25 Myths You've Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage Your Money Right : The New Rules for Financial Success

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Worried about debt? Are you thinking about investing in a remodel on your house? Looking to invest your retirement in mutual funds? Or are you about to set up a custodial account for your kids? If you are, Jonathan Clements's book, 25 Myths You've Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage Your Money Right, couldn't be a timelier read. Clements, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, picks apart long-standing myths of how you should manage your money and offers a set of sensible financial tips designed to help you sleep better at night.

Book Description

STOP THINKING ABOUT MONEY IN THE SAME OLD WAY

Have you ever been told that you can't go wrong with mutual funds? That stocks are risky? That you should take out the largest mortgage possible? That life insurance is a good investment? That you should keep six months of emergency money? These myths and more are shattered in 25 Myths You've Got to Avoid -- If You Want to Manage Your Money Right. Each of the book's twenty-five chapters tackles a cherished money myth, first telling you why it no longer works and then showing you how to do it right. Along the way you will learn winning strategies for investing in mutual funds, building a portfolio, saving for retirement, paying for college, buying a house, preparing for financial emergencies, selecting insurance, and planning your estate.

The result? Instead of the predictable compendium of tedious advice tossed out by most personal-finance tomes, Clements's book offers a witty, fast-paced journey through today's treacherous investment world. Amusing and irreverent, here is an intriguing and accessible approach to personal finance.

Customer Reviews:

Funny, irreverant, unabiguous.......2007-04-15

The rules HAVE changed. What worked in the 70s, 80s, 90s - and those rules were all different - won't work now. Get rid of your financial anxiety - Jonathan tells you how to buy a house that you can pay off, buy index funds, be 100% invested in stock index funds, be smart about insurance and sleep like a baby at night. None of this is new stuff. What is new is the clear, concise writing and the insight that what we do next is based on today's and tomorrow's rules.

Great common sense guide for the individual investor.......2007-01-10

I religiously read Jonathan Clements' weekly column in the WSJ. I find his advice spot on for the individual investor. This book is a pragmatic discussion of several basic investment topics and has provided invaluable information for non-finance types such as myself (I'm a CIO). I recommend it!

Solid Introduction To Personal Finance.......2002-10-01

"25 Myths You've Got To Avoid If You Want To Manage Your Money Right" is a great personal finance book. The book gives a solid overall philosophy to managing your money. It's probably best for new to intermediate investors.

Each chapter begins with an investment or personal finance myth. Clements explains where each myth goes wrong and concludes each chapter with new rules to replace the myth.

Clements discusses the myth that you should invest in bonds for income. He says that investors love bonds because they love income. But, Clements says that investors loving bonds is a "masochistic relationship" when we factor in all of the negatives of bond investing.

Clements explains that the callable feature of bonds means that if interest rates drop significantly, bonds will probably be called in, depriving investors of the desirable and higher interest rate on their existing bonds. But, if interest rates shoot way up, the bonds won't be called in, and investors will be locked into receiving a low rate of return. Clements says that the call feature of bonds is a case of "heads I win, tails you lose."

And, as much as investors love bonds, Clements notes that the taxman loves bonds even more. After factoring in taxes and inflation, Clements shows us that bonds are a dismal investment. (Especially when we toss in default risk and interest rate risk). The chapter about bonds is particularly good and will give investors much to think about.

So, what about investors seeking income? Does Clements go along with the "No problem. Just sell some shares when you need some money" crowd? No. Clements realizes the inherent risk in needing to sell shares for income. The market might be down, and you could take a clubbing.

Clements explains that stocks or mutual funds holding stocks "are your portfolio's engine of growth. Everything else is there to reduce risk, so that you won't get unnerved by market swings and can tap your portfolio for spending money without selling stocks at fire-sale prices."

So rather than following the conventional advice of holding a portfolio balanced between stocks and bonds (usually 60% stocks and 40% bonds), Clements suggests investors consider holding a portfolio of 25% cash and 75% stocks. I strongly agree that this is something to consider.

Ultimately, Clements tells us that it's our asset allocation which will determine the long-term rate of return our portfolio achieves. Rather than holding a portfolio composed of only 50% stocks and then trying to seek the next Microsoft, investors would probably do much better holding a higher percentage of stocks and foregoing the search for the next big winner.

Clements says it's a myth that you can beat the market. In addition to not liking market timing, he doesn't believe in sector rotation, or individual stock selection. Further, Clements doesn't tend to like actively managed mutual funds. Because Clements is of the earliest columnists to cover the mutual fund industry for The Wall Street Journal, we should probably listen when he gives mutual fund advice.

