Praise for Yes, You Can Time the Market!

"‘Buy and hold’ makes sense for the average investor in stocks. Even better, say Stein and DeMuth, is to buy only when prices are low and hold when prices are high, keeping accumulating savings in Treasuries while waiting for ‘low’ prices. They define ‘low’ and ‘high’ prices by historical experience. An interesting and thoughtful analysis."
–Professor Milton Friedman
University of Chicago, Hoover Center
Nobel Prize Winner in Economics, 1976

"Wall Street, prepare yourself. Ben and Phil hit the nail on the head with their insightful guide to investing. No gimmicks, no games, just tapping the true power of economics to make sensible investment decisions. Add to that the authors’ dry wit, and this handbook is a must-read for investors small and large."
–Diane C. Swonk
Director of Economics, Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Bank One Corporation

" The logic and reasoning are persuasive. Stein and DeMuth buttress them with evidence, lots of it. The term ‘valuable’ properly applies to the guidance of the conclusions."
–C. Lowell Harriss
Professor Emeritus of Economics
Columbia University

"How refreshing to read commonsense advice about the stock market! Stein and DeMuth’s findings are both verifiable and free of quantitative trickery. What’s more, their writing is as clear and straightforward as the methods they recommend."
–Martin Fridson
author, It Was a Very Good Year:
Extraordinary Moments in Stock Market History

Most investors spend their time worrying about selecting individual stocks and mutual funds: big mistake! Modern Portfolio Theory--developed in 1952 by economics Nobel Prize winner Harry Markowitz--shows that it's more important to focus on how our securities interact as a whole. Astonishingly, most investors--including many professionals--still run their investment accounts the same way people did back when "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window" played on the Hit Parade. It's time to apply what we've learned in financial economics over the past 50 years to bring your portfolio into the rock-'n-roll era. Armed with a computer, you, the investor, can use sophisticated tools to analyze your holdings--tools that would have been the envy of the biggest money managers only a decade ago. First among these is the Monte Carlo simulator: the better mousetrap that investors have been waiting for. With their trademark wit, Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth show you how your current portfolio is radically underdiversified, costing you money. They offer step-by-step instructions to supercharge it across a variety of investment situations to get you the best risk-adjusted returns.

A specter is haunting the baby-boom generation - the specter of retirement. The generation that's used to having it all is suddenly finding that it doesn't have enough. The stock market bubble has deflated, interest rates are at all-time lows, Social Security is questionable, pension plans are underfunded, and personal savings are woefully inadequate. This comes at a time when medical advances are assuring that we'll be the longest-lived generation ever. The authors grapple with the coming baby-boom retirement crisis and show you how to get back on track. They outline the steps you can take today to assure your future tomorrow. Backed up with the facts and figures, they lay out exactly how much you need to save in order to maintain your standard of living, and how to invest your dollars to get the maximum return from your savings. For those already retired, they explain how to tap in to your next egg to get the most income while keeping your money safe. This is a survival manual for the difficult but exciting road to retirement security. Don't leave middle age without it!

Life is not lived all at once--it's lived in moments, days, months, years, and decades. This means that the financial plans and actions we all have to take to meet our responsibilities sensibly must be "organized "by years and decades. Ben Stein wrote the original guide to this subject almost a quarter century ago. Now, Ben, along with Phil DeMuth, the eminent financial planner and writer, have gotten together to update the book, incorporating the massive changes that have occurred in the economy in the past 25 years. This book tells you what and when to save, how much to save, what to save it in, when to spend, and when to say "no "to your present and "yes "to your future. "Yes, You Can Get A Financial Life!" is a time-traveling guidebook on how to organize the money side of your life for all of the decades of your life.