Simple Money

Tim Maurer

Description

When it comes to money management, most of us take a hands-off approach because we're just not confident that we have the know-how needed. But personal finance is actually more personal than it is finance. Tim Maurer has made a career out of distilling complex financial concepts into understandable, doable actions. In this eminently practical book, he shows readers how to- better understand their values and goals in order to simplify their money decisions- budget major expenses intelligently- reduce and eliminate debt- make vital decisions on home, auto, and life insurance- establish a world-class investment portfolio- craft a workable retirement plan- and moreReaders will be relieved to see that managing their money is actually not as complicated as they thought--and that they can take control of their financial future starting today.

Sujets

• Economie gestion
• Personal finance

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 23 février 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493403240
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2016 by Tim Maurer
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2016
Ebook corrections 02.08.2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0324-0
Author is represented by WordServe Literary Group, www.wordserveliterary.com .
Some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.
Endorsements
“The problem with so much personal finance advice is that it’s unnecessarily complicated, often with the goal of selling you things you don’t need. Tim Maurer never plays that game. His straightforward, candid, and—yes—simple prescriptions are always right on target.”
— Jean Chatzky , financial editor of NBC’s Today Show
“Finally, a personal finance book that isn’t only about how to improve your financial situation for the sake of just making more money; instead, Simple Money is ultimately about how to live a more fulfilling life, and provides the financial education, along with simple (and practical!) money tools and techniques you can use to help you get there.”
— Michael Kitces , director of financial planning at Pinnacle Advisory Group; publisher of Nerd’s Eye View financial planning industry blog
“Amen! Amen! Amen! Simplicity is a gift . . . and this book offers it by the truckload!”
— Carl Richards , New York Times columnist; author of The One- Page Financial Plan; director of investor education at the BAM Alliance
“Once again, Tim takes us by the hand and leads us through the complicated world of personal finance. Reading this book is like having your own personal financial advisor—a great one—sitting on your shoulder, helping you make difficult decisions. From setting goals to investing to preparing for retirement, Tim shows us the way to financial prosperity.”
— Kimberly Palmer , senior money editor at U.S. News & World Report ; author of The Economy of You
“Some books teach you about money, and others help you find your purpose. Simple Money is the rare, honest book that tackles the intersection between them. You can’t manage your money without thinking about your life—and the system that Tim proposes can make a radical difference in both.”
— Chris Guillebeau , New York Times bestselling author of The $ 100 Startup and The Happiness of Pursuit
“If you’ve ever had the urge to throw up your hands and yell ‘Enough!’ when thinking about your finances, you are on to something, and Simple Money will help you find it.
“In Simple Money , financial expert Tim Maurer teaches us how to literally redefine wealth in a way that will both honor your life values and priorities while simultaneously reducing your stress. Maurer’s innovative ‘Enough Index’ helps you identify where you are today, financially speaking, while also giving you a clear framework for knowing what needs to change to nourish your financial life going forward.
“By the time you finish reading Simple Money you will know how to serve as your household’s CFO. Whether it’s maximizing current cash flow, investing hard-earned savings, planning for educational expenses or retirement, crafting your estate plan, or protecting your household with appropriate insurance, Maurer tells you not only what to do but why it will improve your life.
“And for those of us who love to be given clear, concise checklists, Simple Money contains a powerful top-ten list of what to do with incremental discretionary income to get yourself and your family on solid financial footing. This delightful guide will leave you with fresh financial insights, clear action steps, and a refreshingly frank discussing of how to find just the right financial professional to assist you in making the most of your hard-earned money.
“ Simple Money provides a unique, heartfelt road map to understanding what ‘Enough’ means in your financial life and shows you how to build a life of contentment and financial security around that blissful feeling.”
— Manisha Thakor , CFA, director of Wealth Strategies for Women; writer for The Wall Street Journal