What typically happens, Clements explains, is that a superstar fund manager hits a streak. This might be due to his or her investing style coming into favor or it might be due to luck. Then typically the public relations department of the money management firm kicks in and the money under management balloons. Ultimately, the fund returns to moderate performance or bombs entirely. The superstars reputation fades away. A new superstar at another fund is born.

Clements has seen too many superstar fund managers wipe out to believe it's worth his time seeking the best mutual funds among the several thousand existing funds. He recommends indexing your stock market money among larger U.S. stocks, smaller U.S. stocks, and foreign stocks.

Clements includes a good discussion of the controversy surrounding whether to invest all of a lump sum at once or whether you should dollar cost average it into the market. He prefers dollar cost averaging it into the market as a means of reducing risk. Rather than aiming for the highest possible return, we want to minimize the risk of losing capital.

Clements says we probably won't get a 10% rate of return on our investments and that the new "Disney World for the post-teen set" is using compounding calculators, plugging in estimated rates of return, to calculate how large their retirement nest egg will be. Considering inflation, Clements corrects us showing that, due to inflation, the real return on stocks is closer to 7% a year. Those compounding calculators are fun, aren't they?

I disagree with some of Clements' advice. What he says about building a credit cushion rather than holding excessive savings in a low-yield, money-market fund is good. But, I'd much rather count upon a home equity line of credit than a (gulp!) margin account at a brokerage, which he suggests as an option.

Clements also suggests that if you're wealthy you probably don't need umbrella liability insurance as you can self-insure this risk. He says the same about health insurance. How rich is rich? We're not talking $5 million here. I'd recommend retaining both health insurance and umbrella liability insurance regardless of your wealth. But, as Clements says, you probably can forego termite reinfestation insurance. You can absorb the cost of annihilating the little bugs yourself.

Finally, "25 Myths You've Got To Avoid If You Want To Manage Your Money Right" has a great discussion of why you might not want to max out your (non-Roth) IRA, but consider holding a global index portfolio in a taxable account instead. In addition to not having access to the money for a long-time, you're converting capital gains into more heavily-taxed income with the non-Roth IRA.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Becoming An Investor"

Good, Logical Recommendations -- Quick Read.......2002-06-20

This book covers the 25 myths about managing money. What makes this book better than others is that it gives you the background logic behind the decisions. For example, the author discusses the myth of buying the biggest house possible and why this mindset was successful in the 70s & 80s (and could be again) but isn't a good idea in today's economy. The author further shares the "forumula" behind the logic -- inflation rates, present/future value of money, and lost opportunity.

The 25 Myths are nothing surprising, but you will find that the logic is refreshingly simple and easy to apply to your financial situation.

Has your portflio really out-performed Index Funds ?.......2002-05-30

The author definitely beats home some basic messages about inflation, tax implications and trading costs that might be old news to some seasoned investors. He loves stocks and hates bonds. The most important thing I took away from this book was that even if you manage to pick a mutual fund that beats the S&P over a 30 year period, the costs incorporated into even no-load mutual funds can eat away at what little gains you might make over indexes. His remedy: Invest in stocks for the long term (nothing new here) and diversify your portfolio with the cheapest domestic and international index funds you can find. He recommends Vanguard's Total Stock Index Fund and Vanguard Total International fund.

I read the book in the spring of 2002, which makes some of the information in the 1997 printing I had a bit dated (e.g. no 529 tax deferred education savings plans). If you're looking for a more updated version with a lot of the same ideas, try Glassman's Secret Code of the Superior Investor.

Book Description

Born in the U.S., Duncome settled in Canada in 1815 and as chairman of the finance committee of the Parliament of Upper Canada, was deputed to gather information in the U.S. on undemocratic banking practices. His report on banking never appeared as he fled Canada charged with involvement in the Mackenzie rebellion. Instead he used the material to publish a populist work for Americans which proposed a central bank run by democratically elected officials which would provide a stable, adequate and uniform currency via a system of state branches. This is the earliest full-scale American work devoted to free (anti-charter) banking.

Duncombe's Free Banking: An Essay on Banking, Currency, Finance, Exchanges, and Political Economy

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Duncombe's Free Banking: An Essay on Banking, Currency, Finance, Exchanges, and Political Economy
Charles Duncombe
Manufacturer: Sanford & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NYQ4IU

Book Description

Silicon (Si) plays a significant role in the resistance of plants to multiple stresses including biotic and abiotic stresses. Silicon is also the only element that does not damage plants when accumulated in excess. However, the contribution of Si to plant growth has been largely ignored due to its universal existence in the earth's crust. From numerous intensive studies on Si, initiated in Japan about 80 years ago, Japanese scientists realized that Si was important for the healthy growth of rice and for stability of rice production. In a worldwide first, silicon was recognized as a valuable fertilizer in Japan. The beneficial effects of Si on rice growth in particular, are largely attributable to the characteristics of a silica gel that is accumulated on the epidermal tissues in rice. These effects are expressed most clearly under high-density cultivation systems with heavy applications of nitrogen. Si is therefore recognized now as an ''agronomically essential element'' in Japan.

