Nobody cares about you more than you.

Investing is a funny business, in all kinds of ways. Many of those who are supposed to understand investing either confuse it with something else - like speculating - or use their knowledge to take advantage of those who don’t. Either way, real people end up confused, frustrated and often, broke.

Investing isn’t speculating (gambling). Investing shouldn’t be complicated. Investing doesn’t need to be expensive. More importantly, investing should leave you richer, not “broker” (double entendre intended).

So, if it’s so straightforward, why are there so few professionals showing folks how to invest right? The answer is simple; the key to getting rich off of other people’s money is to do it wrong!

The financial “services” industry wouldn’t be able to siphon off more than a third of America’s annual production if it wasn’t for complicated, convoluted, creative, and overpriced “investment” vehicles. This is the kind of stuff that has gotten us into so much financial trouble, so many times. Credit default swaps on securitized debt are just the latest in a long, long line of products designed to try to squeeze extra money out of a limited resource: the output of the economy.

It is all done with sleight of hand (or, these days, sleight of tech). Trillions of dollars in phantom “securities” are created and traded until someone finally has the guts to exclaim, “...the ‘emperor’ has no clothes!” or “...where’s the ‘beef’ (aka, the real value)?”

Many, if not most, of the money changers on the planet don’t care about anything except profit, and not just any kind of profit. They are only happy when the profits are obscene! If you don’t believe that I speak the truth about this almost evil business, look at how few of those in the financial industry have created easy-to-understand, low-cost investment vehicles for normal investors, like us.

I can only come up with one name, John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Funds. In a time when it was normal for investors to pay their broker almost 9% of their assets in commissions to invest in mutual funds, Bogle decided to let them in for free. When it was believed that “experts” were the only ones who could build a decent portfolio, Bogle  realized that that “expert” advice came at a huge cost, so he started offering low-cost index funds.

Few others had (or have) the courage to actually put their clients first, because they know it will cut into their profits. Sure, a few have dabbled in index funds. A few more have eliminated sales “loads” (or pretended to do so with no “front” load funds that have been called “load funds in drag.”). For the most part, though, the investing industry has remained overpriced and even a bit condescending in their “I know what’s best for you” attitude.

Mr. Bogle’s efforts were not entirely altruistic. He made a very good living from Vanguard. Yet, many of his peers can’t understand why he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to become truly rich. As hedge fund manager, Clifford S. Asness stated in the April 9, 2009 issue of Business Week, "You have to admire a guy who is the ultimate example of doing well—but not as well as he could—by doing good." Yet, how many others are out there like him. Too few, I fear!

It is a lack of honesty, transparency, and devotion to doing what is truly right for the investor that makes investing such a frightening process. Which is why you need to learn how to take care of yourself and your future. It would be nice if you could trust someone else to do it for you, but the odds of that happening don’t look good for most of you (particularly those with portfolios worth less than $100,000).