Table of Contents

Introduction. Part I: Assessing Your Fitness and Setting Goals. Chapter 1: Improving Your Financial Literacy. Chapter 2: Measuring Your Financial Health. Chapter 3: Determining Where Your Money Goes. Chapter 4: Establishing and Achieving Goals. Part II: Saving More, Spending Less. Chapter 5: Dealing with Debt. Chapter 6: Reducing Your Spending. Chapter 7: Taming Taxes. Part III: Building Wealth with Wise Investing. Chapter 8: Important Investment Concepts. Chapter 9: Understanding Your Investment Choices. Chapter 10: Investing in Mutual Funds. Chapter 11: Investing in Retirement Accounts. Chapter 12: Investing in Taxable Accounts. Chapter 13: Investing for Educational Expenses. Chapter 14: Investing in Real Estate: Your Home and Beyond. Part IV: Insurance: Protecting What You've Got. Chapter 15: Insurance: Getting What You Need at the Best Price. Chapter 16: Insurance on You: Life, Disability, and Health. Chapter 17: Covering Your Assets. Part V: Where to Go for More Help. Chapter 18: Working with Financial Planners. Chapter 19: Computer Money Management. Chapter 20: On Air and in Print. Part VI: The Part of Tens. Chapter 21: Survival Guide for Ten Life Changes. Chapter 22: Ten Tactics to Thwart Identity Theft and Fraud Glossary. Index.

About the Author

Eric Tyson first became interested in money more than three decades ago. After his father was laid off during the 1973 recession and received some retirement money from Philco-Ford, Eric worked with his dad to make investing decisions with the money. A couple years later, Eric won his high school's science fair with a project on what influences the stock market. Dr. Martin Zweig, who provided some guidance, awarded Eric a one-year subscription to the Zweig Forecast, a famous investment newsletter. Of course, Eric's mom and dad share some credit with Martin for Eric's victory. After toiling away for a number of years as a management consultant to Fortune 500 financial-service firms, Eric finally figured out how to pursue his dream. He took his inside knowledge of the banking, investment, and insurance industries and committed himself to making personal financial management accessible to all. Today, Eric is an internationally acclaimed and bestselling personal finance book author, syndicated columnist, and speaker. He has worked with and taught people from all financial situations, so he knows the financial concerns and questions of real folks just like you. Despite being handicapped by an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Economics and Biology from Yale University, Eric remains a master of "keeping it simple." An accomplished personal finance writer, his "Investor's Guide" syndicated column, distributed by King Features, is read by millions nationally, and he was an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. He is the author of five national bestselling financial books in the For Dummies series on personal finance, investing, mutual funds, home buying (coauthor), and taxes (coauthor). The prior edition of this book was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for best book of the year in the Business category. His latest book, Mind Over Money: Your Path to Wealth and Happiness (CDS/Perseus), examines the problematic financial habits people engage in and provides proven strategies for overcoming them. Eric's work has been featured and quoted in hundreds of local and national publications, including Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, Parenting, Money, Family Money, and Bottom Line/Personal; on NBC's Today Show, ABC, CNBC, PBS Nightly Business Report, CNN, and FOX-TV; and on CBS national radio, NPR's Sound Money, Bloomberg Business Radio, and Business Radio Network.