The Guru Guide to Money Management
by
Joseph H. Boyett & Jimmie T. Boyett
There are over 8,000 personal finance and investment books in print. Over 300
were published in 2002 alone. They come in every shape and form from quick “how
to..” paperbacks to academic tomes to “get rich quick” treatises to detailed
explanations of the “secrets” of the millionaires and rich dads who live next door.
They are written by the expected—financial advisors, CPAs, and investment
counselors—and the highly unusual—motivational speakers, psychotherapists, and
at least one who bills himself as “a windsurfer, inventor, and prison fellowship
ministry volunteer.” Almost every non-fiction best seller list contains at least one
money management book and frequently more than one. Some money
management gurus such as Suze Orman, described as the “queen of money
advice” are sufficiently popular to have multiple books on the non-fiction best seller
lists at the same time. Some stay on the best seller list for months, even years.
The financial gurus offer a wide range of advice which is often conflicting. For
example, some argue that you should maximize your earnings, minimize your
expenses, meet your obligations—and make sure that you have some sort of nest
egg to provide for your old age and to pass along to the kids. Others say that
wealth is to be spent while you’re alive, either on yourself or your loved ones, and
your goal in life should be to LIVE RICH and DIE BROKE. It is small comfort to know
that whether you believe that consumption is the path to grace or saving is the
way to salvation, you will find at least one guru to support your position.
Readers are confused about where to turn to for information they can really rely
upon, whose financial advice they should seek out and even what questions they
should ask. When they do find answers to their questions, they are perplexed
because they can’t be sure the answers are correct. After all, what are they to
make of the financial gurus promises that readers of their books will learn how to
“build a million-dollar portfolio on $3.50 a day,” “increase their income by 10
percent in nine weeks,” “earn an extra million in their lifetime,” “earn …up to a 50%
return on their investments—guaranteed,” “double their money in the stock
market—FAST,” and become wealthy on as little as a dollar a day?
The volume and confusing range of advice America’s financial gurus offer makes
them perfect candidates for the synthesis and “sense making” that can be found in
the Guru Guides(TM). The Guru Guide to Money Management dissects the advice of
America’s top personal finance management gurus, exposes their conflicts and
contradictions and separates the practical from the ethereal.
The Guru Guide(TM) to Money Management provides you with a clear, concise and
informative digest of to the best thinking about money management today. Like the
original Guru Guide(TM)(Wiley, 1998), we have designed this Guide to be more than
just an overview of current thinking. We go further to link and cross-link the ideas
to show where the experts agree and disagree. Finally, we provide an evaluation
of their strengths and weaknesses.
OUR GURUS
In selecting our gurus, we began by making a list of established money
management authorities and media personalities such Clark Howard, Jane Bryant
Quinn, and Suze Orman. We added authorities on the rich such as Thomas Stanley
who wrote The Millionaire Mind and investment wizards such as Warren Buffet,
Arthur Levitt, Peter Lynch, and the Motley Fools, David and Tom Gardner. Then, we
went looking for the new comers. We browsed the online and offline bookstores.
We consulted with our friends and associates. Whose advice did they listen to? We
cruised the Internet. We searched the mainstream press. What journal articles and
books on money management were people reading and talking about? Who did the
popular media—TV, radio, business periodical—cite on money management and
investing issues? Who was widely recognized as THE authority in personal finance
management and investing? Who was getting recognized? Who was being quoted?
Who’s ideas were being discussed? Who’s were being cussed?
Because the economy has changed so dramatically in the last few years, we
focused our search primarily on the most significant books and articles that had
been published over the last few years. We checked the best-seller lists to see
what people were reading, and we asked our friends, clients, and associates to
recommend people they thought had unique money management and investing
insights. We ultimately narrowed our list down to the 88 gurus listed here.
Robert Allen, author of Multiple Steams of Income
Ginger Applegarth, author of Wake Up and Smell the Money
Gloria Arenson, author of Born to Spend
Murray Baker, author of The Debt-Free Graduate
Gary Belsky, coauthor of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to
Correct Them
Stacie Zoe Berg, author of The Unofficial Guide to Managing Your Personal Finances
Jacquelline Blix, coauthor of Getting a Life
Mark Bryan, coauthor of The Money Drunk
Julia Cameron, coauthor of The Money Drunk
David Caruso, coauthor of Let’s Talk Money
Nancy Castleman, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Jean Chatsky, author of Talking Money
Jane Chidester, coauthor of BudgetYes!
