Solid financial guidance for anyone looking to build and protect their wealth Every day, nationally recognized financial advisor Alan Haft helps his clients reach their financial goals and increase their standard of living. Now, in You Can Never Be Too Rich, Haft uses his vast knowledge base, highly innovative investment concepts, and entertaining style of writing to create proven investment solutions that will help readers minimize risk and take advantage of opportunities that lead to financial security for a lifetime. With this essential guide, Haft walks readers through the process of building and protecting wealth-and reveals the financial secrets that most investment professionals aren't aware of. You Can Never Be Too Rich clearly focuses on how people-whether they're just starting to work or are well on their way to retirement-can build a sizeable nest egg without getting caught up in market swings, taxes, or poor investment decisions. In this book, Haft doesn't rely on gimmicks or get-rich-quick schemes to help readers reach their goals; he simply offers proven and easy-to-understand-yet highly effective-advice that will allow them to make profitable financial decisions based on their specific situations.

Table of Contents:
Preface vii Acknowledgments ix Disclaimer x Introduction: Hollywood and the Art of Investing 1 Chapter 1 The Top 10 Lessons Hollywood teaches us about investing 7 Lesson 1: Diversification is the key to success 7 Lesson 2: It doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be effective 8 Lessons 3: It’s the details that count 8 Lessons 4: Costs are critical 9 Lesson 5: Planning is key 9 Lesson 6: Cut the losers, ride the winners 10 Lesson 7: Experts focus on reducing risk; Novice focus on return 11 Lesson 8: Don’t reinvent the wheel 11 Lesson 9: Complacency is the mother of all disasters 12 Lesson 10: Defy conventional wisdom and take smart risks 12 And one more for the road: if there’s a will there’s a way 13 Chapter 2 To Beat the Market, Be the Market 15 What Billy the Bully teaches us about investing 17 Going down? 18 Swing easy 20 Diversification 21 Off to the races: An introduction to asset allocation 22 Stocks, funds, or indexes 31 The index advantage 44 Building the house 53 How to pick a stock like Warren Buffett 64 A simpler way to pick individual stocks 67 Real-world sample portfolio 68 How to beat Wall Street in nine seconds flat 71 Lifestyle funds 74 The fine art of buying low and selling high 76 Wrapping it up 87 How much should I be saving 88 Chapter 3 Reliable Returns 93 Generating reliable returns 94 The most dangerous game 96 The numbers don’t lie 99 How to avoid the most dangerous game 101 Are you playing the most dangerous game? 102  Stock Market Stan teaches us a lesson 108 Getting away from the most dangerous game 111 Bonds 114 Individual bonds versus Bond Mutual funds 118 Bond ladders 120 Final points on bonds 126 Preferred stocks 130 Dividend stocks 135 The Great Wallendas teach us a lesson 153 Investing in the markets with safety nets beneath you 154 Annuities: Aren’t they bad? 156 Variable Annuities 159 Certificates of deposit: When 6 percent = 0 percent 169 Index Annuities 172 Real Estate 175 Chapter 4 Adding a Little Life to your Life 179 Why would I buy life insurance 180 Term versus permanent life insurance 181 Adding instant wealth to your estate 184 Profiting from selling your life insurance policy 184 Tax-free retirement income 187 Long-term care benefits 188 Spend all your money and still leave it all behind 189 Have someone else pay the tax 191 Doubling your income at retirement: The private pension 194 The private pension and IRAs 205 One million dollars- for free? 206 Life insurance: Conclusion 213 Chapter 5 A break in the action 215 Chapter 6 Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) 219 IRAs: defined 220 IRAs: Frequently asked questions 221 IRAs: Conclusion 241 Chapter 7 A few words on Taxes 243 How your investments are taxed 244 Dividend tax 245 Oridinary income 246 Capital gains 248 Summarizing the three most common taxes 251 The mutual fund tax problem 252 Solving the mutual fund tax problem 253 The one time receiving money from someone is a terrible thing 255 Conclusion 258 Chapter 8 The Bottom of the Ninth 259 What’s the worst that could happen? 260 Anatomy of a living trust 264 Five estate planning blunders to avoid 266 Chapter 9 Support and Maintenance 277 Qualifications 278 Interviewing your potential advisor 280 10 things some advisors would rather you didn’t know 282 Investment clubs 291  Chapter 10 Conclusion 293 Bibliography 299 Internet Resources 301 Index 303