Table of Contents
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1: Getting the Nest Egg Ready to Hatch 1
A New Approach 2
What You’ve Got 5
Where Are Your Retirement Resources? 11
Looking Forward 15
Chapter 2: Putting Your Assets to Work for You 17
The Old Way: Maximizing Returns Based on Risk Tolerance 17
The Hank Parrott Way: The Smart Money Approach 19
Looking Forward 29
Chapter 3: IRA Mastery 31
Planning for Taxes 32
What Makes Up a Traditional IRA? 35
Traditional and Roth IRAs: Learn the Difference! 39
Tax Considerations When Investing IRA Assets 43
Taking Distributions from Traditional IRAs 45
Estates and IRAs 48
Passing It Along 49
Looking Ahead 51
Chapter 4: Enhancing Your Retirement with Built-In Guarantees: Annuities, Bonds, and CDs 53
Bonds: What Is Guaranteed and What Is Not 53
Annuities: Separating Myths from Truth 58
CDs: A Key Element in an Income-Generating Retirement Portfolio 73
Putting It All Together: Investing for the Long Term 82
Chapter 5: How the Smart Money Invests 83
Learning through Trial and Error 84
The Real Story 85
Starting Off: The Retirement Investor Quiz 89
Busting the Investment Myths 90
Active Management 94
Tune out the Media’s Advice 96
Investing versus Speculating: Know the Difference! 96
A Real Story about Speculative Investing 97
The Smart Money Investment Strategy 98
All about Asset Allocation 100
How Do You Measure Diversification? 102
The Importance of Staying Disciplined 103
Tax Planning and Investments 104
My Best Advice 107
Looking Forward 107
Chapter 6: Paying for Helping Hands: The Ins and Outs of Long-Term Care 109
What Are Your Options? 110
Planning Ahead 111
Common Myths about Long-Term Care 112
How you’ll Pay 115
Examining Which LTC Payment Option Works for You 116
Understanding Long-Term Care Insurance 119
Frequently Asked Questions 125
Last But Not Least 127
Chapter 7: The Basics of Estate Planning 129
Why Estate Planning? 130
Problematic Probate 131
All about Trusts 136
The Five Essential Documents 137
Lightning Round: Other Types of Trusts 141
Whom Should I Name as Trustee? 144
The Value of Real Professionals: Finding the Right Certified Expert 145
Frequently Asked Questions 147
Estate Planning Checklist 149
Where to Go from Here 150
Appendix A: Confidential Lifestyle Questionnaire 151
Appendix B: Lifestyle Expense Worksheet 161
Appendix C: Financial Lifestyle Fact Finder 165
Acknowledgments 177
About the Author 181
Index 183