Sherry Christie, coauthor of Money Shy to Money Sure and Overcoming
Overspending
Jonathan Clements, author of 25 Myths You’ve Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage
Your Money Right
Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Complete Tightwad Gazette
William Danko, coauthor of The Millionaire Next Door
Gerri Detweiler, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Joe Dominguez, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life
Ric Edelman author of New Rules of Money and The Truth About Money
Marc Eisenson, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Debra Englander, author of How to be Your Own Financial Planner
Susan Forward, author of Money Demons
David Gardner, coauthor of The Motley Fool Investment Guide and You Have More
Than You Think
Tom Gardner, coauthor of The Motley Fool Investment Guide and You Have More
Than You Think
Thomas Gilovich, coauthor of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How
to Correct Them
Ilyce Glink, author of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Your Personal
Finances
Neale S. Godfrey, author of Making Change
Andrew Hacker, author of Money: Who Has How Much and Why
Bob Hammond, action of Life After Debt
Christopher L. Hayes, coauthor of Money Makeovers
Christy Heady, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money
Robert Heady, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money
David Heitmiller, coauthor of Getting a Life
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich
Bambi Holzer, author of Retire Rich
Clark Howard, author of Get Clark Smart
Mary Hunt, author of Mary Hunt’s Debt Proof Living and
Mary Hunt’s The Complete Cheapskate
Mary Ivins, author of Financial Security for Women
Azriela Jaffe, co author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beating Debt
Jason Kelly, author of The Neatest Little Guide to Personal Finance
Kate Kelly, coauthor of Money Makeovers
Mike Kidwell coauthor of Get Out of Debt
George Kinder, author of The Seven Stages of Money Maturity
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing and Rich Dad’s Cashflow
Quadrant
Deborah Knuckey, author of The Ms Spent Money Guide
Kathy Kristof, author of Kathy Kristof’s Complete Book of Dollars and Sense
Phil Laut, author of Money is My Friend
Dee Lee, coauthor of Let’s Talk Money
Dwight Lee, coauthor of Getting Rich in America
Mark Levine, coauthor of Live Rich and Die Broke
Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and
coauthor of Take on the Street
Nancy Lloyd, author of Simple Money Solutions
Marshall Loeb, author of Marshall Loeb’s Lifetime Financial Strategies
Peter Lynch, coauthor of Learn to Earn
John Macko, coauthor of BudgetYes!
Richard McKenzie, coauthor of Getting Rich in America
Deborah McNaughton, coauthor of The Insider’s Guide to Managing Your Credit
Olivia Mellan, coauthor of Money Shy to Money Sure and Overcoming Overspending
Mark Miller, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being a Cheapskate
Ted Miller author of Kiplinger’s Practical Guide to Your Money
Edward Mrkbivka, author of Your Bank is Ripping You Off
Stephen Nelson, author of The Millionaire Kit
Maria Nemeth, in The Energy of Money
Holly Nicholson, author of Money & You
James O’Shaughnessy, author of How to Retire Rich
Suze Orman, author of 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, Suze Orman’s Financial
Guidebook and The Courage to be Rich
Greg Pahl, author of The Unofficial Guide to Beating Debt
Joan Perry, coauthor of A Girl Needs Cash,
Stephen Pollan, coauthor of Live Rich and Die Broke
Jonathan Pond, author of Your Money Matters
Jane Bryant Quinn author of Making the Most of Your Money
Dave Ramsey, author of Financial Peace and More than Enough
Steve Rhode, coauthor of Get Out of Debt
Vicki Robin, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life
Terry Savage, author of The Savage Truth on Money
Charles Schwab, author of Charles Schwab’s Guide to Financial Independence and
You’re Fifty—Now What?
