The missing credits -- Introduction -- Part one: Prepare to invest -- Why should you invest? -- How inflation hurts -- Why scary numbers aren't that scary -- Set your investment goals -- Building your bucket list -- Retirement, college, or other goals -- The big kahuna: retirement -- Other long term goals -- Putting it all together -- Invest with open eyes -- Clean up your finances -- Spend money wisely -- Expect base hits, not home runs -- Sidestepping pitfalls in investor psychology -- Part two: choose and buy your investments -- How investments work -- The big four: typical investments -- Taxing decisions -- Funds -- The vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry of funds -- What a fund invests in -- Evaluating fund performance -- Keeping a lid on fund expenses -- How to pick funds -- Finding funds -- Deciding when to sell -- Managing your funds -- Stocks -- Buying into a business -- Investing in growth -- Investing in quality -- Investing in good values -- Watching for trends -- Bonds -- Why invest in bonds? -- How bonds work and how you use them -- Buying bonds -- REITs -- Is REIT investing right for me? -- Types of REITs -- Picking individual REITs -- Finding the right REITs and REITs funds -- Manage your portfolio -- What's investment portfolio management? -- Return vs. risk -- Asset allocation -- Choosing an asset allocation plan -- Asset allocation made ridiculously easy -- Reviewing your portfolio -- Rebalancing your portfolio -- Getting back on track -- Part three: manage your investments -- Investing for retirement -- The key retirement decisions -- Making the most of retirement accounts -- Managing a retirement portfolio -- Making the most of social security -- Withdrawing money during retirement -- Investing for college -- College cost how much? -- Tax-savvy ways to save for education -- How to pick a 529 savings plan -- Saving for more than one child -- The best way to spend college savings -- Investing for health care -- Types of health insurance -- Choosing and employer-sponsored plan -- Choosing an individual health insurance plan -- High-deductible health insurance plans -- Negotiating with health-care providers -- Paying for long-term care -- Index.
0
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
"This lively and easy-to-understand guide gives you the confidence, tools, and insight you need to evaluate financial products and make smart investments that target success over the long term. You'll learn how to set long-term goals for critical, high-cost events such as retirement, your children's education, and future health care needs. Then you'll learn what types of investments will best help you achieve those goals. In step-by-step fashion, this book shows you how to research mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and other financial products to create a portfolio of diversified investments."--Amazon.