Today, three basic skills for building long-term wealth… prompted by some recent reader feedback. We receive emails from readers every day. (You can contact us at [email protected].)

We can’t respond to all of them, of course… but we think about them a lot.

Recently, we got two particularly interesting emails. One was from a woman who felt she had been badly handled in a divorce and now struggles to stay afloat financially.

Another came from a man on the opposite side of a divorce transaction. He struggled for years with alimony, child support, and living expenses. He eventually gave up the struggle, declared bankruptcy, and sank beneath the water.

More on this in a minute…

First, let’s go back to the world of money… where the stakes are lower. The worst that can happen is that you lose your money. And the game is much simpler.

Sky-High Valuations… Sky-High Debt

Yesterday, the Dow fell 180 points – or about 1%.

If you believe what you read in the mainstream press, “global growth concerns” were behind the drop. But nobody knows exactly why investors buy or why they sell. And if the press is looking for a reason investors are selling now, they don’t have to look far.

U.S. stocks are more expensive today than during 90% of history. And when stocks are “priced to perfection,” as they are now, everything has to go right – with growth, stability, and prosperity.

Not impossible. But it doesn’t seem like a good bet to us.

Meanwhile, global debt levels are at a record high. According to a recent report by McKinsey, total outstanding global debt topped $200 trillion as of the second quarter last year. That’s a $57 trillion increase from pre-crisis levels.

When debt is so high things tend to go wrong. Many investments and speculations – financed with debt – don’t work out as planned. Debtors can’t pay. Creditors panic. And investors – whose assets were priced for perfection – head for the exits.