Robert Sheard, author of The Unemotional Investor
Don Silver, author of The Generation Y Money Book
Thomas Stanley, coauthor of The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind
Barbara Stanny, author of Prince Charming Isn’t Coming
Julie Stav, author of Fund Your Future
Brooke Stephens, author of Wealth Happens One Day at a Time
Stephen Strauss, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beating Debt
Howard Strong, author of What Every Credit Card User Needs to Know
David Teitelbaum, author of The Procrastinator’s Guide
to Financial Security
Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies
Ralph Warren, author of Get a Life
Our gurus are the best and/or most popular personal finance management and
investment writers and thinkers. You won’t agree with everything they have to
say—we don’t either—but we are confident that they will stimulate your thinking,
point you in new directions, and challenge many of your best-loved assumptions
about what it takes to effectively manage your money and invest for success.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
We have designed this book to be your reference manual to the current challenges
we all face in managing our personal finances. It is organized around key money
management issues. We cover each issue in a separate chapter and present a
summary of the best thinking of a panel of money management gurus about that
issue. We show where the gurus agree and disagree. When our gurus offer
different approaches—such as a different sequence of steps to follow in addressing
an issue or solving a financial problem—we use tables, charts, and exhibits to
illustrate the similarities and differences.
We have organized our gurus’ ideas into eleven chapters.
Chapter 1: Understanding Your Relationship with Money provides an overview of
our gurus’ recommendations concerning how you can root out any dysfunctional
thoughts you might have about money and replace them with healthier money
attitudes and beliefs. With our gurus’ help, we show you how to start feeling like a
million when it comes to managing your money and thinking like a millionaire.
Chapter 2: Getting Your Financial House in Order provides step-by-step guidance
from our gurus on how you can calculate your net worth and cash flow. We show
you how to read and evaluate your net worth and cash flow statements and how
to begin developing financial and life goals. We conclude this chapter with our
gurus’ advice on how to determine if you need professional advice and assistance
in managing your money and how to select a financial planner who is right for you.
In Chapter 3: Making Money and Protecting Your Income , we present our gurus
advice on the right and wrong ways to make money and show you four strategies
for boosting your income. We conclude this chapter with some sage advice on
cutting your taxes and show you the steps our gurus say you should follow to find
a bank that’s right for you where you can stash all of your new found cash.
Chapter 4: Spending and Saving shows you how to determine if you are
overspending and presents nine strategies for getting your spending under control.
We then review our gurus’ step-by-step guidance for developing a spending plan (a.
k.a., a budget) that works. We conclude this chapter with five money saving ideas
from our gurus that will help you simplify your life and start living happily as a
tightwad.
In Chapter 5: All About Insurance we review our gurus recommendations for how
you can get the best deals on life, disability, health, long-term care,
homeowners/renters, and auto insurance. We share our gurus’ guidance on how to
determine the amount and type of insurance you need and how to find an
insurance company that is right for you.
In Chapter 6: Debit and Credit we present our gurus guidance on how to determine
if you are carrying too much debt. We then outline a “rapid debt reduction” program
that our gurus praise as a effective and painless way to pay off your debt and
explain why they say “quick fix’ schemes such as using a home equity loan to pay
off debt is a bad idea. We conclude this chapter with an overview of our gurus
advice on selecting and using credit and debit cards and the tips they offer for
using credit cards wisely.
Chapter 7: Borrowing for Big-ticket Items covers our gurus recommendations for
how to get the best deal on auto loans, student loans, and home mortgages.
Finally in Chapter 8: Investment Basics and Chapter Eleven: Investing for
Retirement we turn to the topic of investing. We discuss what our gurus say are
the pros and cons of different types of investments (stocks, bonds, real estate, and
so on) and tell you what they say are “investments to avoid.” We then look at what
our gurus have to say about the advantages and disadvantages of investing
through mutual funds and summarize their advice for picking a mutual fund that
suites your investment style. We conclude the book with a review of our gurus
advice for investing for retirement. We show you methods they recommend for
calculating how much you will need for retirement and review what our gurus say
are five essential strategies for minimizing market risk and maximizing return when
it comes to managing your retirement investments.
We conclude the book with an appendix in which we provide biographies for all of
the gurus, including in many instances postal addresses, phone numbers, and e-
mail addresses where they can be reached.
by
Joseph H. Boyett & Jimmie T. Boyett
There are over 8,000 personal finance and investment books in print. Over 300
were published in 2002 alone. They come in every shape and form from quick “how
to..” paperbacks to academic tomes to “get rich quick” treatises to detailed
explanations of the “secrets” of the millionaires and rich dads who live next door.
