Table of Contents
Contents | Illustrations & Charts
Contents
- About the Author
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Lesson 1: Understanding Your Feelings About Money
- Identify your personal investing style.
- Lesson 2: All Investors Must Have Goals
- Categorize your priorities. Why follow someone else’s dreams? Learn how to develop a plan for day-to-day needs and tomorrow’s dreams.
- Lesson 3: Active Investing versus Passive Investing
- Should you become actively involved or should you focus on your career and pay someone else to manage your money?
- Lesson 4: Managing Risks
- Medical insurance, disability insurance, long-term health care options, fire & casualty, life and liability coverage . . . Without proper protection, you can lose everything you’ve worked a lifetime to achieve. Don’t miss this one!
- Lesson 5: Estate Planning
- Read about options for protecting your family and leaving your assets to your loved ones. Understand how to avoid probate and maintain estate value using prenuptial agreements, wills, durable powers of attorney, living trusts, and charitable trusts.
- Lesson 6: Financial Basics
- The principles of finance and investing: Be aware of how the world of finance and investments works.
- Lesson 7: Investment Structures
- This lesson will explain the structure and basic details of many widely utilized investments. Learn how to determine whether an investment is right for you and which investments may be most appropriate before and after retirement.
- Lesson 8: Three Stages of Investing
- If you have limited time to commit to investment planning, read this lesson and learn some important basics about where to invest and when.
- Lesson 9: Maximizing Tax-Advantaged Investments and Strategies
- Retirement plans, tax-exempt securities, or tax-deferred and tax credit investments? We will explore the different options available to help reduce your income taxes.
- Lesson 10: Case Studies
- See examples of personal financial plans for young, middle-aged, and retired investors. We will point out the different needs of various age groups. Special comments about layoffs and re-employment are shared.
- Lesson 11: Buying a House
- There is a right time to purchase a home, and a time to avoid this big-ticket item. This decision can affect your overall investment plan.
- Lesson 12: Investing in Real Estate
- Learn what it takes to prudently invest in real estate income property. Is being a landlord for you? We’ll look at the pros and cons.
- Lesson 13: Employee Benefits and Retirement Plans
- Take full advantage of employer-offered insurance and retirement programs. What should you do if you switch jobs or retire? Know the options available for your 401(k), profit sharing, employee stock option, SEP, or tax-sheltered annuity plan. VERY IMPORTANT STUFF!
- Lesson 14: The Journey of Self-Employment
- Determine whether owning your own business is your best shot at financial independence.
- Lesson 15: Obtaining Investment Advice
- How do you locate reliable and realistic investment advice? Learn who to talk to and what they stand to gain. You will find out how advisors, asset managers, and brokers are compensated, and decide whether to pay for advice or “do-it-yourself.”
- Lesson 16: Investment Statements
- We will look into the complex world of financial statements and try to make some sense out of what is supposed to be simple.
- Lesson 17: Investment Prospectuses and Documentation
- Understand the risks, internal costs, and management activities of an investment.
- Final Comments
- Put it all together! Here I will review some of the basics we have learned and add some closing comments.
- Glossary
Illustrations & Charts
- The Four D’s
- Asset Protection Review
- The Results of $1,000 Invested over 20 Years
- The Results of $100,000 Invested over 20 Years
- Reduction of the Purchasing Power of $1,000 due to Inflation
- Basic Asset Allocation Model
- Asset Allocation, by Age
- Airplane Turbulence: The Farther from Ground, the Less Worrying
- Lump Sum Investment Methods
- Layers of Supervision
- Tax-Favored Investments
- Rollover Steps
- Financial Planning Strategy Checklist