Recently, Si has become globally important because it generates resistance in many plants to diseases and pests, and may contribute to reduced rates of application of pesticides and fungicides. Silicon is also now considered as an environment-friendly element. The achievements of Si research in Japan are introduced in this book, in relation to soils, fertilizers and plant nutrition.

Book Description

The Horizon Scientific Press titles focus on high-level microbiology and molecular biology topics. Written by internationally renowned and highly respected leaders in the field, titles in this series comprise of review manuals, practical manuals, and reference texts for research scientists, bioscience professionals and graduate students.

Updated and revised, the second edition of this popular book explains in detail the ever-expanding possibilities that the Internet offers cell biologists, molecular biologists, and other bioscientists. All aspects of the Internet are discussed - from mailing lists and discussion groups to sequence search facilities, primer design software and genome databases. This book is an indispensable manual packed with essential information on the use, purpose and future potential of all relevant resources. The Internet for Cell and Molecular Biologists is an essential book for all bioscience laboratories.

The Internet for Cellular and Molecular Biologists

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The Internet for Cellular and Molecular Biologists
Andrea Cabibbo , and Manuela Helmer Citterich
Manufacturer: Horizon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Bioinformatics | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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None available yet.

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Some ferromagnetic materials with localized magnetic moments have become a hot topic of modern solid state physics because of their potential applications, e.g. in spintronic devices. The magnetic systems of interest comprise diluted magnetic semiconductors and half-metallic ferromagnets. Like conventional concentrated local-moment systems, they are characterized by an exchange interaction between localized magnetic moments and quasi-free charge carriers. The current research on local-moment ferromagnetism is reviewed in a tutorial style by leading experts in this field. Experimentalists present the latest approaches to characterize the unique material properties and theoreticians share decisive ideas to describe the observed phenomena theoretically. Students and researchers alike will benefit from this status report.

Book Description

This new edition of Computer Speech is an introduction to multimedia speech applications that is also suitable for nonspecialists. New material treats such contemporary subjects as automatic speech recognition and speaker verification for banking by computer and privileged (medical, military, diplomatic) information and control access. The book also focuses on speech and audio compression for mobile communication and the Internet. The importance of subjective quality criteria is stressed. A brief history of speech research summarizes the development from the first talking machines in 18 ^th-century Europe to modern x-ray methods of articulatory analysis. The book also contains introductions to human monaural and binaural hearing, and the basic concepts of signal analysis. Beyond speech processing, this revised and extended new edition of Computer Speech gives an overview of natural language technology and presents the nuts and bolts of state-of-the-art speech dialogue systems.

Error Control, Cryptology, and Speech Compression: Workshop on Information Protection, Moscow, Russia, December 6 - 9, 1993. Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

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Error Control, Cryptology, and Speech Compression: Workshop on Information Protection, Moscow, Russia, December 6 - 9, 1993. Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Voice Recognition | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

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Information Theory | Computer Science | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This volume comprises a collection of papers presented at the Workshop on Information Protection, held in Moscow, Russia in December 1993. The 16 thoroughly refereed papers by internationally known scientists selected for this volume offer an exciting perspective on error control coding, cryptology, and speech compression. In the former Soviet Union, research related to information protection was often shielded from the international scientific community. Therefore, the results presented by Russian researchers and engineers at this first international workshop on this topic are of particular interest; their work defines the cutting edge of research in many areas of error control, cryptology, and speech recognition.

Computational speech processing: Speech analysis, recognition, understanding, compression, transmission, coding, synthesis, text to speech systems, speech ... processing : bibliography (Infolingua)

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This is a very good book for beginners and DSP pros alike

Computational speech processing: Speech analysis, recognition, understanding, compression, transmission, coding, synthesis, text to speech systems, speech ... processing : bibliography (Infolingua)
Conrad Sabourin
Manufacturer: Infolingua
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Customer Reviews:

This is a very good book for beginners and DSP pros alike.......2000-05-18

the author has made it a point to go deep into details of different fields where DSP plays a major role..

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BJOYFL: A Must Read

A JOY TO READ

All the right answers to the wrong questions!!!

An Amazing Read

If You Look Up Quirky in a Dicionary...

Bjoyfl
Lynn Barry
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591297109

Book Description

Bjoyfl is a humorous quirky tale about the lessons an older student learns inside and outside the walls of lecture halls. Her pursuit of happiness seems more like a course in frustration 101, or a well- researched paper on relationships that make you feel like screaming or tearing your hair out. Do any of us ever really achieve the inner peace we want to achieve, or are we all just plodding through life with no clue? Explore the seemingly weird path this single woman goes down during her quest to discover what the heck will ever make her happy. Men and women who love Barry's humorous dark novel Puddles will also enjoy Bjoyfl.