They are written by the expected—financial advisors, CPAs, and investment
counselors—and the highly unusual—motivational speakers, psychotherapists, and
at least one who bills himself as “a windsurfer, inventor, and prison fellowship
ministry volunteer.” Almost every non-fiction best seller list contains at least one
money management book and frequently more than one. Some money
management gurus such as Suze Orman, described as the “queen of money
advice” are sufficiently popular to have multiple books on the non-fiction best seller
lists at the same time. Some stay on the best seller list for months, even years.
The financial gurus offer a wide range of advice which is often conflicting. For
example, some argue that you should maximize your earnings, minimize your
expenses, meet your obligations—and make sure that you have some sort of nest
egg to provide for your old age and to pass along to the kids. Others say that
wealth is to be spent while you’re alive, either on yourself or your loved ones, and
your goal in life should be to LIVE RICH and DIE BROKE. It is small comfort to know
that whether you believe that consumption is the path to grace or saving is the
way to salvation, you will find at least one guru to support your position.
Readers are confused about where to turn to for information they can really rely
upon, whose financial advice they should seek out and even what questions they
should ask. When they do find answers to their questions, they are perplexed
because they can’t be sure the answers are correct. After all, what are they to
make of the financial gurus promises that readers of their books will learn how to
“build a million-dollar portfolio on $3.50 a day,” “increase their income by 10
percent in nine weeks,” “earn an extra million in their lifetime,” “earn …up to a 50%
return on their investments—guaranteed,” “double their money in the stock
market—FAST,” and become wealthy on as little as a dollar a day?
The volume and confusing range of advice America’s financial gurus offer makes
them perfect candidates for the synthesis and “sense making” that can be found in
the Guru Guides(TM). The Guru Guide to Money Management dissects the advice of
America’s top personal finance management gurus, exposes their conflicts and
contradictions and separates the practical from the ethereal.
The Guru Guide(TM) to Money Management provides you with a clear, concise and
informative digest of to the best thinking about money management today. Like the
original Guru Guide(TM)(Wiley, 1998), we have designed this Guide to be more than
just an overview of current thinking. We go further to link and cross-link the ideas
to show where the experts agree and disagree. Finally, we provide an evaluation
of their strengths and weaknesses.
OUR GURUS
In selecting our gurus, we began by making a list of established money
management authorities and media personalities such Clark Howard, Jane Bryant
Quinn, and Suze Orman. We added authorities on the rich such as Thomas Stanley
who wrote The Millionaire Mind and investment wizards such as Warren Buffet,
Arthur Levitt, Peter Lynch, and the Motley Fools, David and Tom Gardner. Then, we
went looking for the new comers. We browsed the online and offline bookstores.
We consulted with our friends and associates. Whose advice did they listen to? We
cruised the Internet. We searched the mainstream press. What journal articles and
books on money management were people reading and talking about? Who did the
popular media—TV, radio, business periodical—cite on money management and
investing issues? Who was widely recognized as THE authority in personal finance
management and investing? Who was getting recognized? Who was being quoted?
Who’s ideas were being discussed? Who’s were being cussed?
Because the economy has changed so dramatically in the last few years, we
focused our search primarily on the most significant books and articles that had
been published over the last few years. We checked the best-seller lists to see
what people were reading, and we asked our friends, clients, and associates to
recommend people they thought had unique money management and investing
insights. We ultimately narrowed our list down to the 88 gurus listed here.
Robert Allen, author of Multiple Steams of Income
Ginger Applegarth, author of Wake Up and Smell the Money
Gloria Arenson, author of Born to Spend
Murray Baker, author of The Debt-Free Graduate
Gary Belsky, coauthor of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to
Correct Them
Stacie Zoe Berg, author of The Unofficial Guide to Managing Your Personal Finances
Jacquelline Blix, coauthor of Getting a Life
Mark Bryan, coauthor of The Money Drunk
Julia Cameron, coauthor of The Money Drunk
David Caruso, coauthor of Let’s Talk Money
Nancy Castleman, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Jean Chatsky, author of Talking Money
Jane Chidester, coauthor of BudgetYes!
