1) We pledge to have the discipline (despite media/cultural pressure) to continuously occupy the market since we know that it is the only way to achieve the market return. We promise to not lose our discipline and try to beat the market through timing and security selection since we know that strategy is almost certain to far short of the market return long term.  

2)We know the market is volatile and promise not to invest money needed within 3-4 years. We promise to take money out of the market  3-4 years before it is needed. 

3)We promise to objectively measure our returns against appropriate benchmarks over time so that we are performing our fiduciary duty to ourselves that our money is being managed well whether we are doing it or have delegated it.

4) In order to achieve market returns we promise to diversify across many asset classes around the globe.  To get the return within each asset class, we promise to use a highly diversified, passive, low cost fund family such as DFA or Vanguard.    

5) Retirement Income: We promise to resist the temptation to think in terms of individual securities providing income streams but rather think in terms of a portfolio total return.   We know that it is Total Return that matters, and that it makes no difference if our retirement income comes from a combination of interest, bond dividends, stock dividends and capital gains. We know that our portfolio must grow to keep up with inflation.  

6) We promise to demand that each supplier reveal every single penny of their compensation.   We promise to avoid providers that have conflicts-of-interest (commissions from products or transactions) and/or are not completely "fee transparent" since we know that there is a much higher probability of receiving subpar advice. 

7) We promise to stay diversified (exposure to at least 6,000 stocks/bonds globally, preferably more).  

8) We promise to not get caught up in our culture's obsession with investing and make sure that we are addressing ALL of our financial moving parts including a) an updated estate plan in place, b) a real written financial plan with goals, projections and inflation included, c) appropriate levels/types of insurance, d) a CPA and not prepare our own tax returns and e) will make sure all of our experts discuss our situation on a regular basis in order to get the best overall advice possible.

9) We promise that once we have a comprehensive plan in place that we will actually COMPLETE the actions because we know that we cannot enjoy the benefits without getting them done.   No pressure, one step at a time, keep making progress over time.

10) Once we have a comprehensive plan in place informed by an expert team that we are executing, we won't allow distractions like news of the world, economy or the markets to derail us from our plan. Since we are in the market for years not days, we promise to not waste our precious time watching the market go up and down.    We promise to use fiduciary advice and avoid fads and speculation. 

*(Please note. Regarding the use of "Occupy" -- we are just making a play on words from recent news events. This is not meant to be a political statement.)