The Long Horizon: How to Buy Your First Fund and Retire on Own Terms

Almost no one who retires well was ever good at this.They had time, an account, and a rule they still followed on the mornings the account looked foolish. That is the whole method - and you can start it this month.Most guides to investing assume you want to learn markets. This one assumes you don't to spend weeks learning it.The Long Horizon takes you from an empty account to a funded one, and then all the way to the Friday you stop being paid - without asking you to follow the news, hold opinions about next quarter, or become someone who discusses money at dinner.By the end of this book you will: - Open the right account for your situation and place your first order - in an afternoon, not someday- Own one fund you can explain in a single sentence, at a fee that isn't quietly costing you a second retirement- Have a written rule that keeps you invested through the year the market falls by a third- Know your number - what "enough" actually costs for your life, in dollars- Turn that pile into a monthly paycheck when the wage stops, without running out- Know what changes the day a two-person plan becomes a one-person plan, before it does- Spend one hour a year on all of itAlso inside: - What to do when someone else has always handled the money- When an advisor earns the fee - and when 1 percent a year quietly costs $934,000 on a $500,000 account- How to keep the plan running through a layoff, a divorce, a new child, or a parent who needs you- The retirement account most people never open, and why it may be the best one available to you- How to survive the first five years of not working when the market refuses to cooperateRead this if: - You have never bought a share and aren't sure where to begin- You have paid into a 401(k) for years without ever really looking at it- Someone else has always handled the investing, and you would rather not learn it in a bad week- You are within a few years of stopping work and need a plan for spending, not just for savingWhat this book will not do: predict the market, name a hot stock, promise you can stop at fifty, or sell you anything. No forecasts. No jargon. Nothing for sale.Read it once. Make the first purchase. Keep the one-page plan at the back.Buy the fund. Stay for the years. Spend in your retirement.