Introduction

It was a brilliant college professor, at wits' end about investing, who first planted the seed for this book seven years ago.

Despite his accomplishments in the social sciences at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota, he called me at my newspaper office one day because he didn't have a clue about how to invest his money. He was in his 40s, had been saving for retirement for years, and did not like the look of his future.

"There will be no golden years for me," he said.

This man had diplomas on his office wall and accolades for research in his field. But like the great majority of Americans, he felt like a dunce when it came to his money.

Every time he read a headline about the unstable future of Social Security and Medicare, ...

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