You must be aware of the value, potential return and risk of your human capital: your job, career and what you do for a living. Human capital is the most valuable asset that you will own over your lifecycle. You need to balance financial decisions with the characteristics of your human capital. The key trends identified in Are You a Stock or a Bond? include the decline of Defined Benefit (DB) pension provision, the continued increase in human longevity and the risk of personal inflation, and they are as relevant today as they were five years ago. The financial crisis has taught us that all types of capital -- human, financial and even social -- are key to a secure financial future. If your career has "stock-like" growth and risk characteristics, Milevsky helps you balance your "portfolio" by tilting investments towards safer "bonds."
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Saving for Retirement will relieve confusion and barriers to action. It acquaints readers with people like them, and step-by-step addresses what's likely confusing them. Instead of starting with some lofty financial planning theory, it walks individuals through the process everyone goes through with IRAs and 401 (k)s -- leaving no basic questions unanswered. Instead of telling readers to open an IRA-as many books do-it tells them how to open one: where to go, what the forms mean, how to decide how to invest, the essential first steps. The book removes everything from the reader's path that typically trips people up and hits the sweet spot for everyone from aged 18 to 60. Using new figures (including troubling new projections of healthcare and long-term care costs), she helps readers calculate exactly how much money they'll need. Next, she presents optimal asset allocations for each stage of life -- and shows how these allocations would've protected typical investors through the past five tumultuous years. Packed with her readers' personal stories, this book teaches powerful professional financial planning principles -- but makes them simple enough for anyone to apply on their own.
