The Retirement Challenge Will You Sink or Swim?: A Complete, Do-It-Yourself Toolkit to Navigate Your Financial Future

#x1C;Imagine that you board an airliner and are told that you will be piloting the plane. Such is the plight of tens of millions of Americans, on whom have been foisted a jumble of 401(k), 403(b), and 457 defined contribution plans, and are as well qualified to manage their retirement portfolios as they are to pilot a jet from Los Angeles to Boston. Since things aren#x19;t changing any time soon, you may very well need flying lessons, and pronto. Frank Armstrong#x19;s The Retirement Challenge: Will You Sink or Swim?is just the ground school you need.#x1D; #x13;William Bernstein, author of A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the Worldand The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio #xA0; #x1C;Armstrong and Doss have written a simple and understandable guide through the maze that is our financial world. If your goal is to outperform the vast majority of investors on the road to retirement, The Retirement Challenge: Will You Sink or Swim?paves the way.#x1D; #x13;TAYLOR LARIMORE, coauthor of The Bogleheads#x19; Guide to Investing #xA0; #x1C;This is a great handbook for those planning for retirement. Armstrong and Doss not only tell you the right way to build a plan, they also show you how to avoid purchasing products from the wolves of Wall Street that lead investors to be sheared like sheep.#x1D; #x13;LARRY SWEDROE, author of The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You#x19;ll Ever Needand Wise Investing Made Simple #x1C;In today#x19;s investment markets, this is an invaluable book. If you care about the quality of the rest of your life, you owe it to yourself and your family to read The Retirement Challenge: Will You Sink or Swim?#x1D; #x13;HAROLD EVENSKY, CFP#xAE;, AIF#xAE;, President, Evensky & Katz #xA0; In 48 quick, practical lessons, Armstrong shows how to assess what you have and what you#x19;ll need to build a simple, reliable retirement plan. Better yet, the book#x19;s easy online calculators do all the math for you. Investing for retirement has never been so sensible and simple!#xA0;Includes free access to comprehensive Web-based tools and resources atwww.Sink-Swim.com: More than 75 easy-to-use online calculators and budget spreadsheets to help you get on track and stay on track Sample asset allocation plans you can adjust for any stage of your career and any portfolio Up-to-the-minute updates on pension law, regulation, enforcement, and estate planning Free Sink or Swim Newsletter, and much more

Frank Armstrong, III, CLU, CFP^™, AIF, is the founder and principal of Investor Solutions, Inc., a fee-only registered investment advisor. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the securities and financial services industry. His bestselling book The Informed Investor was cited by BusinessWeek as one of the best investment books of the year. Frank has twice been named by Barron’s as one of the top 100 independent financial advisors. He was a featured columnist on Morningstar.com for a number of years and is a frequent contributor to AccountsWorld.com and FundsInteractive.com. He has appeared on “CNN Headline News,” “Your Money with Stewart Varney,” “PBS Morning Business Report,” CNBC, “Money Life with Chuck Jaffee,” and public radio stations around the country. Frank is widely quoted in the media, his articles appear in major financial magazines and Web sites, and he lectures nationwide on principles of investment management.

 

Jason R. Doss is an attorney with the Atlanta-based law firm, The Doss Firm, LLC. He represents consumers against the financial services industry in securities arbitrations and consumer class action litigation. Jason has a proven track record of fighting for consumers’ rights and for taking major corporations to task. Over the last few years, he has initiated some of the largest consumer class action cases in the country. Since 2001, Jason has been an active member of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA), a national organization devoted to representing investors in securities arbitration.

Introduction IntroductionBill Gates and Warren Buffett are probably not stressing about their retirement incomebut many Americans are. Study after study shows that they are not on track to support themselves in retirement and are behind their parents at the same age. Yet, most Americans spend more time researching which flat screen TV to buy than planning for retirement. Like Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind , they choose to "worry about that tomorrow."I can guess some reasons why you might put off dealing with your retirement: it's not fun, it takes a long time, it's complicated, it's difficult, it's confusingit's all the above! I sympathize. Really I do. But I don't believe it's any of those things. Well, OK, perhaps your version of fun is a little different from mine. But planning your retirement isn't an ordeal. It can be done quickly, elegantly, simply, and economically. Hang in there with me. I'm going to prove it to you.My first book, The Informed Investor , delivered the Cliff Notes of an MBA investment class. I reviewed investment theory and practice as it developed over the last 50 years. I'm not going to do that again in this book, but if you feel the need for more background, I recommend The Informed Investor .This time, I'm going to stick to practical, actionable information and strategies for retirement planning. If The Informed Investor was 90% theory and 10% action items, Sink or Swim is 90% specific information and action items. It gives you the tools to take control of your financial success without drowning in trivia or being overwhelmed by boring repetitive chores.First, you meet your pension plan. You learn what it is, how to calculate benefits, how it works, what can go wrong, what to do if something goes wrong, and whether it's even attractive enough for you to participate. If it's not, you have viable alternatives and, under a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court Ruling, some recourse.Next, wherever you are in your career, there are smart moves you want to pursue to maximize your retirement benefits. Whether you are right out of school, or already in retirement, you have lots of options to control your benefits.How much will you need for retirement? Early in your career, it might be hard to estimate, but as you get closer, you can refine your guesstimate. You will learn how.Finally, you learn how to invest your retirement assets economically and effectively while controlling risk to give yourself the highest probability of success in meeting your goals. Best of all, the system is easy to monitor and set up, and it works with all your investment accounts, whether inside a pension plan or your taxable accounts.Do-It-Yourself -A companion Web site, http://www.Sink-Swim.com, provides you with a wealth of additional information and updates. Visit this Web site for the following: Hundreds of articles on investment theory, products, and best practices. Updates to pension law, regulation, and enforcement. Over 75 calculators that let you see how much you need to contribute for a prosperous retirement and whether you are on track to meet your goals. Sample asset allocation plans that can be adjusted for any stage of your career and por