Most of the investors want continuous & increasing amount of returns, without taking any risks. However, there are ups
& downs in the share market, many times leading to huge losses. Hence, every one will welcome worry-free investments, esp. the people who want to invest their
retirement funds for getting regular returns thereon, for their livelihood. If there are heavy losses, their retired life will become very troublesome. In thirteen Chapters contained in two parts of the book, the authors have discussed various aspects of investing, & providing a safe approach for it. Many people feel that risk can be reduced by diversification of the portfolio. In reality, risk is always there, even in the long run. However, at that stage when our basic requirements are met, we ourselves can consider, control & decide the amount of modest risk for getting higher returns. All financial planning is complex, more so with the uncertain future. Stock market is volatile, then there are taxes, inflation etc. Social security is not adequate. Normal savings do not generate sufficiently. The first ten chapters of the book, constitute what minimum we must read & know, & the rest is for going deeper. There is no panacea anywhere, but this book gives us guidance. Buying our home may be our biggest investment, & it can even be used to pay for our living expenses in the old age.
In one of its important Chapters, the author discusses six steps for worry-free investing. At any stage in our life, the direction of savings & investing can be changed to a safer route. Firstly, we should make a list of specific goals to be achieved e.g. retirement, education of children etc., & assess the expenses required therefor, even presuming that our children may not get scholarship (i.e. erring on the positive side); Secondly, we should specify our targets, i.e. obtain the required information from various sources, for doing some thing constructive even from an early age in life, taking advantage of special tax
incentives for encouraging savings for college education, & assessing minimum amount required to maintain minimum acceptable life style.(roughly 70% of our pre-retirement income is required to maintain pre-retirement standard of living, even after retirement); Thirdly, we should compute our required no-risk saving rate, by using the worry-free investing calculator given by the authors, & calculate the amount we must have, in our retirement savings account on the day of our retirement. We should also consider the amount expected to be received from Social Security, & defined benefit pension plan, if applicable to us. We may take the lump sum amount from this pension plan at retirement, & invest it in an inflation-protected life annuity plan; Fourthly, we should determine the amount of risk we can take for the risky part of our investment portfolio. We may get higher returns from stock market by using long-term options, once we are retired; Fifthly, using a model given by the authors, we should decide whether in our situation, investing in stocks & taking some risks, is in order. We should also consider actions required, if stock investments do not give the desired results; Sixthly, we should minimize taxes & transaction costs, since there are some ways Government has provided to invest (e.g. for retirement & college education)that are free of taxes. I Bonds have no fees or other charges. But if we invest in stocks, we can use index funds to reduce these taxes & costs.The authors have given real life examples of worry-free retirement investing, answers to some FAQs, the worry-free tool box containing details of some web sites for more useful information, dealing with money at the time of retirement & method of working out investment risk. This book helps us to make a plan most suitable for us, but it is for us to decide, whether we still need an adviser. It is an easy-to-read, very useful & valuable guide book for practical, balanced & unbiased advice for financial security, as public service for every investor. We should study it carefully, so that the assets are suitably protected. A must read book for every one.