Investing, Explained: Index Funds, 401k Plans and Risk
A plain-English education guide to stocks, bonds, funds, fees, risk and retirement accounts, with printable worksheets, a worked example and a glossary. No advice or products.
By Whole Life HQ5 parts · about 6,500 words · printable · read online
Who it's for
For anyone facing a workplace retirement plan form or the word 'index fund' who wants to understand the basics and prepare good questions before talking to a professional.
What problem it helps with: A plain-English education guide to stocks, bonds, funds, fees, risk and retirement accounts, with printable worksheets, a worked example and a glossary. No advice or products.
What you receive
- Stocks, bonds, funds and index funds in everyday words
- Fee and risk arithmetic you can do yourself
- 401(k) match and IRA as questions for HR
- Worksheets, a worked example and a glossary
All 5 parts, in reading order
- Part 1: Read this first
- Part 2: The building blocks
- Part 3: Risk, time and fees
- Part 4: Retirement accounts, as questions to ask
- Part 5: Putting it together, worksheet and glossary
Look inside
The first page, word for word.5 parts in total.
Part 1: Read this first
Welcome. This guide explains, in plain English, how the basic pieces of investing work: stocks, bonds, funds, index funds, fees, risk, and the two retirement accounts most people in the United States hear about, the 401(k) and the IRA.
It is a guide for understanding. It is not a guide for getting rich, and it does not try to tell you what to do with your money.
A plain risk statement
Please read this before anything else.
- Investing involves risk. The value of an investment can go down as well as up, and you can lose some or all of the money you put in.
- Past returns do not predict future ones. A fund that did well last year, or over the last ten years, may do poorly next year. Nobody can promise you a result, and anyone who does is not being straight with you.
- Nothing here is advice. This guide is general education. It does not know your income, your debts, your age, your family or your goals, so it cannot say what is right for you.
- Diversification and low fees do not remove risk. They are ways of managing some kinds of risk and cost. They are not guarantees.
What is in each part
- Read this first
- The building blocks
- Risk, time and fees
- Retirement accounts, as questions to ask
- Putting it together, worksheet and glossary
Made and checked by
Written by the Whole Life HQ team.
Expert review by a finance educator has not happened yet. Until it has, treat this as general information, not professional advice.
How you get it
- In your libraryAfter you pay, it is in your library straight away.
- Any devicePhone, tablet or computer. Print it if you like paper.
- Yours to keepIt stays in your account, and you can come back any time.
