Saving for Retirement without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery [Paperback]

Gail MarksJarvis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0132271907 | ISBN-13: 978-0132271905 | Edition: 1

Award-winning personal finance columnist read by millions of people each week

 

The Incredibly Simple, Step-by-Step Guide to Investing Money for Your Future!

 

“A cover-to-cover must-read for everyone 16 to 60 who wants to live the American Dream. The earlier we choosetosave^®, the sooner we can stop saving, and the later we start saving the more we need to know in order to catch up. 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 and American Savings Education Council (www.choosetosave.org)

 

“Bookstores are full of tomes advising people how to save for retirement, yet millions of people are still hopelessly confused about what they should do. Gail MarksJarvis breaks it down into simple steps that anyone can do to ensure a more comfortable retirement. Read this book and prosper!”

–Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money Personal finance columnist and best-selling author of Your Credit Score

 

“This book offers a sensible, sophisticated approach for tackling the daunting challenge of saving for retirement. The good news? You can retire–without living on canned food or buying lottery tickets–if you follow Gail’s realistic strategies for saving, investing, and ultimately spending money in retirement.”

–Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press

 

“You can wallpaper a warehouse with all of the awful investment advice offered up every year in newspapers, magazines, and books. One of the most difficult tasks is to separate the get-rich-quick hype from the truly worthwhile knowledge that will make you wealthy over time. I’m thrilled to say that Gail MarksJarvis has cut through the claptrap of investment cacophony and provided not only a solid plan for retirement saving, but a realistic, common-sense approach to personal finance in general. This is a triumph.”

–John F. Wasik, Bloomberg News personal finance columnist and author, The Merchant of Power

 

 

Drawn from responses to questions from over 20,000 readers of the author’s personal finance columns.

 

Over the years, Chicago Tribune financial columnist Gail MarksJarvis has taken the time to listen and respond to thousands of her readers about the issues, questions, and concerns that are most important to them. Saving and investing for retirement has never been more important...and with this book, it’s never been clearer what you need to do and how to do it. 

 

Don’t wait another day! Discover…

 

• How much you’ll need and how to get there…even if you’ve fallen behind
• Exactly how to set up IRAs, 401(k)s, or 403(b)s in minutes and pocket your tax money
• How to harness the money-making power of the stock market
• How to pick the right mutual funds confidently with simple strategies and specific recommendations
• Incredibly easy, safe investing strategies based on professional money-management techniques
• "Gimmick-free" investing shortcuts that won’t backfire on you
• How to keep debt from making you poor
• How to get reliable help if you need it…and avoid incompetents or scam artists
• How the new 2006 pension laws affect you

 

MarksJarvis eliminates the insider jargon, confusion, and math…takes the mystery out of the stock market…simplifies investing techniques…answers all your questions…clears away every obstacle in your way so you make money without taking foolish risks.  She’s already done it for millions, in the nation’s top newspapers and most popular financial radio and TV shows. Now, she’ll do it for you, too!

 

Introduction

1             Start Investing Early, or Start Now  1

2             Know What You'll Need  9

3             Savings on Steroids: Use a 401(k) and an IRA  39

4             An IRA—Every American’s Treasure Trove  59

5             IRA Decisions: How to Start, Where to Go  65

6             Why the Stock Market Isn't a Roulette Wheel  89

7             What's a Mutual Fund?  105

8             Making Sense of Wacky Mutual Fund Names  115

9             Know Your Mutual Fund Manager's Job  127

10           The Only Way that Works: Asset Allocation  151

11           Do This  163

12           How to Pick Mutual Funds: Bargain Shop  181

13           Index Funds: Get What You Pay For  189

14           Simple Does It: No-Brainer Investing with Target-Date Funds  209

15           Do You Need a Financial Adviser?  219

Index  229

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Leading financial columnist MarksJarvis presents the everyman’s guide to saving for retirement. The idea of navigating the world of 401Ks and Roth IRAs leaves many people scared, cold, or both. This book will help reduce the confusion, anxiety and avoidance that many people associate with saving for retirement. Informed by thousands of calls and emails from readers over the years, MarksJarvis understands exactly what people want and need to know about managing their personal finances. Here, she provides guidance and answers common questions in an organized and reader-friendly style. Readers will learn how to calculate what they’ll need for their nest egg, how to open an IRA, make sense of mutual funds and when to consult a financial advisor. Sensible–but not stuffy–this book will convince young people to start saving now, and will help ensure that panicked middle-aged readers will not be spending their golden years in the poor house." --Kirkus Reports

About the Author

Gail MarksJarvis is one of the nation’s most respected personal finance columnists. Her Chicago Tribune columns reach millions of readers in many of the nation’s leading daily newspapers. She has been named Best Financial Columnist by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

 

MarksJarvis delivers advice weekly on CLTV, appears on Chicago’s WGN radio, and has provided financial news and analysis for public television, NPR, and NBC, CBS, and ABC affiliates. Formerly a reporter for public radio’s Marketplace program and USA Today, she currently serves on the board of directors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. 

 

Reach her at www.gailmarksjarvis.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (March 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132271907
• ISBN-13: 978-0132271905
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

91 of 98 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Basic info is good, but assumptions are very outdated October 11, 2011

By esm4 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's interesting to read a book that was written prior to the financial collapse. It's almost like a snapshot in time. On the one hand, this book had lots of basic, good advice for people who don't understand how to go about creating savings. For anyone who is already a saver/investor, this book will be too basic for you, but there are large numbers of people out there who do need this sort of advice and I thought the book was very good at explaining things at a level that would be useful for beginners. For that, I would give it 5 stars.

The problem is that the assumptions the author used for her examples of compounding are so outdated that they are almost dangerous. She consistently used an 8 -10% expected return on investment to illustrate how small amounts of money could grow over time. Years ago, that may have been a reasonable rate of return, but not in this decade, and most "experts" think that you will be lucky to earn 5% return on your money in the future, especially if you want to keep your risk at reasonable levels. The problem with using 8-10% is that it gives a completely unrealistic view of how much money you will need to save to reach your goals, and how long it will take you to get there. Given the current state of the economy, if you rely on optimistic projections such as these, you are liable to fall far short of your goals, and by the time you realize that, it will be too late to make it up in your savings. Plus, someone who is unsophisticated enough about money to need this book will also not recognize that these assumptions are outdated. Because of that, I have to mark the book down. Therefore I'm giving it 3 stars.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a must read for financial wisdom April 13, 2007

By M. Taylor

Format:Paperback

Being in retirement already, I found this book still very enlightening and very easy to read. A chatty, warm style lets the reader feel as if a knowlegeable friend is giving advice without making the reader feel as if he/she missed out and can never catch up. A non daunting approach to investing makes the MarksJarvis book interesting, worthwhile, informative with good links to investment calculations.

Grandparents would serve their grandchildren well to forgo taking the kids on fancy trips and put the money into the kid's IRA account at a young age.

I sent a copy to my daughter because there is something here for every age group.

Marie Taylor

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book! April 17, 2007

By Zachary M. Barber

Format:Paperback

I'm sure I can speak for many who have read this book when I say I wish it would have come out ten years ago. Not only is it incredibly educational, its light hearted style doesn't make you feel bad even if you are starting from square one with regards to saving and investing. It's simple and direct when dealing with an intimidating subject and I am certainly going to put into place the advice Gail so clearly lays out for her readers. KUDOS!

I do not come from a family who is good with money. I have already told my parents and siblings to read this book. It is more beneficial to us than you can even imagine. Thanks.

Zach Barber