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Charles Schwab's Guide to Financial Independence: Simple Solutions for Busy People

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When I went to a branch office of Schwab, I asked if they had any literature for the novice--ultra novice--investor, one who was even reticent to discuss the subject for fear of revealing genuine ignorance of it.

When the broker gave me a copy of Mr. Schwab's book I thought that this was going to turn out to be a booksize ad for the Schwab company.

I couldn't have been more incorrect: the book explains even the most fundamental terms/aspects of personal finance and investing in a most clear and insightful way. Yes, of course, the Schwab Co. (and it's services) is mentioned, but in a non-skewed or biased manner--alongside discussions about other such companies.

Mr. Schwab recommends some additional books for the beginer--I purchased them, and have been more than satisfied with the contents (i.e.--the "Dummy" series, Jane Bryant Quinn, others.)

Mr. Scwab succeeds in his stated desire to demystify (paraphrase) personal finance. It's a fine book.

This book is an almost ideal introduction for the person who doesn't want to think very much about investments, but would like do better than with a certificate of deposit in a bank.

The book favors financial assets (not too surprising, given that Mr. Schwab's company is the leading discount broker), but he offers a number of time- and trouble-saving reasons for that. The book is supported by a number of quantitative analyses, questionnaires, model portfolios, and personal examples from Mr. and Mrs. Schwab's experience. The book is well written and clear.

The book is in three major parts. In part one, he argues in favor of why the growth potential of stocks gives them long-term advantages over many other asset classes, and takes you into setting your goals. In part two, he explores which types of investments will work best for what you want to accomplish. Using your goals, he helps you adapt the assets you buy to fit your circumstances. In part three, he describes how to get started and maintain your strategy.

The best part of the book comes in the way it uses questionnaires to help you develop your financial goals, risk preferences, and financial time frame. Then the book gives you financial portfolios (based on historical studies described in Stocks for the Long Run) to match up with your situation. You could easily spend quite a bit of money with a financial advisor to do this for you without getting a much different result.

I also liked the way the book directly takes on the problem of market fluctuations and the emotional tendency to buy high and sell low into account. For those with shorter timeframes and lower risk tolerances, Mr. Schwab recommends buffering the fluctuations by having an asset allocation into less volatile securities (although those that will earn lower returns).

But still, the book could use more advice on how to overcome emotion. Telling you to "learn to keep a tight rein on your emotions" will not be enough for many people. This problem will be compounded by Mr. Schwab's insistence that "timing is a very minor player in the larger scheme of investing." Tell yourself that if you had just bought a lot of technology and dot com stocks in March 2000 and held them until now.

I think that timing (even if you are going to buy and hold indexed mutual funds -- something that is highly recommended here) is important. If you buy into an index (or stocks or other financial assets) at a relatively low price, you will spend less time being upset about the volatility of your investment. Since the average asset class is highly volatile on an annual basis, you can at least try to get in near the low of the last 12 months.

That will have a big impact on your psychology as you get started. As Mr. Schwab points out, the biggest mistake is not investing at all. Concern about lack of time and feeling intimidated about making a mistake keep people from getting started. Setbacks cause people to retreat from investing. He encourages a minimum five-year buy-and-hold period to allow growth to bail out any near-term losses.

I think that Mr. Schwab writes off investing in your own business or in real estate much too quickly. My suggestion is that you read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" to get the opposite point of view on those investment classes.

For a better look at using indexed mutual funds, I recommend John Bogle's Common Sense About Mutual Funds, which is more thorough than this book. You may decide to avoid picking individual stocks when you know more about the track record of trying to find mutual fund managers and stocks that outperform the indices.

A good lesson from this book is that we must pay attention to important subjects, or face the consequences. Where else in your life are you paying too little attention? How can you get the information to overcome your stalled thinking and behavior?

May your life be filled with riches from the attention you place on making good decisions!

Charles Schwab has written an excellent book on how to get started in investing. It's easy to read and a excellent primer. Don't make this your only investment or financial book. I also highly recommend 'Mutual Fund Investing For Dummies" by Eric Tyson and "More Wealth Without Risk" by Charles Givens.

Buy this book. I can't say enough good things about it. First, the book is extremely well written, and targets a specific audience, that many of us are in.

If you are not professional investor, and want to learn more about the basics of investing and about the different products out there, then read this book.

Charles Schwab takes your through a good squence of explaining different investment philosophies, tools, tricks, etc. He proves that you don't have to beat the market to make money, you just have to match it. Now, I have heard this before in other books, but the overall presentation and support for this, is much well represented in this book.

If you are starting out, or attempting to re-organize your finances, before you get a money manager or financial advisor, get this book. It will definitely save and make you money. You will learn how to invest within your comfort level, and by the end of the book, the stock market and investing will be demystified.

You will regret not reading this book. I think this would also make a good gift.

For the beginning and intermediate investor that wants to really learn about investing, not chasin g returns. This book teaches all about investing with a philosophy, or what we all need, which is an investing plan. By the way, you can get a free book in a schwab office

This is the first and BEST guide I picked up in relation to an over view of the investing world.I borrowed it from the library and am buying it now as a resource..second time read! And it wont be the last time read i'm sure!! A must have!!Brings the intimidation factor down to zero.It breaks it down so well, I'd trust a 3rd grader to invest my money after he or she read this book! lol :)

Written for those just beginning to consider an investment plan, Charles Schwab's Guide to Financial Independence provides good sound advice that individuals can't go wrong with. The book includes sections that guide readers through the task of determining their own "investor profile" and asset allocation plan. Schwab recommends diversification through no-load mutual funds and cost-effective index funds and provides additional insight into the tax and record-keeping aspects of mutual fund investing. Some of the more interesting parts of the book: Mrs. Schwab's firsthand experience with an investment club and the book's epilogue, probably the only part actually written by Schwab. I found almost no negatives to this book except the part about dollar-cost-averaging which is a commonly misunderstood concept. Although there were many references to his own company, the book didn't seem to be self-promoting in general. I would recommend this book to anyone with little or no knowledge of investing.

Charles Schwab has opened the doors of investing to the masses. This book simply and clearly illustrates how to invest for one's future using an easy-to-understand, common sense style. Not only does Schwab demystify the stock market and the principles of investing, he makes you excited to get started!

If you want to secure your financial future with minimum hassle, don't want to become a stock-market expert, or spend any more time and money on the Wall Street stuff than is absolutely necessary, then this is the book for you. It tells you a very simple, but extremely efficient method for investing your money. It also tells you why and how to do it.

It does not cover everything there is to investing, hey it doesn't even cover 10% about it. But it covers enough to have a "fire and forget" way with investments. You can trust that the money you invest with this advice will keep up with the better half of the smart investors. And you can go on living and enjoying your life without too many financial worries.

An excellent book for the target audience.

As a CPA I used these guidelines to enter in the stocks market. Is the most effective way to get confidence in the stocks, mutual funds and other securities. MR. Charles Schwab made an excellent contribution to the potential investors with this book. I used the audiobook version listening it more than 200 times in my car between my home and my work for the past 6 months. With this audiobook you can jump in to the financial market to continue with the next steps.