Ben Stein - Yes, You Can Be a Successful, Income Investor!: Reaching for Yield in Todays Market

Yes, You Can Be a
Successful Income Investor!,

ALSO BY BEN STEIN

HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE (hardcover)
(also available as an audio book)

HOW TO RUIN YOUR LOVE LIFE

HOW TO RUIN YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE

HOW TO RUIN YOUR LIFE
(tradepaper that comprises the three titles above)

ALSO BY BEN STEIN AND PHIL DEMUTH

CAN AMERICA SURVIVE?:
The Rage of the Left, the Truth, and What to Do about It

YES, YOU CAN STILL RETIRE COMFORTABLY!:
The Baby-Boom Retirement Crisis and How to Beat It
(available September 2005)

All of the above are available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered
by visiting the distributors for New Beginnings Press:

Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa: orders@psdprom.co.za
Hay House India: www.hayhouseindia.com

Yes, You Can Be a
Successful Income Investor!

Reaching for Yield in Todays Market

Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth

NEW BEGINNINGS PRESS
Carlsbad, California

Copyright 2005 by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth

Published by: New Beginnings Press, Carlsbad, California

Distributed in the USA by: Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by:Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: orders@psdprom.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publications (India) Pvt. Ltd.: www.hayhouseindia.com Distributed in India by: Media Star: booksdivision@ mediastar.co.in

Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Summer McStravick

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical,
photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher. The intent of the authors is only to offer information of a general nature. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the authors and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stein, Benjamin, 1944

Yes, you can be a successful income investor! : reaching for yield in todays market / Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-4019-0319-3 (hardcover) ISBN 1-4019-0320-7 (tradepaper) 1. Investments.

2. Finance, Personal. I. DeMuth, Phil, 1950- II. Title.

HG4521.S7554 2005
332.632--dc22

2004020174

Hardcover ISBN 13: 978-1-4019-0319-0
Hardcover ISBN 10: 1-4019-0319-3
Tradepaper ISBN 13: 978-1-4019-0320-6
Tradepaper ISBN 10: 1-4019-0320-7

09 08 07 06 7 6 5 4
1st printing, February 2005
4th printing, January 2006

Printed in the United States of America

For every man and woman who fights now
and has fought to keep us free in this great country,
and for the families who keep them goingalone, often in fear,
sometimes desperate, but always giving far more than they receive.

Contents

Welcome to
the Real World

I n a nation where the official inflation rate is presently 2.3 percent, the following table shows the yields available on our savings as of this writing.

In other words, were earning a negative return after inflation and taxes. Still, even in todays low-interest-rate environment, higher yields are available. Look at the income tantalizingly offered by some of the securities on the next page:

Many more examples can (and will) be given. Yet most of us know little, if anything, about these investments. We want to extract the maximum possible income from our savings, and wed love to earn these kinds of returns. But would our money be safe?

By the time you finish reading this book, youll knowor at least, youll know as much as we do. Gone are the days when you could turn over your investments to a bank or a brokerage house and be confident of getting a fair return on your dollar (if those days ever existed). Today, you need to learn everything you can about your money and how to put it to work for you.

Our plan is simple: Were going to talk about a number of different income-yielding securities, and then tell you how to combine them in a portfolio, where well endeavor to secure the maximum yield for the least amount of risk.

Were going to name names and be specific, rather than talk in generalities. The investments we call to your attention in this book are all available to ordinary retail investors. Our recommendations are guidelines but by no means exhaustive. They should be good jumping-off points, but there may be others that are superior. Our experience is that simpler is usually better, and that being well diversified and keeping expenses lowtwo of our goalswill serve you well in the long run.