Kenneth L. Fisher - Plan your prosperity: The only retirement guide youll ever need, starting now—whether youre 22, 52 or 82

Contents

Fisher Investments Press

Fisher Investments Press brings the research, analysis and market intelligence of Fisher Investments research team, headed by CEO and New York Times best-selling author Ken Fisher, to all investors. The Press covers a range of investing and market-related topics for a wide audiencefrom novices to enthusiasts to professionals.

Books by Ken Fisher

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Cover image: Thomas Perez

Cover design: Thomas Perez

Copyright 2013 by Fisher Investments. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Fisher, Kenneth L.

Plan your prosperity : the only retirement guide youll ever need, starting now, whether youre 22, 52 or 82 / Ken Fisher with Lara Hoffmans.

p. cm. (Fisher investments press)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-43106-1 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-51608-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-51609-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-51610-2 (ebk)

1. RetirementPlanning 2. Finance, Personal. I. Hoffmans, Lara. II. Title.

HG179.F5338 2013

332.024014dc23 2012031678

Acknowledgments

This book, my ninth, is a bit of a departure for me. Normally, I write on the capital markets aspect of investingwhat to buy and when and why and how to avoid tactical investing errors. This is the first book Ive written that focuses almost solely on the decisions that must be made before you get to that pointand very critical decisions they are. And because so much later investing success depends on getting those big, early decisions right, and with so many people still looking backwards at the big bear market in 2008 instead of forward at the rest of their (potentially, very long) investing time horizon, I felt now was the time to write a book on the planning side of investing.

Books are a hobby for me, not a vocation. And as the years pass, I find more of my leisure time getting appropriated by family (a wonderful thing). So my supporting cast is of utmost importancethese books could not happen without them. First, I must thank and acknowledge Lara Hoffmans, who now dedicates most of her time to writing for me and my firm. This is our sixth book together, and weve got it down like clockwork. She drafts the book from my specifications and guidelines, and she marshals the research, while I get the fun part of conceptualizing, styling and editing.

Backing up Lara while shes focusing exclusively on the books is a very talented crew of writers on my firms Content team, including Todd Bliman, Elisabeth Dellinger, Naj Srinivas and Amanda Williams. Lara simply couldnt focus on the book without their stepping into her big shoes when needed. Amanda Williams did double duty, assisting in copy editing, but also editing the book for content. And of course, behind every talented writer is a tolerant spouse, so I must thank Laras husband, Aaron.

Once again, Jessica Wolfe and Danielle Lynch provided all the data and graphics, overseen by Matt Schrader, who heads our research analytics team. Doing data for one of my books is never easy, particularly since we are so exacting. Jessica and Danielle handled it all with grace.

Dave Eckerly, Fab Ornani and Molly Lienesch are my crack team who assist me in PR, web marketing and branding. Thomas Perez did the coverthe concept was his, as was the designwhich I think looks pretty darn cool. And Sal Timperio did an early read-through and provided excellent feedback.