|
Synopsis:
"You'll never have more money than you plan to have! You could certainly end up with less, but never more. Therefore, the goal of this booklet is to make sure that, at the very least, you end up with what you plan to have at retirement." - Dale Rogers, CPC President, Rogers Capital Management, Inc.
[Back to top]
Jacket Description:
For a growing percentage of the population, 401(k) plans form the cornerstone of their retirement savings. Therefore, building a bullet-proof 401(k) plan, protecting it in the face of market volatility and social security uncertainty, and then maintaining it so it will provide handsomely for you and your family down the road, is more important than ever.
Now, retirement pros Dale and Craig Rogers condense the key points for formalizing a logical plan into 9 easy-to-follow steps. In simple terms they outline the major "building blocks" that comprise a successful retirement program. Point by point - block by block - you'll learn the key components for accumulating wealth and achieving a healthy, high-performing retirement portfolio.
This compact guide covers everything from 401(k) basics to selecting the appropriate asset classes for your individual needs. You'll discover powerful strategies for…
· Maximizing employer contributions (It's free money - don't pass it up!)
· Targeting a risk level that's right for you
· Balancing (or re-balancing) your portfolio to perform in up and down markets
Plus…
· 6 investment principles that produce dramatic results
· Where to get help…when to get out…and so much more.
Secure your financial future today - by following the nine simple steps you'll find in this concise, fast-reading new guidebook.
[Back to top]
Table of Contents:
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Before We Get Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Nine Building Blocks: How to Build, Protect and Maintain
Your 401(k) Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 1
LEARN WHAT'S IN YOUR SUMMARY PLAN
DESCRIPTION (SPD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Eligibility (Who Can Invest?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Vesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
What Happens in the Event of Your Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
How Are the Funds Paid to Your Beneficiary?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
When & Where to Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 2
LEARN HOW TO PUT MONEY INTO YOUR PLAN . . . . . . . . . 27
How Your Contributions Get Invested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Taking Advantage of Pre-Tax Dollars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Exponential Growth Through Compounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Chapter 3
LEARN HOW EMPLOYER MATCHING FUNDS CAN
ADD MONEY TO YOUR PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Read Your Plan's Fine Print. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Matching in Company Stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Company Stock and Your Job. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Correct Through Diversification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Chapter 4
LEARN HOW MUCH RISK YOU SHOULD TAKE. . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Everybody Is a Long-Term Investor-Until They Get Their
Quarterly Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Managing Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
What Is Your Tolerance for Risk? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 5
LEARN ABOUT THE VARIOUS ASSET CLASSES . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
What Are Asset Classes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Equities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Large-Cap Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
S&P 500. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Large-Cap Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
U.S. Small-Cap Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
U.S. Small-Cap Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Rate of Returns by Asset Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 6
LEARN THE SIX PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESSFUL INVESTING . . . 61
Investing Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Principle One-Dollar Cost Averaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Principle Two-Diversification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Principle Three-Asset Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Principle Four-Asset-Class Investing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Principle Five-Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Principle Six-Rebalancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 7
LEARN TO UNDERSTAND YOUR INVESTMENT CHOICES . . . . 73
Investment Vehicle Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Types of Mutual Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Fixed-Income Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Equity Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
International Equities Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 8
LEARN HOW TO DESIGN A WELL-BALANCED
INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Protecting Your Investment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
How Aggressive Do You Need to Be?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
What Is a Reasonable Growth Rate of Return? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
How Do You Measure the Risk of an Investment?. . . . . . . . . . . 86
Asset Mix Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
And Now-Putting It Together!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Chapter 9
LEARN THE RIGHT WAY TO GET YOUR MONEY OUT . . . . . . 99
Accessing Your Funds While Still Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Take Out a Participant Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Options Prior to Age 59½ or Actual Retirement Age . . . . . . . . . 104
Options After Age 59½ or Actual Retirement Age . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Type of Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Free Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Suggested Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
[Back to top]
|
