Chances are that if you have a job you have the opportunity to participate in a defined contribution retirement plan, most commonly called a 401-K plan (or if your employer is not-for-profit a 403-B plan). In many cases your employer will match some or maybe even all of the funds you contribute to your retirement plan, essentially paying you more money. While most people who are eligible for these plans do participate, a surprisingly large percentage do not. And even some participants may very well feel uneducated and over-whelmed by the various investment options and the sometimes complex and obscure vocabulary used in talking about these plans. If this is you, you really need to get a copy of James O’Donnell’s The Shortest Investment Book Ever.
O’Donnell, who currently works as a professor of business at Huntington University in Indiana and was for many years a top executive on Wall street, explains in very easy to read and understand language precisely why it is so important for every wage earner to participate in a retirement savings plan and tells you exactly and precisely how to do so. I did occasionally feel that O’Donnell comes across a bit judgemetal of those of us who are truly poor and struggling from paycheck to paycheck, and was also occasionally just a little bit put off by his attempts to incorporate his Christian faith and teachings into what is otherwise spot-on advice about saving and investing. Fortunately, these intrusions are fairly minor and don’t really detract from this genuinely useful and helpful book.
If you are not currently participating in your employer’s retirement savings plan or don’t know and understand how these plans work and what you need to do to insure you have the best retirement income possible, The Shortest Investment Book Ever is Highly Recommended. Buy Now $6.99
Dear Alan,
I’m the author of The Shortest Investment Book Ever. I’m writing to thank you for taking your time to read and review my little book. I think you caught well what I was trying to do: help folks, in plain language, take advantage of their own retirement plans. I apologize if I seemed “preachy” or insensitive to an audience of not very well-to-do people. Certainly, that was not my intention, but then I don’t always understand how my writing will be perceived.
In any event, my point here is just to thank you for writing the review.
Sincerely,
Jim O’Donnell
Sounds like a good inexpensive book. $6.99 for an investment book is very affordable. If you want an excellent series for investment books there is also The Wiley Investment Classics series which includes books like The Intelligent Investor and Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.