Did your investments take a hit in the recession? You're not alone. Between 2007 and mid-year 2009, the average 401K lost 31% of its value. Ouch. It's time to take control of your investments with Personal Investing: The Missing Manual. Financial experts agree that with the right guidance, consumers can make investments better than many professionals. This lively and easy-to-understand guide gives you the confidence, tools, and insight you need to evaluate financial products and make smart investments that target success over the long term. You'll learn how to set long-term goals for critical, high-cost events such as retirement, your children's education, and future health care needs. Then you'll learn what types of investments will best help you achieve those goals. In step-by-step fashion, this book shows you how to research mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and other financial products to create a portfolio of diversified investments. Get crystal-clear, practical advice from personal finance expert Bonnie Biafore, author of Missing Manuals on the Quicken personal-finance program and QuickBooks business finance program Understand why you need to invest -- Biafore shows you how savings accounts simply won't outpace inflation or give you the returns you need for long-term goals Learn how to evaluate and buy traditional investments, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds Discover lesser-known investments, such as index funds and exchange-traded funds, which cost you less and provide more tax advantages Choose the best funds offered by your employer for your 401K, and learn how to get the greatest tax advantages How Investing Makes Your Money Work Harder With inflation’s 3.41% price increases compounding year after year, figuring your expenses produces some galactic numbers. Sadly, you can’t choose whether to accept the compounding of inflation.

你的投资在经济衰退中受到打击了吗？你不是一个人。从2007年到2009年年中，平均401K损失了31%的价值。哎哟是时候用个人投资来控制你的投资了：缺失的手册。金融专家一致认为，在正确的指导下，消费者可以比许多专业人士做得更好。这本生动易懂的指南为您提供了评估金融产品和进行明智投资所需的信心、工具和洞察力，以期在长期内取得成功。您将学习如何为关键的、高成本的活动（如退休、子女教育和未来医疗保健需求）设定长期目标。然后你就会知道什么样的投资最能帮助你实现这些目标。本书循序渐进地向您展示了如何研究共同基金、股票、债券和其他金融产品，以创建多元化投资组合。从个人理财专家Bonnie Biafore那里得到清晰实用的建议，Quicken个人理财计划和QuickBooks商业理财计划手册的作者了解你为什么需要投资——Biafore向你展示了储蓄账户如何不会超过通胀率，也不会给你长期目标所需的回报学习如何评估和购买传统投资，如股票、债券，共同基金会发现一些鲜为人知的投资，比如指数基金和交易所交易基金，这些投资成本更低，税收优惠更多选择雇主为你的401K提供的最好的基金，学习如何获得最大的税收优惠投资如何使你的钱更努力地工作与通货膨胀的3.41%的价格上涨逐年复利，计算你的开支产生一些银河数字。可悲的是，你无法选择是否接受通胀的复合效应。