No-Nonsense Finance : E.F. Moody's Guide to Taking Complete Control of Your Personal Finances (CLS.EDUCATION)

Today's most powerful personal finance website transfers its take-noprisoners approach to the printed page Errold Moody and his website efmoody.com have gained a substantial grassroots following --and praise from Forbes, Business- Week, USA Today, and others--for their straight-talking approach and hands-on guidance in all areas of personal finance. No-Nonsense Finance brings the website's wealth of information to a concise yet comprehensive guidebook, outlining a commonsense program for saving regularly, investing wisely, and resisting the impulse to buy unnecessary products and advice. From showing readers how to find advisers they can trust to dispelling myths about asset allocation, dollar-cost averaging, and more, No-Nonsense Finance is the ideal financial reference. Readers will enjoy, and profit from, Moody's irascible, often irreverent advice, including: Why one should never buy stocks from a stockbroker Basic estate planning issues demystified "Caveat Investor" sidebars to highlight key points McGraw-Hill Terms of Use 3 Want to learn more? 4 Acknowledgments 5 Contents 7 Forewarned 9 The Truth Is Out There 12 Introduction 13 Investing 15 Basis 15 Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) 16 Annuities 16 Retirement 16 Mutual Fund Analysis 17 Pyramid of Investing 17 Asset Allocation 17 Insurance 18 Long-Term Care 18 Basic Estate Planning 18 Real Estate 19 When You Have Been Wronged 19 Notes 20 Chapter 1: The Fundamentals of Investing 21 Diversification by the Numbers 22 Suitability and Securities 28 Beta Is Dead. Long Live Beta 30 Alphas and Other Investment Stuff 33 Standard Deviation—Or, How Figures Can Lie and Liars Can Figure 37 Risk, Variability, Standard Deviation and Buy and Hold 42 Risk Going Up the Longer You Hold on to Stocks and Bonds 44 The Mystery of Asset Allocation 46 Summary 70 Notes 71 Chapter 2: Ethics Is Your Business 73 Moral Egoism and the Veil of Ignorance 77 General Ethics Guidelines 79 Summary 90 Chapter 3: Who Can You Trust? 93 Getting Referrals 94 Marketing Isn’t Homework 95 Who To Use 97 Licensing and Designations 100 Monitoring Investments and Planning 124 Research 125 Notes 126 Chapter 4: The Cornerstones of Investing 129 The Myth of Market Timing 133 Economic Analysis: The Market Timing Antidote 133 Dollar-cost Averaging (DCA) and Monthly Investing (MI) 135 Yield Curve and the Impact on Economics and the Market 142 Asset Allocation 145 Monte Carlo Simulations: Let’s Be Careful Out There 145 Dollar-Cost Averaging Down: The Simple Way to Avoid Losses 151 Rebalancing 153 Summary 157 Chapter 5: Basis 159 Summary 165 Chapter 6: The Pyramid of Investing 167 The Bottom of the Pyramid: The Foundation of Your Portfolio 169 Moving Up the Pyramid: Tax-Sheltered Growth 175 The Top of the Pyramid 185 Summary 186 Notes 186 Chapter 7: Bonds 189 Yield 190 Current Yield 192 Ratings 192 Maturity 193 Call Dates 194 High-Yield Bonds 196 Municipal or Corporate Bonds? 197 Summary 198 Notes 198 Chapter 8: Mutual Funds 199 Summary 204 Chapter 9: Real Estate 205 Comparative Investment Analysis 205 Comparison of Real Estate to Equities 208 Sample Real Estate Analysis 209 Other Factors to Consider 211 Summary 211 Chapter 10: Annuities 213 What Are Annuities? 213 Annuity Growth 214 Bonus Interest 216 Two-Tier Annuities 219 When a Rate Is Not a Rate 220 Are You Getting the Best Rate? 221 Fiduciary Obligation? 222 Surrender Charges 223 Payouts 224 The Wall Street Journal Goes Out to Lunch 227 Other Payouts 228 Summary 230 Notes 231 Chapter 11: Insurance 233 Who Should Buy Insurance? 235 Disability Coverage 238 Estate Insurance 239 Amount of Insurance 241 Type of Insurance 245 Company Ratings 252 From Whom Do You Buy Insurance? 252 Other Insurance Issues 258 Summary 261 Notes 261 Chapter 12: Long-Term Care Insurance 263 Real-Life Elements of Long-Term Care 263 Medicare and Medicaid Coverage 272 Redistribution of Assets and Medicaid Qualifying Trusts 276 LTC Policy Analysis 279 Old Policies 281 Tax-Qualified Policies 281 LTC Companies 286 Sale of Companies 287 Guaranteed Renewable versus Noncancelable Structure 288 Obesity and Long-Term Care 288 The Nursing Shortage and Increased Long-Term Care Costs 289 Basic Policy Coverage 291 Elimination Period 291 Period of Coverage 292 Daily Rate 292 Compounding 295 Home Health Care 296 Nursing Home Care 298 Policy Costs 298 Alternate LTC Coverage 301 Summary 302 Notes 302 Chapter 13: Budgeting for Now—and for Your Retirement 305 Will You Have Enough for Retirement? 312 What Should You Have Done? 314 What to Do? 317 How to Plan for Retirement 318 Making Changes 323 What Retirees Should Have Done, Part 1 325 What Retirees Should Have Done, Part 2 327 When to Start and What to Do 330 Assets before Retirement 332 Other Retirement Issues 332 Summary 342 Notes 343 Chapter 14: Estate Planning 345 Emphasis: Assets or Intangibles? 345 Assets 347 Increasing Assets 348 Intangible Estate Planning 352 Dying Intestate 353 Wills 354 Probate 355 Gifting 362 Titling 365 Appreciation 373 Trusts 375 Estate Planning Attorneys 383 Summary 384 Notes 384 Chapter 15: Arbitration and Litigation 385 An Overview of Arbitration and Litigation 386 Why It Goes Wrong 387 Types of Cases and Statistics 390 Associated Issues 393 Initial Steps to Arbitration 398 Summary 401 Notes 401 Index 403 About the Author 418 0071413308,9780071413305

A take-no-prisoners approach to making your money work for you—from investing to insurance, real estate, and more

Prepare yourself for a shock.

Because No-Nonsense Finance is like no personal finance book you have ever read. Hard-hitting, irreverent, frequently caustic, but always honest and on-the-money—like its author, noted personal finance expert and Internet guru Errold Moody—this straight-talking book uses a refreshingly in-your-face style to detail everything you need to know about your financial life, and how to make your money work for you.

But don't let his style fool you. Fact is, when it comes to taking care of your money, Moody may be the best friend you'll ever have. Look to No-Nonsense Finance for pull-no-punches guidance on important issues including:

• Strategies for knowing more than your stockbroker (it ain't that hard!)
• How much insurance you need, or don't need, and why
• Straight-talking investment advice for every stage of your life
• Why you don't want to use a broker, insurance agent, or financial planner yet why you may need one
• What you really need to know when buying long-term care insurance
• No-nonsense guidelines for estate planning, real estate, and more

You may not like what Moody has to say. Still, in order to live well today and retire better tomorrow, you need to hear it. Let No-Nonsense Finance show you how to consistently do the right things with your money and reveal how easy it can be to do the wrong things if you're not careful.

Provides an approach to making your money work for you - from investing to insurance, real estate, and more. This title shows you how to consistently do the right things with your money - and reveals how easy it can be to do the wrong things if you're not careful.