Leveraging aggressively is gambling, and a recipe for disaster. The key to benefiting is to only ever consider leveraging responsibly, well within your financial and emotional capacity, as a part of an integrated financial plan.

Every horror story about leveraging that Talbot has heard from advisors and investors has violated one of these guidelines. While there are no guarantees, the Responsible Leverage Checklist should significantly reduce the possibility of being hurt from benefiting from borrowing to invest, while increasing the odds that you benefit.