Rowan in 1999, said there are two basic truths to investing.

"The first is that stock prices do not rise and fall. They go up a lot and fall a little."

He said the second basic truth for success is that people need to diversify their investments and regularly "rebalance" their account to make the most of a changing market.

The idea, he said, is "12 eggs in 12 baskets and maintain a long-term focus."

Speaking in Rowan Hall, Edelman said even the most astute financial planners have no way to predict market fluctuations so the seemingly common-sense strategy of diversification and regular rebalancing helps ensure investors make the most of their money.

Financial advice with a side of humor

Edelman said despite substantial gains in the market since 2008 - the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 11,000 in April and the recession is technically over - many people remain confused and worried about getting back in.

While his message to them was don't delay, get back in the market now, he couldn't help having some fun, peppering his PowerPoint presentation with comic frames. In one, Dow Jones became "Down Jones" and Best Buy became "Please Buy."

Edelman, a New York Times best-selling author of seven financial advice books, said despite the recent rebound in the stock market - a snapshot of how major corporations are doing - real estate remains down, the American job market has not yet recovered, and unforeseen events, like 9/11 or an angry volcano in Iceland, can throw the world's economies out of whack.

"It's a very fragile economy," Edelman said. "And that's why we diversify."

Edelman's address, in which he distributed free copies of his 2009 best seller Rescue Your Money, was part of the John B. Campbell lecture series and sponsored by the Rowan student chapter of the Financial Management Association.