Saving for Retirement (Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery) Updated and Revised

“What you need to know; where you can find the answers; how you can take action. It is all here.”
—Dallas Salisbury, CEO, Employee Benefit Research Institute

The #1 Common-Sense Guide to Easy Investing for Young and Old
Now updated for today’s risks, costs, and laws.

• The perfect book for anyone who’s afraid of investing (in other words, practically everyone!)
• Simple, proven approaches for a complicated, dangerous world
• Step-by-step help and real answers from prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist Gail MarksJarvis

Terrified of the stock market? You’re not alone—practically everyone is. But here’s the good news: Investing isn’t as hard as people say it is. There are answers. You don’t need to be a billionaire or a mathematician. With some common-sense, step-by-step help, you can achieve financial security. This book gives you that help—no matter how old you are or where you stand right now.

Gail MarksJarvis never assumes you’re an expert! She fills in all the missing gaps that most personal finance books skip: what to do, what not to do, where to go, and how to make safe, sensible decisions that work. Don’t worry about complicated math; she’s done all the heavy lifting for you, using the newest numbers about Social Security, healthcare costs, and more. This friendly, reassuring book removes all the obstacles that stand in your way, so you can start when it’ll do the most good…today

List of contents

Introduction   xxi
Chapter 1: Start Investing Early or Start Now   1
Chapter 2: Know What You’ll Need   9
Chapter 3: Savings on Steroids: Use a 401(k) and an IRA   41
Chapter 4: An IRA: Every American’s Treasure Trove   61
Chapter 5: IRA Decisions: How to Start and Where to Go   67
Chapter 6: Why the Stock Market Isn’t a Roulette Wheel   91
Chapter 7: What’s a Mutual Fund?   111
Chapter 8: Making Sense of Wacky Mutual Fund Names   123
Chapter 9: Know Your Mutual Fund Manager’s Job   137
Chapter 10: The Only Way That Works: Asset Allocation   165
Chapter 11: Do This   177
Chapter 12: How to Pick Mutual Funds: Bargain Shop   201
Chapter 13: Index Funds: Get What You Pay For   209
Chapter 14: Simple Does It: No-Brainer Investing with Target-Date Funds   231
Chapter 15: Do You Need a Financial Adviser?   243
Index   253

About the author

Gail MarksJarvis is an award-winning, nationally syndicated financial columnist for the Chicago Tribune, as well as a TV commentator, speaker, and author of the best-selling first edition of Saving for Retirement (Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery).

Her columns on the financial markets, the economy, and personal finance strategy run in the Chicago Tribune and reach millions of readers in leading newspapers throughout the country. She has been recognized with more than a dozen journalism awards, including Best Financial Columnist from Northwestern University’s Medill journalism school, a National Clarion Award for human rights reporting, and the 2012 Award of Excellence from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The first edition of Saving for Retirement (Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery) received widespread national media praise. Oprah Winfrey placed it on her select list, MSN Money highlighted it as one of “Eight Great New Books About Money,” and Kiplinger named it one of the “Great Money Books for Young Investors.”

MarksJarvis delivers analysis and advice regularly on WGN-TV and radio, CLTV, and WTTW public television in Chicago. She has been a regular commentator for PBS’s Nightly Business Report and on National Public Radio, and has appeared on CNBC, PBS NewsHour, Fox Business, Talk of the Nation, and the CBS Early Show, as well as on NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates throughout the country.

Formerly a reporter for public radio’s Marketplace program and USA Today, MarksJarvis serves on the board of directors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, which sets ethical standards for business journalists. In speeches throughout the country, she simplifies the investing process so that regular Americans handle 401(k)s, IRAs, and 529 college plans successfully and without worry. Visit her on the Web at www.gailmarksjarvis.com and Facebook at gailmarksjarvis5.

Summary

Americans are increasingly worried about retirement. Their savings have been buffeted by repeated stock market collapses. Healthcare costs keep soaring. Uncle Sam is moving towards limiting Social Security and Medicare benefits. Individuals are facing more risk today than they have since the Great Depression. This book will relieve confusion and barriers to action. It acquaints readers with people like them, and step-by-step addresses what's likely confusing them. Instead of starting with some lofty financial planning theory, it walks individuals through the process everyone goes through with IRAs and 401 (k)s -- leaving no basic questions unanswered. Instead of telling readers to open an IRA-as many books do-it tells them how to open one: where to go, what the forms mean, how to decide how to invest, the essential first steps. The book removes everything from the reader's path that typically trips people up and hits the sweet spot for everyone from aged 18 to 60. Using new figures (including troubling new projections of healthcare and long-term care costs), she helps readers calculate exactly how much money they'll need. Next, she presents optimal asset allocations for each stage of life -- and shows how these allocations would've protected typical investors through the past five tumultuous years. Packed with her readers' personal stories, this book teaches powerful professional financial planning principles -- but makes them simple enough for anyone to apply on their own.

Product details

• Authors: Gail M Jarvis, Gail MarksJarvis
• Publisher: Pearson Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2012
• EAN: 9780132963039
• ISBN: 978-0-13-296303-9
• No. of pages: 288
• Weight: 360 g
• Series: Financial Times; Financial Times
• Subject: Guides > Law, job, finance > Money, bank, stock market