Stop the Retirement Rip-off. How to Avoid Hidden Fees and Keep More of Your Money

A detailed guide for avoiding the pitfalls of retirement funding In Stop the Retirement Rip-Off, author David Loeper provides the necessary tools for investors to take action and make the most of their retirement plans. It offers a road map for employees to understand the fees and costs associated with their plans; document the excesses in a presentation to management; then organize themselves to protest and, if necessary, bring the documentation to the Labor Department in a complaint. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this book is filled with sensible strategies for making the most of retirement funds and putting future retirees back on the right financial track. Filled with strategies that can help employees stand up and secure their financial future Addresses how to make the most of your money, and your life, after fixing your retirement plan Outlines a practical approach to understanding your organization's retirement plan and overcoming its potential inefficiencies This important book contains the much-needed information that employees need to plan for retirement and ensure a secure financial future.

The Investing Rip-Off How can you tell whether an advisor is conflicted or looking out for your best interests? What questions should you ask when making important investment decisions? How can you select investments that avoid needless expenses and risk? As investors, many of us have put our faith in the financial services industry when it comes to the stewardship of our wealth. Unfortunately, the industry has consistently failed us on this front. The financial services industry—including banks, brokerages, and insurance companies—is unique among all others. Through effective advertising and marketing, it's been able to evade being painted with the brush other underperforming industries have, and in most cases, their well-designed sales pitch has allowed them to effectively prey on the emotional desires of investors. Based on author David Loeper's nearly twenty-five years of experience with this industry's inner workings, Stop the Investing Rip-off reveals the real costs of the investments we make, details the false and misleading information sold to us, and discusses the devastating effects they can have on personal wealth. With this book as your guide, you'll gain invaluable insights into the major segments of the financial services industry, how they spin their offerings, and the questions you need to ask before committing any money to a financial product or service you may be interested in. Filled with in-depth insights and practical advice, Stop the Investing Rip-off sheds much-needed light on the often-unseen aspects of the financial services industry—exposing what?only insiders know—and shows you how to avoid the conflicts of interest that could compromise your financial well-being.

The questions every investor should ask before parting with their hard-earned cash This book serves as an advocate of the consumer and brings to light what insiders know about the side of the sales pitches that consumers don't, but need to hear. Stop the Investing Rip-Off reveals the questions every investor should ask during a financial sales pitch before they pull the trigger and buy the next mutual fund, stock, advisory service, or other investment product. Based on David Loeper's nearly twenty-five years of experience of seeing the inner workings of the industry, this updated edition of his classic book offers new strategies based on the performance of the stock market over the past two years. Sheds light on the oft unseen deceit of the financial services industry An updated and revised edition of the bestselling Stop the Investing Rip-Off Written by David Loeper who is regularly quoted in Kiplinger's Money and Investment News and regularity contributes to Forbes Intelligent Investing Stop the Investing Rip-Off, Revised and Updated is filled with advice for investors who want to avoid becoming victims of smooth talking salespeople and the effective advertising and marketing campaigns designed to evade reality and prey on your emotional desires.

Retirement planning isn't something that happens at a specific point in time or at a specific age – we are all affecting our retirement plans every day with every decision we do or don't make. Canadians are living longer, and the average retiree in the future may have as much as 30 years of retirement to plan for, and there are many simple things that will impact our eventual retirement life. 52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement identifies 52 things we do that could wreck our retirement, explains why it puts your retirement at risk, and provides the strategy to correct the mistake, or better still, avoid it entirely. The book is organized under several key areas of the planning process, including: Starting to Plan for Retirement Mistakes around Investing Mistakes around Debt Saving for Retirement Pensions Living in Retirement Spending in Retirement New Realities about Retirement 52 Ways to Wreck Your Retirement is not a feel-good book about how wonderful retirement will be or an alarming fear-mongering book about dying broke, nor is it a get-rich-late-retirement solution. Quite simply, it is an easily-accessible and practical guide written for Canadians of all ages that gives you the tools you need to better manage the financial and personal aspects of your retirement.

Do you want to manage your cashflow better and get rid of financial stress? Do you put finance products such as health insurance and mortgages in the too-hard basket? Money for Nothing is a call to action to wise up, get smart and get your finances in order. Complete this 12-week financial fitness program and discover how to make substantial savings running into the thousands! Learn how to: get better deals, cut fees and other unwanted charges from your daily spend, and redirect your money where it' most important to you understand your financial profile and how to get the best value for money when choosing your essential finance products shop around using the latest research from CANSTAR and other comparison sites. By breaking down the jargon and busting the fine print on everything from mortgages, car loans, personal loans and health insurance to car insurance, credit cards, superannuation, tax and much more, Justine Davies helps you make good choices on the key financial products and services in your life. Justine Davies is a financial planner, journalist, author and blogger who loves educating people about money.