Customer Reviews:

BJOYFL: A Must Read.......2005-05-09

BJOYFL is Reviewed by Linda Pannett Author of "Silent Killers." Lynn Barry Author of "BJOYFL" is a wonderful brilliant writer taking her readers on a lively journey through being a student of midlife to wanting love and finding love and uncertain of love to being absolutely in love with a man who she believes is a jerk. Will she marry the jerk and become an instant stepmother? Will she become a teacher or be a dropout? Ms. Barry takes us on the road to a beautiful suspense novel that will make you laugh and cry. "BJOYFL" is a must read.

A JOY TO READ.......2004-10-14

I recommend Lynn Barry's "BJOYFL" for those who simply find reading a joy. Barry invites us into Valerie Martin's life as her road to happiness is currently under construction. She maneuvers around the roadblocks of life with her mind set on being joyful. With her newly earned teaching career she re-encounters a troubled teen who needs her help. What path will Valerie choose as she struggles to befriend this lonely and angry young girl? Will she find the happiness she desperately seeks or will this be yet another dead end? Being joyful may mean different things to different people but everyone can relate to Barry's theme in "BJOYFL." Love, acceptance and belonging.

Jennifer Ragan
Author of "Shadow's Walk"

All the right answers to the wrong questions!!!.......2004-06-15

Valerie Martin is a thirtysomething lady seeking to find herself in life. Long on dreams and short on reality, Valerie has returned to school to get her college degree. She meets up with two more ladies well beyond the average college student age and the three of them share a bond that only ladies in their situation could understand.

Valerie has got more than her fair share of problems in places she doesn't even know exist. As she looks around she finds herself surrounded with such problems as being pressured by her mother to get married before she becomes an old maid, falling prey to a young student that awkwardly looses his virginity with her while she is only seeking someone to pay attention to her, possible suitors getting her hopes up only to thank her for being the eternal "friend" that listens to them and dealing with a troublesome child that seems to enjoy the thrill of shoplifting at the store she works. These are some of the fronts she has to conquer.

By the time you finish the book, you will have enjoyed her trip through two possible marriages and a surprise finish. Valerie suffers more than a little bit as she places the role of a little, insecure girl trapped in the body of an adult. Torn between hiding in the comfort of her parents house and facing the world on her own, she spends many a night crying, wishing and dreaming of a happiness, yet not knowing what she really needs to be happy.

A sidebar story of an author spending time in her parent's bed and breakfast establishment while penning a new book called "BJOYFL" is one that will finally lead Valerie towards her true happiness. She will come to terms with the fact that, to be happy, one has to be happy with themselves.

This is the second book that I have read by this highly talented author and I am chomping at the bit to read future works of her. Barry is a very gifted writer that as a humorous, yet dramatic style of getting her characters into problems and finally delivering them towards an ultimate peace with themselves. This book was written in first person format which made it all the more enjoyable as you lived the world through the eyes and ears of Valerie. A very highly recommended read!!!

An Amazing Read.......2004-06-13

Valerie Martin was going to college to become an English Teacher. But the one thing she wanted more than being a teacher was to be married. Here she was in her late thirties and still single. When she catches Candy Companion a teenaged girl shoplifting, at the store she works at. Valerie makes the girl promise not the ever shoplift again. Carl Companion is trying to raise his daughter alone. His wife having died. When he meets Valerie Martin, he doesn't know what to think about the woman trying to help his unruly daughter. Lynn Barry has a way of writing so you enter the world of Carl Companion and Valerie Martin. As the story unfolds you will be joyful right alone with them. Bjoyfl is a wonderful book that shows us we are supposed to be joyful. I enjoyed reading this amazing book and recommend it to everyone. I can't wait to read more of Lynn Barry's work. She is a very talented author.

If You Look Up Quirky in a Dicionary..........2003-11-29

You would in all probability find a picture of the cover of this book! BJOYFL is just that - a quirky, sometimes funny and sometimes sad look at life and the pursuit of more than just momentary happiness. As we follow the first person account of a "non-trad" older student's life in and out of the college scene, we also find bits and pieces of ourselves and questions we often delegate to the darker recesses of our thoughts - "Will I ever marry? Will I ever have a family? Will anyone ever want to love me? Can anyone ever get it all together? Will I ever be truly happy?" Deep questions that easily could have been covered in a somber mode or glossed over in a non-real fashion are instead viewed with the quirky twist that only Ms. Lynn Barry can bring. This is a charming book and definitely worth the read. Enjoy it and BJOYFL!

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