Charlie Emery has been an active, self-taught investor for over twenty years. He has invested in his 401K plan at work as well as regular and Roth IRAs. He has learned the hard way, by trial and error, what does and doesn't work. Building on that experience, You Can Do It Yourself Investor's Guide seeks help today's working investor, most of whom will not have a traditional pension plan to fall back on when they retire.

If you are familiar with or willing to learn to work with a spreadsheet program like Excel; you can chart your own investments effectively. By spending a few hours each week managing your own investments and following a disciplined plan of action for your investments, you can plan for your long-term financial health. Emery also provides a top-down plan for the ETF investor who doesn't have a lot of time or money to spend managing their portfolio, along with a bottom-up plan that takes a little more time, but offers better rewards. This helpful guide can help you make your way past the financial planners and investment advisors who promise you big returns, but rarely deliver on their promises.

You can manage your own investments and plan your financial future effectively. The time to start is now.

The author has had over 25 years in mutual fund investing. He favors Small Cap Mutual Funds over Large Cap Mutual Funds. To prove his case, he shows year by year, the average total returns in each of these categories for the years 1999 through 2010. The average total yearly returns were provided by Lipper. Small Cap Value and Blend funds returned 9.0% and 8.1% respectively and were clearly superior to the abysmal returns for Large Cap Value and Blend funds, 3.5% and 2.5% respectively, even when continued through the 2000 and 2008 recessions. Later, the author illustrates comparisons of outcomes over 25 year periods with various investment returns using a hypothetical initial investment of $5,000 and assuming monthly contributions which add another $5,000 per year. In order to safeguard assets at the onset of recessions, he examines easily accessible online private and governmental monthly reports. By using such reports, investors shouldn't hesitate to move their assets to Money Market Funds. Such action will prevent prevent serious erosion of accumulated assets and improve long term investment returns. He is critical of the very limited choices of funds available in 401k and 403b plans compared to those open to IRA investors. However, investors could be in both types of plans. For individuals comtemplating or are already in IRA plans, the author favors using Morningstar to guide their selections. Monitoring their portfolio with Quicken or its equivalent, investors in IRAs using Morningstar's ranking system, have the opportunity to increase their returns by 3% or more over fund averages. Over time, this difference can greatly enhance total retirement assets. The author is a former CEO of a metal stamping company. He is married with two children. Education: B.A.Manchester University, England.

I consider myself to be the luckiest guy in the world because I'm living the life I want to live. I'm 70 years old. I'm still involved in a career I love and I've been able to structure that career so I can stay in as long as I wish. It allows me to take time to stay healthy, travel, and follow-up on hobbies and things that I'm passionate about. This is the result of a four-step planning process that I began 15 years ago.

The New Retirement Paradigm

Know yourself.
Define your ideal work life.
Define your vision of your "play" life.
Arrange your financial infrastructure to be able to have the life you want.

How do you finance twenty, thirty or more years in retirement? For over twenty-five years, Kevin Bourke has helped seniors and retirees manage this challenging issue. With this book, he will share some of his secrets to making your money last as long as you do. If you're a senior or retiree, or soon to be one, you may have asked questions like these: I'm retired, how much can I afford to spend? Should I help my children financially? How can I find a good financial advisor? How much risk can I afford to take with my investments? Inside, you'll find helpful answers to these and other questions. With this knowledge, you'll be able to face your financial future with confidence. Filled with useful insights, Make Your Money Last a Lifetime may be the most valuable book you ever purchase."