Sherry Christie, coauthor of Money Shy to Money Sure and Overcoming
Overspending
Jonathan Clements, author of 25 Myths You’ve Got to Avoid If You Want to Manage
Your Money Right
Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Complete Tightwad Gazette
William Danko, coauthor of The Millionaire Next Door
Gerri Detweiler, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Joe Dominguez, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life
Ric Edelman author of New Rules of Money and The Truth About Money
Marc Eisenson, coauthor of Invest in Yourself
Debra Englander, author of How to be Your Own Financial Planner
Susan Forward, author of Money Demons
David Gardner, coauthor of The Motley Fool Investment Guide and You Have More
Than You Think
Tom Gardner, coauthor of The Motley Fool Investment Guide and You Have More
Than You Think
Thomas Gilovich, coauthor of Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How
to Correct Them
Ilyce Glink, author of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Your Personal
Finances
Neale S. Godfrey, author of Making Change
Andrew Hacker, author of Money: Who Has How Much and Why
Bob Hammond, action of Life After Debt
Christopher L. Hayes, coauthor of Money Makeovers
Christy Heady, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money
Robert Heady, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Managing Your Money
David Heitmiller, coauthor of Getting a Life
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich
Bambi Holzer, author of Retire Rich
Clark Howard, author of Get Clark Smart
Mary Hunt, author of Mary Hunt’s Debt Proof Living and
Mary Hunt’s The Complete Cheapskate
Mary Ivins, author of Financial Security for Women
Azriela Jaffe, co author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beating Debt
Jason Kelly, author of The Neatest Little Guide to Personal Finance
Kate Kelly, coauthor of Money Makeovers
Mike Kidwell coauthor of Get Out of Debt
George Kinder, author of The Seven Stages of Money Maturity
Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad’s Guide to Investing and Rich Dad’s Cashflow
Quadrant
Deborah Knuckey, author of The Ms Spent Money Guide
Kathy Kristof, author of Kathy Kristof’s Complete Book of Dollars and Sense
Phil Laut, author of Money is My Friend
Dee Lee, coauthor of Let’s Talk Money
Dwight Lee, coauthor of Getting Rich in America
Mark Levine, coauthor of Live Rich and Die Broke
Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and
coauthor of Take on the Street
Nancy Lloyd, author of Simple Money Solutions
Marshall Loeb, author of Marshall Loeb’s Lifetime Financial Strategies
Peter Lynch, coauthor of Learn to Earn
John Macko, coauthor of BudgetYes!
Richard McKenzie, coauthor of Getting Rich in America
Deborah McNaughton, coauthor of The Insider’s Guide to Managing Your Credit
Olivia Mellan, coauthor of Money Shy to Money Sure and Overcoming Overspending
Mark Miller, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being a Cheapskate
Ted Miller author of Kiplinger’s Practical Guide to Your Money
Edward Mrkbivka, author of Your Bank is Ripping You Off
Stephen Nelson, author of The Millionaire Kit
Maria Nemeth, in The Energy of Money
Holly Nicholson, author of Money & You
James O’Shaughnessy, author of How to Retire Rich
Suze Orman, author of 9 Steps to Financial Freedom, Suze Orman’s Financial
Guidebook and The Courage to be Rich
Greg Pahl, author of The Unofficial Guide to Beating Debt
Joan Perry, coauthor of A Girl Needs Cash,
Stephen Pollan, coauthor of Live Rich and Die Broke
Jonathan Pond, author of Your Money Matters
Jane Bryant Quinn author of Making the Most of Your Money
Dave Ramsey, author of Financial Peace and More than Enough
Steve Rhode, coauthor of Get Out of Debt
Vicki Robin, coauthor of Your Money or Your Life
Terry Savage, author of The Savage Truth on Money
Charles Schwab, author of Charles Schwab’s Guide to Financial Independence and
You’re Fifty—Now What?
