Little Book of Main Street Money

JONATHAN CLEMENTS is Director of Financial Guidance for myFi (www.myFi.com), a new financial service from banking giant Citicorp. Before joining myFi, he spent eighteen years at the Wall Street Journal, where he was the newspaper's award-winning personal finance columnist. He has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, NBC's Today show, and Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, and is an occasional guest on public radio.

"Any consumer concerned about money issues, from managing college to retirement, will find The Little Book of Main Street Money an excellent reference. Wall Street is demystified, with common strategies for money management geared to general readers and based on the wisdom of Wall Street successes. Taxes, inflation concerns, and investing are all covered within a series of 21 'truths' about success, perfect for general lending libraries."(Midwest Book Review) "’The Little Book of Main Street Money’ is aptly named. . . it's unintimidating to all but the most hopeless finance-phobics. The book is also written in spare and concise language. . . Clements's sure-footed advice on fundamentals is comforting after last year's meltdown. When he strays toward more opinionated views, he's even better: Investing in your house will historically offer you a lackluster 4.7% annual return. Or, to those buying insurance as an investment. . . Best of all, Clements isn't only a sound financial planner, but something of an armchair shrink. Beating the market isn't what it's all about. It's more about meeting your personal goals and achieving peace of mind: ‘We should strive to ensure money is enhancing our lives, rather than getting in the way.’" (SmartMoney.com)“The Little Book of Main Street Money . . does a brilliant job of navigating us through the post financial crash landscape. . . offers investors some tried-and-true, timeless advice, such as keeping investing simple and uncluttered by emotion. . . but what I love best about this book is the exploration of the relationship between money and happiness. Clements notes, in spite of the U.S. standard of living skyrocketing over the past few decades, that quantitative research indicates Americans are no happier than when we were less economically well off. . . Clements goes beyond the accumulation of money and essentially tells us how to convert the stored energy from our portfolio into happiness.” (CBS Moneywatch.com)"This small book . . . packs a good dose of practical financial advice to help you weather this brutal economy and work toward building wealth. Clements . . . advice goes beyond simple money management and offers tips for living a more fulfilled life. The book's nuggets of valuable information include 'We can't have it all,' 'Our Finances Are Bigger than a Brokerage Account,' 'Time Is as Valuable as Money' and 'Markets May Be Rational, but We Aren't' . . . The take-away from this book is that money is tied up in all aspects of our lives, and we should give appropriate attention to managing it wisely." (WalletPop)"Because it is a "Little Book," each chapter is short. The entire book can almost be read in one sitting (unless you’re a slow reader like I am). The concepts in the book aren’t new but have clearly been ignored by lots of people as you can tell by watching the news or reading the newspaper. It’s time to get back to the basics and that is what Jonathan’s book is all about." (AllFinancialMatters)"The Little Book of Main Street Money is far and away the best of the "Little Books" series. The advice is truly approachable and actually useful, particularly for people who are in reasonably good financial shape and have a lot of years left ahead of them. . . it just provides - in Clements' approachable writing tone - excellent basic advice and principles to follow. This advice is timeless and forms the foundation of whatever personal finance strategy you might choose to follow - this book is a great starter." (The Simple Dollar)"From how to save more to how to invest better, this book delivers the goods on how to lead a rich life (in every sense) and does so in less than 200 pages."—MoneySense magazine“This useful guide is unintimidating but chock full of excellent advice, presented in spare and concise language. Clements … offers sure-footed advice on fundamentals.”—SmartMoney.com’s list of “Best Finance Books of the Year”

• Foreword xvIntroduction Let the Rebuilding Begin xxiChapter One Our Finances Are Bigger than a Brokerage Account 1Chapter Two We Can’t Have It All 11Chapter Three Money Can Buy Happiness—If We Spend It Carefully 17Chapter Four Even the Best Investors Need to Be Great Savers 25Chapter Five Time Is as Valuable as Money 33Chapter Six No Investment Is Risk-Free 41Chapter Seven Portfolio Performance: It’s All in the Mix 51Chapter Eight Stocks Are Worth Something 59Chapter Nine To Add Wealth, We Need to Overcome the Subtractions 67Chapter Ten Aiming for Average Is the Only Sure Way to Win 75Chapter Eleven Wild Investments Can Tame Our Portfolios 93Chapter Twelve Short-Term Results Matter to Long-Term Investors 105Chapter Thirteen A Long Life Is a Big Risk 113Chapter Fourteen Markets May Be Rational, but We Aren’t 121Chapter Fifteen Our Homes Are a Fine Investment that Won’t Appreciate Much 135Chapter Sixteen Paying off Debts Could Be Our Best Bond Investment 143Chapter Seventeen Saving Taxes Can Cost Us Dearly 151Chapter Eighteen A Tax Deferred Is Extra Money Made 159Chapter Nineteen Insurance Won’t Make Us Any Money—If We’re Lucky 167Chapter Twenty Even If We Have a Will, We May Not Get Our Way 175Chapter Twenty-One Financial Success: It’s About More than Money 181ConclusionWall Street? That Isn’t So Far from Main Street 189Acknowledgments 193