Ric Edelman - Financial Security in Troubled Times: What You Need to Do Now

This book is dedicated to the people who died in the September 11 attacks, and to their families.

May God bless them all.

CONTENTS

A LTHOUGH WRITING is supposed to be a solitary endeavor, nothing I do ever occurs in isolation. I am grateful to John Davis, Jerry Mason, Carol Roberts, and Robin Thompson for their research assitance; to Mike Attiliis, Jack Bubon, Mary Davis, Dutch Fox, Joe Gilmore, and Ed Moore for their fast reading of the manuscript Monday morning, mere hours before the HarperCollins production deadline; and to Will Casserly, Jerry Mason, and Evy Sheehan for helping me proof the final pages.

Thanks also to David Conti, my editor, for helping me keep the manuscript on trackand for keeping his comments and suggestions short. He offered lots of great advice, and I could tell he wanted to say more than he did.

A special thank you to Cathy Hemming, publisher of HarperCollins, for her willingness to devote all her corporate resources to the publication of this book, so that we could provide this information to Americans across the country as quickly as possible. I am impressed with her leadership and humbled by her commitment to community service.

As always, I am most grateful to my wife, Jean, who unfailingly and lovingly supports me every time I go and do something crazy, like write a book in two days.

N OT LONG AGO , America was going about its business. The fall TV shows were being launched, as was the new football season. People were fretting over their tech stocks and wondering if the stock market was poised for a recovery. Kids were back in the classroom, fresh from the summer off. Life was normal.

Then came September 11 and the horrible attack on this country by cowards.

In the aftermath of that terrible day, people have begun to wonder about the safety and security of their families and homes, their jobs, and their investments. The attacks disrupted every facet of our society. We wonder when life will return to normal, and if it ever will.

And yet, through all this, Americans have come together like never before, with a patriotic unity that has surprised our enemies and instilled fear in them. The entire civilized world shares our sorrow, and our resolve.

As our nation moves toward the eradication of this evil throughout the world, we Americans also need to act individually to protect and secure our own lives, those of our families, and those within our communities. The rules have changed, and we must reevaluate what weve been doing and how weve been doing it.

Change is unsettling, but in these times unavoidable. And feeling unsettled is the least of the emotions weve all felt in the weeks since September 11.

I mention that because this is a book about emotions. That might seem strange to say; after all, youre reading this book for its financial advice, and it is written by a financial advisor. But the truth is that personal finance is entirely about emotion, because how you feel determines how you behave. And because the horrific events of September 11 raised such powerful emotions in all of us, they are where we must begin.

We must understand what were feeling and realize that our emotions could hurt usor help us.

So, yes, this book is about emotions. But its also a focused conversation on money. Ill show you what to do now to maximize your familys financial security in these troubled times and to help you prepare for the prosperity that is coming. Those who position themselves today for that prosperity will be the ones to enjoy it, and you can be among them.

This is not the time for worry. Its the time for positive action. This book will show you what to do right now, so read it quickly and act immediatelyfor the benefit of yourself, your family, your community, and our nation.

Some readers may be wondering how I could have written this book so quickly.

How could I not have? My life is devoted to providing people with financial advice, and today people need that kind of advice more than ever. Our world has been turned upside down, and were all wondering what the new rules are, and which strategies to adopt to provide our families with security, safety, and prosperity.

Its clear that people cant wait months or years for this information. They need it now. So, on September 24, less than two weeks after the attack on America, HarperCollins agreed to publish a book that gives people the advice they now need. Recognizing the urgency, HarperCollins agreed to speed the book into stores as quickly as possible, and I decided to give all my profits from the sale of this book to relief efforts and other charities.

Now, all I had to do was write it. I started that Friday night, and by 1:00 A.M. Monday, it was done.

The book tells you how to handle your cash, your mortgage, your job, and your investments. It explains how to protect yourself, your family, your home, your car, and your company. It reminds us of our need to help each other and shows you how to do that. Writing quickly (and late into the night), I may not have expressed everything perfectly or covered every topic as completely as a long, leisurely schedule would have allowed. Nonetheless, the information youll find in these pages will help you protect yourself and your family right now. I hope youll read it as quickly as I wrote it, because just as America as a nation needs to act immediately and decisively, so do you. This book is intended to return you to the basics, to help you put into todays context all the aspects of your personal finances that youve ignored, avoided, or failed to know about. Thats because now more than ever, you must tend to these fundamentals, because the best way to succeed in troubled times is to makesure you have all the basics covered, and this book will help you do that.

Like all Americans, Ive wanted to do something to help. I cant help the firefighters search through the rubble. But I can offer financial advice, and I can raise money to help the cause, so thats what Ive done.