The Wall Street Journal Guide to Planning Your Financial Future, 3rd Edition; The Easy-To-Read Guide to Planning for Retirement

by Kenneth M. Morris

• ISBN13: 9780743225373
• ISBN10: 0743225376
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-03
• Publisher: Touchstone

Summary

The Wall Street Journal Guide To Planning Your Financial Futureprovides clear explanations of the things you need to know and guidelines for the decisions you have to make to enjoy a comfortable retirement. It covers the advantages of salary reduction plans, clarifies the difference between Roth and traditional IRAs, and describes the benefits of effective tax planning. And it provides practical, helpful ideas to get you started.

Author Biography

Kenneth M. Morris is the chairman and CEO of Lightbulb Press, a print and Internet publishing company he founded in 1990. One of the nation¹s leading experts in simplified communications, Ken created the first easy-to-read documents for the brokerage, banking, and telecommunications industries, as well as the 1040EZ for the IRS. He is now spearheading the development of point-of-need online products for websites and interactive devices.

Ken is the coauthor of The Wall Street Journal guides and other Lightbulb publications, including Essential Guide to Your 401(k) Plan and Dictionary of Financial Terms. He serves on the boards of the Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), the Information Design Journal, and Visible Language.

A graduate of Cornell University, he holds a PhD from Columbia University.

Table of Contents

Looking Ahead
The Retirement Marathon	p. 6
Planning for the Future	p. 8
Protecting Your Future	p. 10
Money Matters	p. 12
Making Critical Choices	p. 14
Where to Live?	p. 16
Using Your Equity	p. 18
Making the Move	p. 20
Employer Plans
Tax-deferred Retirement Plans	p. 22
Pensions	p. 24
Defined Benefit Plans	p. 26
Defined Contribution Plans	p. 28
Salary Reduction Plans	p. 30
Matching and Switching	p. 32
Self-directed Pension Plans	p. 34
Supplemental Retirement Plans	p. 36
Pension Decisions	p. 38
Pension Choices	p. 40
Pension Annuities	p. 42
Lump Sum Distributions	p. 44
Changing Jobs, Changing Pensions	p. 46
Pension: Money Problems	p. 48
Individual Plans
IRAs: What They Are	p. 50
IRAs: Your Show	p. 52
IRAs: Weighing the Merits	p. 54
IRA Rollovers	p. 56
SEPs and SIMPLESs	p. 58
Keogh Plans	p. 60
Keogh Variety	p. 62
IRA Withdrawals	p. 64
Taking Money Out	p. 66
Social Security
Social Security	p. 68
Changing for the Better	p. 70
Benefit Ins and Outs	p. 72
Social Security Up Close	p. 74
Got You Covered	p. 76
Figuring What You Get	p. 78
When to Apply	p. 80
Working after Retirement	p. 82
Family Coverage	p. 84
Survivor Benefits	p. 86
Disability Benefits	p. 88
Taxing Benefits	p. 90
Investing
Personal Investing Goals	p. 92
The Impact of Inflation	p. 94
A Winning Strategy	p. 96
The Right Moves	p. 98
Diversification	p. 100
Investment Risk	p. 102
Allocating Your Assets	p. 104
Asset Allocation Choices	p. 106
Figuring Yield	p. 108
Finding Return	p. 110
Deferred Annuities	p. 112
Immediate Annuities	p. 114
Estate Planning
What's Your Estate?	p. 116
What's in a Name?	p. 118
Estate Taxes	p. 120
Wills	p. 122
Cooking Up a Will	p. 124
Who's in a Will?	p. 126
Beneficiaries	p. 128
Acting as Executor	p. 130
A Matter of Trust	p. 132
Revocable Living Trusts	p. 134
Irrevocable Living Trusts	p. 136
Testamentary Taxsavers	p. 138
The Universe of Trusts	p. 140
Gifts	p. 142
And More Gifts	p. 144
Healthcare
Protecting Health and Wealth	p. 146
Medicare	p. 148
Making Medicare Choices	p. 150
Long-term Care	p. 152
The Details of Coverage	p. 154
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