You've Lost It, Now What?: How to Beat the Bear Market and Still Retire on Time

In this breezy but informative personal investment primer, Wall Street Journal columnist Clements sees a silver lining in lower stock prices and the chastened mood in the marketplace, provided investors keep their wits, follow sensible long-term plans and ""save like crazy."" Insisting that ""the interests of investors and the interests of Wall Street are diametrically opposed,"" he advises readers to give up fantasies of beating the market, ignore the latest hot stock picks touted by the financial press and steer clear of heavily managed (and usually under-performing) mutual funds. Instead, he favors a low-fee, low-tax, broadly diversified, buy-'em-and-hold-'em strategy based on index funds, ""the investor's best friend and Wall Street's worst nightmare."" Along the way he provides a lucid introduction to a host of personal-finance topics, including credit-card debt, portfolio balancing, real-estate investment trusts, IRAs, how to select an investment adviser and the dos-and-donts of investing in a home. Clements's reader-friendly approach encourages novices to take their investments into their own hands, and provides detailed recommendations on which financial-services companies to go to, along with phone numbers and Web sites to get readers started. Both first-time investors and high-flyers burned by the recent market meltdown will find this a helpful guide. (Apr.)