Personal Investing by Biafore, Bonnie -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Personal Investing: The Missing Manual A Note Regarding Supplemental Files The Missing Credits

About the Author About the Creative Team Acknowledgments The Missing Manual Series

Introduction

Why Investing Is Important The First Step: Planning Simple Steps to Successful Investing About This Book

About the Outline The Very Basics About→These→Arrows About MissingManuals.com About the Missing CD Safari® Books Online

One. Prepare to Invest

1. Why Should You Invest?

How Inflation Hurts Why Scary Numbers Aren’t That Scary

How Investing Makes Your Money Work Harder Investing for the Long Term

2. Set Your Investment Goals

Building Your Bucket List Retirement, College, or Other Goals The Big Kahuna: Retirement

When You Retire What’s Retirement Going to Cost? Sources of Retirement Income

Thanks, gov! Pension plans Work during retirement Nest egg income and principal

Building Your Retirement Plan

Other Long-Term Goals

Health Care and Long-Term Care College Savings Caring for Aging Parents A Second Home Leaving a Legacy Fun Stuff

Putting It All Together

What If I Can’t Save Enough?

3. Invest with Open Eyes

Clean Up Your Finances

Borrowing for a Good Reason Get Rid of High-Interest Debt

Spend Money Wisely Expect Base Hits, Not Home Runs Sidestepping Pitfalls in Investor Psychology

Which Type of Investor Are You? Protectors

Protectors’ bad habits Protectors’ new habits

Followers

Followers’ bad habits Followers’ new habits

Leaders

Leaders’ bad habits Leaders’ new habits

Power Players

Power players’ bad habits Power players’ new habits

Two. Choose and Buy Your Investments

4. How Investments Work

The Big Four: Typical Investments

Stock: Owning Part of a Company Bonds: Lending Money Investing with Others: Funds Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

Taxing Decisions

The Big Tax Bite Making the Most of Tax-Advantaged Accounts Tax-Advantaged or Taxable: Where to Put Investments Managing Taxes in Taxable Accounts

5. Funds

The Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry of Funds

Index Funds: Taste Great, Less Filling Mutual Fund Basics Exchange-Traded Funds

What a Fund Invests In

Asset Allocation Categories Investment Style and Size Categories Bond Fund Characteristics Does the Fund Do What It Says?

Evaluating Fund Performance Keeping a Lid on Fund Expenses How to Pick Funds

Choosing an Index Fund or ETF Evaluating Actively Managed Mutual Funds

Finding Funds Deciding When to Sell Managing Your Funds

Avoid Overlapping Funds Managing Taxes Making the Most of Limited Choices

6. Stocks

Buying into a Business

The Income Statement The Balance Sheet The Statement of Cash Flows

Investing in Growth Investing in Quality

Dealing with Debt

Debt-to-equity ratio Interest coverage Current ratio Quick ratio

Management Effectiveness

Return on equity Return on assets Turnover ratios

Profitability

Investing in Good Value

Price Ratios

Other price ratios

Dividends and Yield

Watching for Trends

7. Bonds

Why Invest in Bonds? How Bonds Work and How You Use Them

Bond Credit Quality

Avoiding default How credit quality affects bond interest rates and prices

Bond Maturity Bond Interest Rates Understanding Bond Prices

How market interest rates affect bond prices

Interest Rate Risk

Buying Bonds

Building a Bond Portfolio

8. REITs

Is REIT Investing Right for Me?

The Pros The Cons A Lesson in REIT Returns

Types of REITs

How REITs Make Money

Picking Individual REITs

Looking at Strategy Looking at the Bottom Line

Finding the Right REITs and REIT Funds

Screening REITs Screening REIT Funds

9. Manage Your Portfolio

What’s Investment Portfolio Management? Return vs. Risk

Face Your Fears: Understanding Investment Risks

Asset Allocation

Other Ways to Diversify

Choosing an Asset Allocation Plan

Using an Online Asset Allocation Tool

Asset Allocation Made Ridiculously Easy

Building a Lazy Portfolio Stealing a Lazy Portfolio from an Expert

Reviewing Your Portfolio

Checking Your Asset Allocation Checking Up on Funds, Stocks, and Bonds

Rebalancing Your Portfolio Getting Back On Track

Three. Manage Your Investments

10. Investing for Retirement

The Key Retirement Decisions

When You’re Going to Retire What Retirement Will Cost

Making the Most of Retirement Accounts

Making the Most of Your 401(k)

Why you should contribute to your 401(k) The downsides to 401(k)s and 403(b)s Rolling over a 401(k)

Choosing an IRA: Traditional or Roth?

Traditional IRA Roth IRA

Should I Convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA?

Using a Roth conversion calculator

Managing a Retirement Portfolio

When Retirement Is Way in the Future The Red Zone

Making the Most of Social Security

The Benefit of Delaying Benefits

Social Security delayed retirement credit Increased earnings Life expectancy

Working and Receiving Benefits

Withdrawing Money During Retirement

Figuring Out What You Can Spend Each Year Creating a Retirement Paycheck

11. Investing for College

College Costs How Much? Tax-Savvy Ways to Save for Education

Section 529 Savings Plans Section 529 Prepaid Plans Coverdell Education Savings Accounts Uniform Gifts to Minors Accounts

How to Pick a 529 Savings Plan

Choosing investment options

What to Do with Excess College Savings

Saving for More Than One Child The Best Way to Spend College Savings

12. Investing for Health Care

Types of Health Insurance Choosing an Employer-Sponsored Plan Choosing an Individual Health Insurance Plan High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans

Health Saving Accounts

Setting up an HSA Choosing an HSA provider What are qualified medical expenses?

Why Go High-Deductible/HSA?

Negotiating with Health Care Providers Paying for Long-Term Care

Index About the Authors Copyright

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