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Provides you with step-by-step guidelines for making the right decisions on everything from insurance and investments to credit cards, college and retirement savings plans, and other important day-to-day money issues.

Many people devote their time to choosing “the right” stocks. Yet they bypass an important step that will have an even greater impact on their portfolio’s performance: asset allocation. The Standard & Poor’s Guide to the Perfect Portfolio is the definitive road map to diversifying your financial holdings in order to get the highest returns with the lowest risk and ensure a secure financial future. You can beat 90% of money managers with a properly balanced portfolio of mixed investment classes. Investment expert and columnist Michael Kaye presents a clear and reliable approach to asset allocation. He helps investors at every level to better understand all the major investment products available and how to best use them to achieve investor’s specific goals. Kaye shows you five essential steps to allocate your assets: Identify your goals and objectives Choose the right asset classes for your portfolio Determine how much of your assets belong in each class Pick your investment products Monitor your portfolio and make adjustments as needed The Standard & Poor’s Guide to the Perfect Portfolio is packed with examples of portfolio mixes that illustrate many ways to balance your assets based on different risk profiles and investment goals. A range of relevant, reliable advice shows you how to successfully consider such factors as where you are in your career, what your financial needs are, and your personal tolerance to risk.

The investment decisions you make today will determine the kind of life you will be able to enjoy once that regular paycheck stops rolling in. Designed to work as a flexible reference for all investors-no matter what stage of retirement planning you're in-The SmartMoney Guide to Long-Term Investing will help you retire on your financial terms. Drawing on a decade's worth of financial knowledge and experience, The SmartMoney Guide to Long-Term Investing: * Introduces you to the cornerstone of any wealth-building portfolio-stocks, bonds, and mutual funds * Teaches you how to set up an asset allocation strategy that works for you * Gives you the tools to estimate how much you need to save for retirement each year, depending on the lifestyle you intend to lead * Reveals the names of outstanding mutual funds that will deliver the investment returns you need * Shows you how to get the most from your 401(k) and introduces you to numerous real-life retirees, who offer important advice on the financial aspects of life after work * Explores a long-term goal that usually conflicts with retirement savings-paying for your child's college education-and shows you how to deal with it * And much more When investing for your retirement, you can't afford to make mistakes. Pick up The SmartMoney Guide to Long-Term Investing and take control of your future.

Discusses the opportunities, merits, and methods of investing in "sectors," or industry groups with similar fundamental characteristics

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Stocks for the Long Run set a precedent as the most complete and irrefutable case for stock market investment ever written. Now, this bible for long-term investing continues its tradition with a fourth edition featuring updated, revised, and new material that will keep you competitive in the global market and up-to-date on the latest index instruments. Wharton School professor Jeremy Siegel provides a potent mix of new evidence, research, and analysis supporting his key strategies for amassing a solid portfolio with enhanced returns and reduced risk. In a seamless narrative that incorporates the historical record of the markets with the realities of today's investing environment, the fourth edition features: A new chapter on globalization that documents how the emerging world will soon overtake the developed world and how it impacts the global economy An extended chapter on indexing that includes fundamentally weighted indexes, which have historically offered better returns and lower volatility than their capitalization-weighted counterparts Insightful analysis on what moves the market and how little we know about the sources of big market changes A sobering look at behavioral finance and the psychological factors that can lead investors to make irrational investment decisions A major highlight of this new edition of Stocks for the Long Run is the chapter on global investing. With the U.S. stock market currently holding less than half of the world's equity capitalization, it's important for investors to diversify abroad. This updated edition shows you how to create an “efficient portfolio” that best balances asset allocation in domestic and foreign markets and provides thorough coverage on sector allocation across the globe. Stocks for the Long Run is essential reading for every investor and advisor who wants to fully understand the market-including its behavior, past trends, and future influences-in order to develop a prosperous long-term portfolio that is both safe and secure.