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Average Customer Rating:

Short and educational for 401K investors

Customer Rating:

I really enjoyed Solin's little Smartest Investment book, so I decided to check out his 401K book also. Solin is a DFA advisor so he promotes DFA index funds. He cites some papers which show that investing in DFA funds gives higher returns than using Vanguard Index funds. He forgets to mention that DFA advisors usually charge a 1% ER, so the return of DFA funds must be incrementally higher by 1% over the return of Vanguard index funds invested by the do-it-yourselfer. Solin correctly rails that 403B's are terrible investment plans for teachers. He cites the case where the NEA was sued for collecting $50M in fees from investment providers. Solin also points out that the Supreme Court said it was ok for Congress to retroactively change the tax laws for 10 years! This could be the justification Congress needs to begin taxing your IRA's, 401K's, and Roth IRA's not only on the current date, but 10 years retroactively! Very interesting food for thought. Solin also correctly advocates that 401K funds should have to divulge actual expenses incurred versus hiding them so the investor can't find them. One thing that Solin did not provide was a rule of thumb for deciding whether to invest in a high cost 401K investment or use a low cost taxable investment. I have seen some rules-of-thumb saying that if the 401K investment has total expenses over about 2% ER, then skip the 401K and go to a low cost taxable investment in index mutual funds. Other than recommending DFA funds over Vanguard funds, I don't disagree with any of the 401K advice Solin gives in his book. If a DFA advisor with the 1% fee is what you need to control your behavioral finance tendencies to sell low and buy high.......then the 1% fee is probably worth it. All in all, a very educational and short read for 401K investors. If you are interested in learning more about index funds and investing, check out some of the books below. Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's The Richest Man in Babylon Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor The Millionaire Next Door The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years

good but you need some background experience	Customer Rating:
i like this book ... but it really assumes you know a little bit about investing. the clear " take home" message is accentuated at the end of every chapter, which is nice.. but i still felt a bit stupid as i read it. i think it is a good book.... easy to read... but not the " omg" i had hoped for.

Short and to the point	Customer Rating:
Very helpful. Concrete information, easy to understand. I've recommended it to several friends. Good info for teachers w/403b accounts.

Retirement Savings Book	Customer Rating:
Book concentrates on how retirement advisers benefit themselves. It is probably all true. It is also a book that can be written about anyone who provides advice and services of any kind. Caveat emptor.

401(k) Book	Customer Rating:
I have only scanned the book, but have not yet had a chance to read it. So far, it looks quite good.