Paul Merriman - Financial Fitness Forever: 5 Steps to More Money, Less Risk, and More Peace of Mind

Advance Praise for Financial Fitness Forever

Investors need smart, reliable advice more than ever. Paul Merriman lays out a ground plan that combines deep understanding of the markets with sober common sense. An essential guide.

Henry K. Bud Hebeler, retired president,
Boeing Aerospace Co., and founder,
www.analyzenow.com

We have long relied on Paul Merrimans expert financial advice. If you buy only one new book on how to manage your investments, make it this one.

Martin Edelston, chairman,
Bottom Line Publications

Paul Merriman reveals the strategies that have helped so many of his clients achieve financial security. He combines top technical knowledge with a deep understanding of the human side of investing.

James Lange, author,
Retire Secure

Peace of mind and trust are at a premium in these uncertain financial times. Paul Merriman shows you how to find both and use them to create a personal financial plan that gets results you probably didnt think were possible.

Ed Slott, CPA, and founder,
IRAhelp.com

FINANCIAL FITNESS FOREVER

5 Steps to More Money, Less Risk, and More Peace of Mind

PAUL A. MERRIMAN

WITH RICHARD BUCK

Copyright 2012 by Paul Merriman and Richard Buck. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-178699-7

MHID: 0-07-178699-6

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-178698-0, MHID: 0-07-178698-8

All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps.

McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. To contact a representative please e-mail us at bulksales@mcgraw-hill.com.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the author nor the publisher is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, securities trading, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

TERMS OF USE

This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (McGraw-Hill) and its licensors reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-Hills prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with these terms.

THE WORK IS PROVIDED AS IS. McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting there from. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise.

I dedicate this book to the women in my life:
my wife, Suzanne;
my daughters, Julie, Larisa, and Lexi;
and my mother, Sarah.

Paul Merriman is one really smart guy, but more than that, he is wise. And in investment counseling, Ill take wise over smart any day.

It has been my pleasure to be a guest on his radio program many times over the years, and I have always been struck by the calm, intelligent advice he offers his listeners, just as he does his investment clients. I wouldnt agree to be his guest if I were at all uneasy about the advice he gives, so its not surprising that his advice conforms very closely to ours in Kiplingers Personal Finance magazine and Kiplingers Retirement Report.

Now, in this superb blueprint for achieving financial security, Paul lays out an orderly path that anyone can follow, with results that, I believe, will be very rewarding. It builds upon his excellent 2008 book, Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money!

To get your attention, Paul starts this book with a truly depressing overview of the state of most Americans retirement situation todaythe demise of traditional pensions, woeful undersaving and overconsumption by most Americans, and profligacy by all levels of government, too, which may lead to higher taxes and lower future benefits.

The situation is pretty grim, but dont stop reading. As Paul points out, We are the ones responsible for our own financial security, and thats both a problem and an exciting opportunity. The chapters that ensue show you how you can take advantage of powerful tools at your disposal: an array of tax-deferred retirement saving devices, academic research on which kind of investments will meet your needs and which wont, and new ways to put your investments on autopilot.

Investors are sometimes their own worst enemies, letting their hearts overrule their heads, running with the herd, and getting caught up in the latest investment mania, like dot-com stocks and IPOs in the late 90s and zero-down-payment homes and condos in the housing bubble of the mid-2000s. Paul is an astute student of investor psychology, and he knows that the best way to keep a cool head when others are losing theirs is to have a sensible plan and stick to it, through markets good and bad. As in sports, disciplined adherence to the game plan is a lot better than panicky, rapid course corrections.