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You must be aware of the value, potential return and risk of your human capital: your job, career and what you do for a living. Human capital is the most valuable asset that you will own over your lifecycle. You need to balance financial decisions with the characteristics of your human capital. The key trends identified in Are You a Stock or a Bond? include the decline of Defined Benefit (DB) pension provision, the continued increase in human longevity and the risk of personal inflation, and they are as relevant today as they were five years ago. The financial crisis has taught us that all types of capital -- human, financial and even social -- are key to a secure financial future. If your career has "stock-like" growth and risk characteristics, Milevsky helps you balance your "portfolio" by tilting investments towards safer "bonds."
Saving for Retirement will relieve confusion and barriers to action. It acquaints readers with people like them, and step-by-step addresses what's likely confusing them. Instead of starting with some lofty financial planning theory, it walks individuals through the process everyone goes through with IRAs and 401 (k)s -- leaving no basic questions unanswered. Instead of telling readers to open an IRA-as many books do-it tells them how to open one: where to go, what the forms mean, how to decide how to invest, the essential first steps. The book removes everything from the reader's path that typically trips people up and hits the sweet spot for everyone from aged 18 to 60. Using new figures (including troubling new projections of healthcare and long-term care costs), she helps readers calculate exactly how much money they'll need. Next, she presents optimal asset allocations for each stage of life -- and shows how these allocations would've protected typical investors through the past five tumultuous years. Packed with her readers' personal stories, this book teaches powerful professional financial planning principles -- but makes them simple enough for anyone to apply on their own.
Are You a Stock or a Bond?: Identify Your Own Human Capital for a Secure Financial Future, Updated and Revised, 1/e
Preface to the Second (Revised) Edition xiv
Introduction: Pensions Are Dying; Long Live Pensions 1
Chapter 1: You, Inc. 13
Chapter 2: Insurance Is a Hedge for Human Capital 37
Chapter 3: Diversification over Space and Time 55
Chapter 4: Can Debt Be Good at All Ages? 85
Chapter 5: Personal Inflation and the Retirement Cost of Living 103
Chapter 6: Sequence of Investment Returns 115
Chapter 7: Longevity Is a Blessing and a Risk 137
Chapter 8: Spending Your Retirement in a Risky World 149
Chapter 9: Annuities Are Personal Pensions 165
Chapter 10: Product Allocation Is the New Asset Allocation 187
Chapter 11: Conclusion: Plan for Managing Your Retirement Risk 207
Appendix: Additional References and Notes 217
Saving for Retirement (Without Living Like a Pauper or Winning the Lottery) Updated and Revised, 1/e
Introduction xxi
Chapter 1: Start Investing Early or Start Now 1
Chapter 2: Know What You’ll Need 9
Chapter 3: Savings on Steroids: Use a 401(k) and an IRA 41
Chapter 4: An IRA: Every American’s Treasure Trove 61
Chapter 5: IRA Decisions: How to Start and Where to Go 67
Chapter 6: Why the Stock Market Isn’t a Roulette Wheel 91
Chapter 7: What’s a Mutual Fund? 111
Chapter 8: Making Sense of Wacky Mutual Fund Names 123
Chapter 9: Know Your Mutual Fund Manager’s Job 137
Chapter 10: The Only Way That Works: Asset Allocation 165
Chapter 11: Do This 177
Chapter 12: How to Pick Mutual Funds: Bargain Shop 201
Chapter 13: Index Funds: Get What You Pay For 209
Chapter 14: Simple Does It: No-Brainer Investing with Target-Date Funds 231
Chapter 15: Do You Need a Financial Adviser? 243
Index 253