Named the best personal finance book on the market by Consumers Union, Jane Bryant Quinn's bestseller Making the Most of Your Money has been completely revised and updated to provide a guide to financial recovery, independence, and success in the new economy. Getting your financial life on track and keeping it there -- nothing is more important to your family and you. This proven, comprehensive guidebook steers you around the risks and helps you make smart and profitable decisions at every stage of your life. Are you single, married, or divorced? A parent with a paycheck or a parent at home? Getting your first job or well along in your career? Helping your kids in college or your parents in their older age? Planning for retirement? Already retired and worried about how to make your money last? You'll find ideas to help you build your financial security here. Jane Bryant Quinn answers more questions more completely than any other personal-finance author on the market today. You'll reach for this book again and again as your life changes and new financial decisions arise. Here are just a few of the important subjects she examines: • Setting priorities during and after a financial setback, and bouncing back • Getting the most out of a bank while avoiding fees • Credit card and debit card secrets that will save you money • Family matters -- talking money before marriage and mediating claims during divorce • Cutting the cost of student debt, and finding schools that will offer big "merit" scholarships to your child • The simplest ways of pulling yourself out of debt • Why it's so important to jump on the automatic-savings bandwagon • Buying a house, selling one, or trying to rent your home when buyers aren't around • Why credit scores are more important than ever, plus tips on keeping yours in the range most attractive to lenders • Investing made easy -- mutual funds that are tailor-made for your future retirement • What every investor needs to know about building wealth • How an "investment policy" helps you make wise decisions in any market • The essential tax-deferred retirement plans, from 401(k)s to Individual Retirement Accounts -- and how to manage them • How to invest in real estate at a bargain price (and how to spot something that looks like a bargain but isn't) • Eleven ways of keeping a steady income while you're retired, even after a stock market crash • Financial planning -- what it means, how you do it, and where to find good planners Page by page, Quinn leads you through the pros and cons of every decision, to help you make the choice that will suit you best. This is the single personal-finance book that no family should be without.

NOW COMPLETELY UPDATED to reflect the changes in tax legislation, health insurance, and the new investment realities. In this “highly valuable resource” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) Quinn “provides simple, straightforward” (The New York Times) solutions to the universal retirement dilemma—how to make your limited savings last for life—covering mortgages, social security, income investing, annuities, and more! Will you run out of money in your older age? That’s the biggest worry for people newly retired or planning to retire. Fortunately, you don’t have to plan in the dark. Jane Bryant Quinn tells you how to squeeze a higher income from all your assets—including your social security account (get every dollar you’re entitled to), a pension (discover whether a lump sum or a lifetime monthly income will pay you more), your home equity (sell, rent, or take a reverse mortgage?), savings (how to use them safely to raise your monthly income), retirement accounts (invest the money for growth in ways that let you sleep at night), and—critically—how much of your savings you can afford to spend every year without running out. There are easy ways to figure all this out. Who knew? Quinn also shows you how to evaluate your real risks. If you stick with super-safe investment choices, your money might not last and your lifestyle might erode. The same might be true if you rely on traditional income investments. Quinn rethinks the meaning of “income investing,” by combining reliable cash flow during the early years of your retirement with low-risk growth investments, to provide extra money for your later years. Odds are, you’ll live longer than you might imagine, meaning that your savings will stretch for many more years than you might have planned for. With the help of this book, you can turn those retirement funds into a “homemade” paycheck that will last for life.

A Whole New Way to Look at Your Money...and Make It Grow! “Here is a lively new guide that offers fresh and actionable ways to approach everyday financial problems. Whether you’re rich or just getting by, starting your career or winding down, you’ll benefit from the author’s insightful observations and suggestions—all delivered with warmth and wit.” —Evan Cooper, Deputy Editor, InvestmentNews “The author’s unique gift is to make complex ideas from the world of high finance simple to understand, and his new book gently coaches readers in how to think about their personal finances. Best of all, readers can use Milevsky’s financial calculators online to test these ideas, so they can make choices with confidence. Investing in this book might be the wisest financial decision you make this year.” —Gil Weinreich, Editor, Research Magazine “The author has accomplished the near impossible. He has made the complicated, confusing, and often contradictory world of personal financial planning easy to understand. More importantly, he’s made it easy to act on his ground-breaking advice and guidance and has made it easy for readers to address their most important financial decisions in a thoughtful, practical, and painless manner.” — Robert Powell, Editor, Retirement Weekly and Retirement Columnist, www.MarketWatch.com/retirement “What are the nine crucial financial decisions every person must make over the course of a lifetime? If you don’t know, read this book. The author’s nine choices revolve around his core concept of human capital and how it must be gradually converted to financial capital to achieve a successful retirement.” —Jonathan Chevreau, National Post Columnist and Author of Findependence Day “Your Money Milestones helps just about anyone see life’s most important money decisions in a fresh and completely rational light. If you want a smart, practical roadmap to a financially sound future, you need this book.” —Eric Schurenberg, Editor-in-Chief, BNET Your Money Milestones illustrates how four principles inspired by basic arithmetic can be applied to manage the most important financial decisions (money milestones) people face over their entire financial lifecycles. Addition: Identify the true value all of your financial resources. Subtraction: Budget for the hidden liabilities in your future. Division: Spend your total resources evenly over time. Multiplication: Prepare for many alternative and unexpected universes. This book offers a complete framework for thinking about money that’s every bit as provocative as Freakonomics. Drawing on the newest research into psychology and personal finance, Milevsky helps you identify the true value all of your resources; budget for hidden liabilities in your future; plan to spend your total resources smoothly over time; and prepare for unexpected events that could upend even the most careful planning. You’ll discover why children are short-term investment liabilities but may be long-term pension assets, why winning the lottery may increase your chances of going bankrupt, and why giving up control of your retirement nest egg might actually make you happier. The insights are fascinating and useful throughout your life whether you're deciding what to study, contemplating your first home purchase, deciding whether to keep contributing to your 401(k), or considering when and whether to retire.

Bestselling author and New Zealand's most trusted financial expert on how to make your money work in the real world Getting richer doesn't just mean accumulating more money. It's about building your knowledge of the different ways money works, so you can navigate around whatever comes your way: family complications, following your dreams, relationship issues, house price fluctuations, being braver in retirement, helping your children - young and older, getting the best mortgage for you, saving too little - or too much! Sometimes the best path to a richer you is to learn from the mistakes and triumphs of others. This book features 184 of those situations, to help make your financial journey smoother and all the more rewarding. 'IF YOU READ ONE BOOK TO HELP YOURSELF FINANCIALLY THIS YEAR, MAKE IT THIS ONE.' - JANE WRIGHTSON, COMMISSION FOR FINANCIAL CAPABILITY

Consumers Union named Making the Most of Your Money the best personal finance book on the market. Now Jane Bryant Quinn's bestseller has been completely revised and updated for 2010 and beyond. America's most trusted financial adviser, who helped millions of readers meet their goals in the 1990s, now provides a guide to financial recovery, independence, and success in the new economy.--From publisher description.

A financial expert provides a step-by-step planner to help readers make financial choices, explaining techniques, evaluating financial products, and helping develop a balanced-risk approach to insurance

"A ... new philosophy and ... guide to getting the most out of your money--and out of life--for those who value memorable experiences as much as their earnings"--