"Engel doesn't just describe-she shows us the way out." -Susan Forward, author of Emotional Blackmail Praise for the emotionally abusive relationship «In this book, Beverly Engel clearly and with caring offers step-by-step strategies to stop emotional abuse. . . helping both victims and abusers to identify the patterns of this painful and traumatic type of abuse. This book is a guide both for individuals and for couples stuck in the tragic patterns of emotional abuse.» -Marti Loring, Ph.D., author of Emotional Abuse and coeditor of The Journal of Emotional Abuse «This groundbreaking book succeeds in helping people stop emotional abuse by focusing on both the abuser and the abused and showing each party what emotional abuse is, how it affects the relationship, and how to stop it. Its unique focus on the dynamic relationship makes it more likely that each person will grasp the tools for change and really use them.» -Randi Kreger, author of The Stop Walking on Eggshells Workbook and owner of BPDCentral.com The number of people who become involved with partners who abuse them emotionally and/or who are emotionally abusive themselves is phenomenal, and yet emotional abuse is the least understood form of abuse. In this breakthrough book, Beverly Engel, one of the world's leading experts on the subject, shows us what it is and what to do about it. Whether you suspect you are being emotionally abused, fear that you might be emotionally abusing your partner, or think that both you and your partner are emotionally abusing each other, this book is for you. The Emotionally Abusive Relationship will tell you how to identify emotional abuse and how to find the roots of your behavior. Combining dramatic personal stories with action steps to heal, Engel provides prescriptive strategies that will allow you and your partner to work together to stop bringing out the worst in each other and stop the abuse. By teaching those who are being emotionally abused how to help themselves and those who are being emotionally abusive how to stop abusing, The Emotionally Abusive Relationship offers the expert guidance and support you need.

Investors, shell-shocked by the «Great Recession» of 2008-2009, are looking for answers, for something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. They hunger for stability, yet yearn for growth to rejuvenate their battered portfolios. Ray Lucia's The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life provides just that—a reassuring and scientifically proven strategy that gives investors both growth and income. Lucia, a Certified Financial Planner who's helped thousands of people invest more than $2 billion, explains how to spend down 'safe' buckets (containing, for example, Treasuries, CDs, bonds), while leaving a riskier bucket (real estate, stocks and alternative investments) to grow long-term. This strategy shields investors from the short-term ups and downs of the market. And it gives them the courage and discipline to stay invested no matter what the future holds. Written in a breezy, accessible style and loaded with tons of examples and clear, specific calculations, the book explains how to set your financial goals, divvy up your money accordingly, and then invest intelligently. With this book as your guide, readers will learn how to achieve both income and growth while at the same time reducing risk. «All in all,» Lucia writes, «this plan is akin to a sports car that seats six, approximating the best of both worlds. In this case by being a conservative strategy that’s also growth-oriented.» Almost every kind of investment—stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate—plunged in the past year or two, turning off millions of investors who'd been planning for and counting on a reasonably comfortable retirement. These retirees or near-retirees need solutions … something fresher than the old 'buy-and-hold' mantra. Yet here's what they hear from the financial-services industry: Set up an asset-allocation model, then take a systematic withdrawal to support your retirement … remembering, of course, to rebalance the accounts to remain in sync with the model. Wrong! That maximizes the advisors' fees but doesn't protect the investors' assets during the tough times.

A proven way to financially prepare for retirement Are you wondering if you can make your retirement savings last? Concerned about inflation reducing your purchasing power? Worried about the stock market's violent swings? In Buckets of Money: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety, nationally recognized Certified Financial PlannerTM and radio personality Ray Lucia offers you a smart and conservative way to protect and grow your nest egg-so you can enjoy a comfortable retirement without worrying about your money running out. Developed by Lucia over his thirty-year career as a financial planner, the «Buckets of Money» technique is a proven way to achieve both income and growth, while guarding against the ravages of inflation. Buckets of Money is filled with in-depth insights and practical advice that will help you assess your retirement situation, save the money you need to last your entire lifetime, and adjust your plan to good times and bad. Regardless of your age, income, net worth, or investment experience, you need to have a solid plan for your retirement years. Buckets of Money provides you with such a plan, and shows you the best way to implement it.

A practical guide to getting organized, beating procrastination, and working more efficiently The Fourth Edition of The Personal Efficiency Program continues the book's long tradition of helping overwhelmed professionals get their work lives organized to become more effective and efficient. Readers will learn how to stop procrastinating, stop feeling overwhelmed, and start feeling good about their work lives. This new edition contains new chapters on e-mail and meetings, as well as new content on portable communications and how best to utilize tools like cell phones and Blackberries. As always, this edition features Kerry Gleeson's proven, effective program for helping anyone get organized and become far more productive.

Stepping Lightly Around the Pitfalls of Estate Planning… Estate planning is one of those unpleasant but really important tasks. Unfortunately, the process is not only hard to get started, it is then easy to make mistakes. Even the most careful and well-intentioned person can slip up along the way. Avoid the pitfalls! The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes outlines the major mistakes and their consequences in an entertaining way-and then proceeds to tell you exactly how to avoid these mistakes. Delivering practical and helpful information in a light tone, the authors help to make these sometimes difficult conversations a little easier. The book's fifty concise chapters are filled with real-life examples, organized under four key areas of mistakes: The biggest mistake of not planning at all Failing to plan for the possibility of mental incompetency Mistakes made during the estate planning process itself And common mistakes made by executors Written by personal finance and estate planning experts, Jean Blacklock and Sarah Kruger, The 50 Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How To Avoid Them is an essential guide for Canadians interested in planning their estates effectively, with minimal stress on their loved ones.