Robert Sheard, author of The Unemotional Investor
Don Silver, author of The Generation Y Money Book
Thomas Stanley, coauthor of The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind
Barbara Stanny, author of Prince Charming Isn’t Coming
Julie Stav, author of Fund Your Future
Brooke Stephens, author of Wealth Happens One Day at a Time
Stephen Strauss, coauthor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beating Debt
Howard Strong, author of What Every Credit Card User Needs to Know
David Teitelbaum, author of The Procrastinator’s Guide
to Financial Security
Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies
Ralph Warren, author of Get a Life
Our gurus are the best and/or most popular personal finance management and
investment writers and thinkers. You won’t agree with everything they have to
say—we don’t either—but we are confident that they will stimulate your thinking,
point you in new directions, and challenge many of your best-loved assumptions
about what it takes to effectively manage your money and invest for success.
ORGANIZATION OF THE BOOK
We have designed this book to be your reference manual to the current challenges
we all face in managing our personal finances. It is organized around key money
management issues. We cover each issue in a separate chapter and present a
summary of the best thinking of a panel of money management gurus about that
issue. We show where the gurus agree and disagree. When our gurus offer
different approaches—such as a different sequence of steps to follow in addressing
an issue or solving a financial problem—we use tables, charts, and exhibits to
illustrate the similarities and differences.
We have organized our gurus’ ideas into eleven chapters.
Chapter 1: Understanding Your Relationship with Money provides an overview of
our gurus’ recommendations concerning how you can root out any dysfunctional
thoughts you might have about money and replace them with healthier money
attitudes and beliefs. With our gurus’ help, we show you how to start feeling like a
million when it comes to managing your money and thinking like a millionaire.
Chapter 2: Getting Your Financial House in Order provides step-by-step guidance
from our gurus on how you can calculate your net worth and cash flow. We show
you how to read and evaluate your net worth and cash flow statements and how
to begin developing financial and life goals. We conclude this chapter with our
gurus’ advice on how to determine if you need professional advice and assistance
in managing your money and how to select a financial planner who is right for you.
In Chapter 3: Making Money and Protecting Your Income , we present our gurus
advice on the right and wrong ways to make money and show you four strategies
for boosting your income. We conclude this chapter with some sage advice on
cutting your taxes and show you the steps our gurus say you should follow to find
a bank that’s right for you where you can stash all of your new found cash.
Chapter 4: Spending and Saving shows you how to determine if you are
overspending and presents nine strategies for getting your spending under control.
We then review our gurus’ step-by-step guidance for developing a spending plan (a.
k.a., a budget) that works. We conclude this chapter with five money saving ideas
from our gurus that will help you simplify your life and start living happily as a
tightwad.
In Chapter 5: All About Insurance we review our gurus recommendations for how
you can get the best deals on life, disability, health, long-term care,
homeowners/renters, and auto insurance. We share our gurus’ guidance on how to
determine the amount and type of insurance you need and how to find an
insurance company that is right for you.
In Chapter 6: Debit and Credit we present our gurus guidance on how to determine
if you are carrying too much debt. We then outline a “rapid debt reduction” program
that our gurus praise as a effective and painless way to pay off your debt and
explain why they say “quick fix’ schemes such as using a home equity loan to pay
off debt is a bad idea. We conclude this chapter with an overview of our gurus
advice on selecting and using credit and debit cards and the tips they offer for
using credit cards wisely.
Chapter 7: Borrowing for Big-ticket Items covers our gurus recommendations for
how to get the best deal on auto loans, student loans, and home mortgages.
Finally in Chapter 8: Investment Basics and Chapter Eleven: Investing for
Retirement we turn to the topic of investing. We discuss what our gurus say are
the pros and cons of different types of investments (stocks, bonds, real estate, and
so on) and tell you what they say are “investments to avoid.” We then look at what
our gurus have to say about the advantages and disadvantages of investing
through mutual funds and summarize their advice for picking a mutual fund that
suites your investment style. We conclude the book with a review of our gurus
advice for investing for retirement. We show you methods they recommend for
calculating how much you will need for retirement and review what our gurus say
are five essential strategies for minimizing market risk and maximizing return when
it comes to managing your retirement investments.
We conclude the book with an appendix in which we provide biographies for all of
the gurus, including in many instances postal addresses, phone numbers, and e-
mail addresses where they can be reached.
Joseph Boyett, Author & Consultant
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