“Throughout Simple Money , author Tim Maurer reminds us that ‘personal finance is more personal than it is finance.’ His easy-to-understand guidebook not only explains how to strengthen all aspects of our financial lives, but wisely insists that the place to start is by reflecting on and clarifying what is truly most important in our lives. As he explains, ‘Understanding what you value most will help simplify even the most complex financial decisions.’ As a result, I highly recommend Simple Money as a tool for increasing both financial success and life satisfaction.”
— Carol Anderson , Money Quotient
“The desire to live simply and fulfilled is the key to a life well lived. Tim Maurer brings inspiration and clarity to the concept of identifying core life goals and structuring the simplest and best financial architecture to accomplish them. His edict that finance is personal is spot on. If you do the hard but gratifying work of truly knowing yourself, your financial decisions will be informed and sensible. There is also a wealth of practical how-to steps on choosing simple, appropriate investment vehicles to support the life of one’s dreams.”
— George Kinder , author of Life Planning for You
Dedication
For my sons, Kieran and Connor—I hope the many financial decisions that await you will be made simple because your paths in life have been made clear.
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 3
Copyright Page 4
Endorsements 5
Dedication 7
START HERE 11
Part 1: Planning for Life 17
1. Enough: Redeeming Wealth 19
2. Values: Three Questions to Guide You 31
3. Riding the Elephant: Unconventional Goal Setting 40
4. Calling: Finding Life-Giving Work 57
5. Time: Investing Your Most Precious Commodity 66
Part 2: Planning for Today 75
6. Perspective: Where Do You Stand? 77
7. Essentials: Straight Talk on Savings and Debt 90
8. Financial Statements: Introducing Your New CFO 108
Part 3: Planning for the Inevitable 125
9. Investing: A Simple Portfolio That’s Beaten the Pros 127
10. Education: Getting Schooled 144
11. Retirement: The Wobbly Three-Legged Stool 157
12. Financial Independence: The New Retirement 175
13. Estate and Legacy: Cheating Death 192
Part 4: Planning for the Unexpected 207
14. Insurance: WARNING! 209
15. Life: Harder Than It Needs to Be 214
16. Disability Income: Protecting Your Largest Asset 229
17. Long-Term Care: When I’m Sixty-Four 237
18. Home and Auto: Don’t Overpay to Be Underinsured 247
Part 5: Planning for Action 255
19. The Top 10: Your Next Dollar’s Home 257
20. Behavior Management: Working with an Advisor 263
21. Simplicity: The One-Page Financial Plan 270
Acknowledgments 275
Notes 277
About the Author 283
Back Ads 285
Back Cover 287
Start Here
You can not overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.
John Maxwell
You may have heard of the 80/20 rule. It is also known as the Pareto principle, named after the early-twentieth-century Italian economist who noticed that 80 percent of the peas in his garden came from only 20 percent of the pea pods.
While the 80/20 rule is not a cosmic absolute, it persists in money and business—and especially in the business of money. For centuries, the financial industry has sought to hoard proprietary information for the purpose of selling it at a premium. But as the information age collided with the financial collapse of 2008 and the subsequent Great Recession, an entirely new problem has appeared: now everyone’s a financial expert.
The pursuit of money is nothing short of its own religion, and rather than move toward simplicity, its scores of paths have become painfully circuitous. Sifting through the plethora of information from an industry with questionable intentions and a blogosphere with questionable credentials, we’re left echoing T. S. Eliot: “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
Simple Money strives to cut through the noise, providing at least 80 percent of what you need to know about personal finance with under 20 percent of the information and investment in time. The chaotic financial world simplified.
This leaves you with a decision: If you’d prefer to live on the hairy edge of financial insanity, this book might not be for you. But if something in you yearns for a simpler financial existence, a more comprehensible plan, or an achievable financial to-do list, this book was written for you .
This short introduction lays the groundwork, beginning with four fundamental tenets that link each of the book’s five parts.
Tenet #1: Personal finance is more personal than it is finance
This is not a clever tagline but a statement of fact rooted in science. In psychology, yes, but also in biology. The proof is everywhere. This is why people who make a million dollars a year live paycheck to paycheck and why underpaid teachers retire with millions in savings. This is why investors make a fraction of what their investments return. This is why consumers entrust their life savings to salespeople who buy them fancy dinners.
This is also why the first part of this book is dedicated to Planning for Life. One of the ways we can make financial decisions simple is to genuinely understand what motivates us. These motivations are too often separated from our financial planning, even though they are the foundation.
The research and writing of Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein, Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Pink, Malcolm Gladwell, Simon Sinek, Chip Heath, and Dan Heath collectively raise a