Synopses & Reviews
Praise for the First Edition of Are You a Stock or a Bond? “Milevsky offers an original and clear re-thinking of the most fundamental concept in one’s financial lifetime: the management of risk, in all of its not-so-obvious dimensions.”
—Nick Murray, Author, Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth
“This book is another example of Milevsky’s ability to make the complex understandable...an excellent primer—for both advisors and their clients alike—on the ‘How Tos’ of effective retirement income planning.”
—Jim Rogers, CFP, 2008 President, The Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)
“In this new book, the author presents a holistic framework for investors and advisors to think about critical issues that impact investment decisions, such as human capital, mortality risk, and longevity risk. But even more importantly, Milevsky presents practical solutions that we can all follow to achieve financial security throughout our lives. This book is a must read for everyone in the financial services industry.”
—Peng Chen, CFA, Ibbotson Associates
“This is an extremely timely and valuable book. Our financial lives have never been more complex, and the challenges for many are daunting. Milevsky provides a new perspective that can really help people make better financial decisions and attain a greater level of financial security.”
—Matt Greenwald, President, Mathew Greenwald & Associates
“The author has written an instant classic that will help people become better educated retirement customers and also help financial advisors improve their professional skills.”
— Francois Gadenne, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director, Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA)
“Milevsky delivers one of the best books to date on personal financial planning—a refreshing blend of content, conceptual correctness, and clarity. Buy it. Read it. Do it.”
— Richard M. Ennis, Chairman, Ennis Knupp & Associates; Editor, Financial Analysts Journal
The most valuable asset you’ll ever own is your human capital. Understanding this is the secret to building a more secure financial future, a safer retirement income, and a more rewarding economic life.
In this book, Moshe Milevsky, Ph.D., inspires you to identify and helps you quantify your human capital, take advantage of it, and incorporate it in every financial planning decision you make.
First, you’ll learn how to think about the long-term financial and risk attributes associated with your career path—and balance your financial capital and human capital to maximize overall returns and minimize overall risks. Next, you’ll learn how to integrate investments, insurance, annuities, and retirement plans to generate the safe and reliable income you’ll need.
Fully updated to reflect the newest data in today’s difficult, uncertain markets,
Are You a Stock or a Bond? will help you plan toward generating a lifetime of income that you can’t outlive.
Master smarter, more effective ways to diversify and allocate assets
Diversify and manage risk over space and time, and adopt the new tools of product allocation
Avoid financial blunders millions of people make every year
Invest holistically, for the long term, with clarity and objectivity
Build your own rock-solid personal pension
Give yourself monthly income you can rely on, even if you live to 120
Understand which risks to hold and which to hedge
Make smarter bets about investments, inflation, and your own personal longevity
Synopsis
You must be aware of the value, potential return and risk of your own human capital (your job, career and what you do for a living as opposed to stocks and bonds or other investment choices) as well as financial capital and investments to plan a secure future. Human capital is the most valuable asset that you will own over your lifecycle. You need to balance all financial decisions with the characteristics of your human capital. The key trends identified in the first edition of the book namely, the decline of Defined Benefit (DB) pension provision, the continued increase in human longevity and the risk of personal inflation, are as relevant today as they were five years ago. The financial crisis has taught us that all types of capital — human, financial and even social — are key to a secure financial future. If your career has "stock-like" growth and risk characteristics, Milevsky helps you balance your "portfolio" by tilting investments towards safer "bonds." If your job is more secure but offers lower financial upside, you'll learn to tilt your investments towards stocks that compensate for your lower earning potential. Either way, Milevsky shows you how to integrate investments, insurance, annuities, and retirement plans to generate the safe and reliable income you'll need.
This Edition's updates include:
- New 2012 data, charts, figures, and references
- More coverage of incorporating "human capital" into financial planning
- Advice reflecting the aftermath of the financial crisis
- Easier, more usable techniques, and less math!
Synopsis
Use All Your Personal and Financial Assets Together To Secure Your Future!
Discover what exactly makes you richer than you think
Make the most of the asset that matters most: your human capital
Updated with new data, new charts, easier financial planning techniques (and less math!)
Most financial planning ignores your most valuable asset: your human capital. This leads millions of people to make bad decisions and take dangerous, unnecessary risks. But there's good news: when you do consider your human capital, you can identify powerful new pathways to financial security.
This book will help you find and follow your best route to secure wealth. Moshe A. Milevsky introduces practical solutions for thinking about and then managing all the financial risks and opportunities in your life. You'll discover powerful new approaches to diversification and asset allocation: techniques that can protect your resources, safeguard your family, and ensure your comfortable retirement, no matter how long you live.
Synopsis
You must be aware of the value, potential return and risk of your own human capital (your job, career and what you do for a living as opposed to stocks and bonds or other investment choices) as well as financial capital and investments to plan a secure future. Human capital is the most valuable asset that you will own over your lifecycle. You need to balance all financial decisions with the characteristics of your human capital. The key trends identified in the first edition of the book namely, the decline of Defined Benefit (DB) pension provision, the continued increase in human longevity and the risk of personal inflation, are as relevant today as they were five years ago. The financial crisis has taught us that all types of capital – human, financial and even social – are key to a secure financial future. If your career has "stock-like" growth and risk characteristics, Milevsky helps you balance your "portfolio" by tilting investments towards safer "bonds." If your job is more secure but offers lower financial upside, you'll learn to tilt your investments towards stocks that compensate for your lower earning potential. Either way, Milevsky shows you how to integrate investments, insurance, annuities, and retirement plans to generate the safe and reliable income you'll need.
This Edition's updates include:
- New 2012 data, charts, figures, and references
- More coverage of incorporating "human capital" into financial planning
- Advice reflecting the aftermath of the financial crisis
- Easier, more usable techniques, and less math!
About the Author
Moshe A. Milevsky, Ph.D. is a professor at the Schulich School of Business and a member of the graduate faculty of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at York University in Toronto (Canada). He has lectured at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics (UK), University of New South Whales (Australia), ORT University in Montevideo (Uruguay), University of Cyprus, University of Leuven (Belgium), and Goethe University (Germany).
He is a 2002 Fellow of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. In 2003 he received two National Magazine (Canada) awards for his popular writing on personal finance. In 2006 he received a Graham and Dodd scroll award from the CFA Institute for an article in the Financial Analysts Journal. In 2008, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Retirement Income Industry Association, and in 2009 he was selected as an MDRT Main Platform speaker.
Prof. Milevsky has published ten books, more than 60 peer-reviewed research papers, and more than 200 popular magazine and newspaper articles. He currently lives in Toronto, but grew up in Baltimore, New York, Mexico City, and Jerusalem. He is married with four daughters. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RetirementQuant.
Table of Contents
Preface to the Second (Revised) Edition xiv
Introduction: Pensions Are Dying; Long Live Pensions 1
Chapter 1: You, Inc. 13
Chapter 2: Insurance Is a Hedge for Human Capital 37
Chapter 3: Diversification over Space and Time 55
Chapter 4: Can Debt Be Good at All Ages? 85
Chapter 5: Personal Inflation and the Retirement Cost of Living 103
Chapter 6: Sequence of Investment Returns 115
Chapter 7: Longevity Is a Blessing and a Risk 137
Chapter 8: Spending Your Retirement in a Risky World 149
Chapter 9: Annuities Are Personal Pensions 165
Chapter 10: Product Allocation Is the New Asset Allocation 187
Chapter 11: Conclusion: Plan for Managing Your Retirement Risk 207
Appendix: Additional References and Notes 217