The Little Book of Safe Money: How to Conquer Killer Markets, Con Artists, and Yourself

by Jason Zweig

Overview

One of today's most influential financial commentators offers his advice on keeping your money safe in an uncertain world

The Little Book of Safe Money acts as a guide for those trying to make their way through today's down markets. The topics covered include everything from investing behavior-why our minds come with their own set of biases that often prove harmful-to the use of financial advisors. But this timely book goes one step further than the rest by questioning an investor's true appetite for risk.

The Little Book of Safe Money also contradicts many of the myths that whirl around Wall Street with chapters like "Why Ultra-ETFs Are Mega-Dangerous" and "Hedge-Fund Hooey." Writing in the classic Little Book style, author Jason Zweig peels away layer after layer of buzz words, emotion, and myths to reveal what's really going on in today's financial markets.

• Outlines strategies for satisfying our ever-changing investment appetites while focusing on a long-term financial plan
• Author Jason Zweig is a trusted voice in the financial community and his straightforward style resonates with investors
• Offers practical guidance, tools, and tips for surviving and thriving in a down market

If you're serious about succeeding in today's turbulent markets, then The Little Book of Safe Money is what you should be reading.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470590133
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/16/2009
Series:	Little Books. Big Profits , #4
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	422 KB

About the Author

JASON ZWEIG is the investing and personal finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Previously, he was a senior writer for Money magazine and a guest columnist for Time magazine and CNN.com. Before joining Money in 1995, Zweig was the mutual funds editor at Forbes. A frequent commentator on television and radio, Zweig is also a popular public speaker who has addressed the American Association of Individual Investors, the Aspen Institute, the CFA Institute, the Morningstar Investment Conference, and university audiences at Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford. He serves on the editorial boards of Financial History magazine and the Journal of Behavioral Finance. Zweig has a BA from Columbia College, where he was awarded a John Jay National Scholarship.

Table of Contents

Foreword xv

Introduction xxi

Chapter One The Three Commandments 1

Chapter Two Solid, Liquid, or Gas? 5

Chapter Three You are an Egg 19

Chapter Four Keeping Your Cash from Turning into Trash 31

Chapter Five Guarantees are Not All They’re Cracked Up to Be 45

Chapter Six Fixing Your Fixed Income 53

Chapter Seven Stocks for the Wrong Run 67

Chapter Eight Rules for Stock Investors to Live By 77

Chapter Nine Little Things Mean a Lot 89

Chapter Ten How to Get Your Kids through College without Going Broke 99

Chapter Eleven What Makes Ultra ETFs Mega-Dangerous 107

Chapter Twelve Hedge Fund Hooey 117

Chapter Thirteen Commodity Claptrap 131

Chapter Fourteen Spicy Food Does Not Equal Hot Returns 141

Chapter Fifteen WACronyms: Why Initials are So Often the Beginning of the End 149

Chapter Sixteen Sex 157

Chapter Seventeen Mind Control 167

Chapter Eighteen Financial Planning Fakery 183

Chapter Nineteen Advice on Advice 189

Chapter Twenty Fraudian Psychology 199

Chapter Twenty-One The Terrible Tale of the Missing $10 Trillion 211

Chapter Twenty-Two How to Talk Back to Market Baloney 219

Acknowledgments 229

Editorial Reviews

"A little book with big advice. Jason Zweig . . . doesn’t promise investors the moon, but in language that everyone can understand, he offers solid, common-sense steps to protect and improve their portfolios. . . Such advice is consistent with the bigidea of Zweig’s book: If an investment looks too good to be true, it probably is. And he offers a useful process to help readers remember it."
—SmartMoney.com

"There are very few in the financial media whose material I would consider recommended reading. Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig is one of them, and his new book is one you should consider.  His latest work adds to his reputation for books that not only provide important insights into the winning investment strategy, but are also good reads. This little book is filled with sage counsel from which even sophisticated investors can benefit. . . His book also provides advice on how to avoid many of the behavioral mistakes investors keep repeating. As William Bernstein, who wrote the forward, put it: ‘Jason Zweig knows your financial demons, where they live, why they’re making your poor, and how you can beat them."
—Larry Swedroe, CBS MoneyWatch

This book is a well written, fascinating page turner that I read in one sitting with a big bag of microwave popcorn. Yet, I don’t just recommend a book because it was thoroughly enjoyable. The main reason to read this book is that it can put you on the path toward reaching financial freedom. But it’s up to you and whether you’d rather spend your retirement years pursuing your interests, or spend them asking strangers if they’d like their value meal supersized.
—Allan Roth, Founder of Wealth Logic, and author of How A Second Grader Beats Wall Street

From the Publisher