Investing DeMYSTiFieD

Investing DeMYSTiFieD, untanglesan otherwise perplexing topic, making it easier than ever to invest like a veteran! Outlining step-by-step techniques for making the most of your money while keeping it out of harm’s way, this self-teaching guide explains how to identify and take advantage of rich opportunities–from mutual funds to taxfree bonds to real estate. Market-proven tips and techniques, handy checklists, and chapter-ending quizzes help you build a solid foundation on thesubject at your own speed.

Introduction:

This book is geared for all the investors and would-be investors out there who know the importance of managing their money for the future but who aren’t entirely certain how to go about it. That’s probably the majority of the general population. Public opinion polls tell us that more Americans think and worry about money—and how to invest it—than any generation in this country’s history. Part of this, as we’ll explain, is due to the fact that more of us are responsible for our own financial futures than ever before. Yet fewer than one in five of us feel like we’re doing very well at this incredibly important task, which explains why Baby Boomers and members of Generation X worry more about their financial well-being than their own mortality.

But while investing is now a daily part of our national conversation, the language of investing and some basic investing concepts are still foreign to many of us. The sad reality is, no one really teaches us how to become investors. Few high schools these days even offer economics courses, let alone lessons in personal finance or investing. Unless your parents were investors themselves and taught you the ins and outs of the stock and bond markets, you were probably left to figure it out on your own.

Chances are, you were thrown head first into the markets—with little clue about how to stay afloat—the minute you started a new job and enrolled in the company’s 401(k) retirement plan. Those enrollment papers not only ask you if you want to participate, but what investments you want to put money into and how much money you want to invest in each. Terms like ‘‘small-cap growth fund’’ and ‘‘long-term government bonds’’ are thrown at us as if we intuitively understand what all of it means. Yet in this day and age, we have to know what these things mean to take control of our financial futures.

Hopefully, this book will answer some of your basic questions and take some of the mystery out of investing. When you boil it down, learning to invest is really a four-step process. First, you have to figure out who you are and what kind of investor you plan to be. Then, you have to become familiar with the assets that serve as the building blocks to an investment portfolio. Then you have to figure out how to research and select those assets. And finally, you have to learn how to mix and organize those assets into a comprehensive and diversified portfolio that will serve your specific set of needs.

Contents:

• Why We Invest
• Before You Get Started
• Demystifying the Language of Investing
• What Kind of Investor Are You?
• Demystifying Stocks
• Demystifying Bonds
• Demystifying Cash
• Demystifying Mutual Funds I
• Demystifying Funds II
• Demystifying Other Assets
• Demystifying Stock Selection
• Demystifying Bond Selection
• Demystifying Mutual Fund Selection
• Demystifying Asset Allocation
• Demystifying Asset Location

Investing DeMYSTiFieD By Paul Lim pdf