The money compass where your money went and how to get it back

Preface xi    Acknowledgments xiii    Chapter 1 Introduction: The Invisible Hand of Confiscation 1    The Fourth Branch: K Street Government 2    More Income Tax and More Debt, Too 4    Monetization of the Debt: Say What? 8    The Last Biggie: Repeal of Glass-Steagall and Gamblers Gone Wild 11    Summary 13    References 14    Chapter 2 Greenspan and the Growing Bubble 15    Simple Plans Often Become Complicated 17    Moving On ... 19    The 36-Day Election 24    My Takeaway Is More than Fries 28    Summary 30    Reference 30    Notes 30    Chapter 3 Drop the    U    Out of    Housing    and You Get What America Got 33    2000 to 2006: The Perfect Storm 35    Oops, Almost Made It 38    2007: All Fall Down 40    2008: The Year of Reckoning 44    The Fat Lady Sings:    It   s Not Over    46    2009 to 2012: The Road to Recovery? 48    Looking Ahead 49    50-Year Mortgages 50    What to Do Next? Let   s Buy a House 51    Summary 54    Reference 55    Notes 55    Chapter 4: Credit Cards: Let Me Have It NOW! And They Did 57    The New Law 58    Let   s Skip a Payment 59    The Contract 60    How Is That Interest Rate Figured? 62    The Credit Card Tax 67    Tipping a Hat to Debit Cards 68    Getting Back 70    Summary 74    Notes 74    Chapter 5: Who Are Target-Date Retirement Funds Targeting? 77    A Ticking Time Bomb 84    The Dawdling SEC 86    What Can You Do? 87    Chapter 6: Four-Oh-One-Kay Tales 89    The Truth about Your 401(hey)! 90    Meet Mr. Uninformed and Mrs. Navigator 91    Mr. Uninformed and Mrs. Navigator, 10 Years Later 93    A Little More Sizzle 95    One Exception 97    Four Reasons to Invest in After-Tax Accounts 97    Summary 99    Chapter 7: Exchange-Traded Funds 101    Is Mr. Bogle    Indexing    the Problem? 101    What Is an Index Fund? 102    Why Invest in an Index Fund? 103    Giving Up Downside Protection 104    Giving Up the Ability to Lock In Profits 105    Why Not Buy and Hold? 107    So What   s Wrong with ETFs? 107    How Much Should You Pay for an ETF Trade? 110    The Benefits of Professionally Managed ETFs 110    Ranking ETFs the Grimaldi Way 111    Summary 112    Note 114    Chapter 8: Who Took My Money Now?    The Collapsing Education System 115    The Feds and State Government 116    The Vendors 117    School Administrators, Relatives, and Cronies 119    The Boosters 121    Teachers, Sex, Unions, Drugs, and More Fraud 123    Parents 128    Students 129    So What Are You and Yours Losing? 130    Are There Choices? 131    Summary 134    Notes 135    Chapter 9: Staying Poor in America 137    Rich or Poor? 138    What Else? Business Models Have Changed Our Way of Earning a Living 141    Other Factors Making Americans Poor 143    Spend It if You Got It or Pretend to Be Rich Until You Are Poor 144    Governmental Solutions 146    Private Solutions 147    Summary 150    Notes 151    Chapter 10: The Federal Debt Bomb: Hold Your Breath (at least try) 153    Government Choices and Me 156    What Am I Going to Lose in These Policy Choices? 164    So How Do I Keep from Losing My Shirt   or at    Least Survive an Inflationary Environment? 169    Summary 171    Notes 171    Chapter 11: Navigating the 2014 Recession 173    Beginnings 174    Behind the Accolades   Accurate Forecasting 177    The 2014 Recession 180    Recession Rules to Live By 181    Navigate Carefully 184    Appendix The Grimaldi Forecasts 186    January 2008 Navigator Newsletters 186    February 2008 Navigator Newsletters 189    March 2008 Navigator Newsletters 189    June 2008 Navigator Newsletters 191    November 2008 Navigator Newsletters 192    May 2009 Navigator Newsletters 194    Chapter 12: Changing Job Patterns and You 197    How Could This Happen? 200    Did You Leave the Middle Class on Purpose? 202    The Job Recovery from the Great Recession 203    Societal and Economic Effects 204    A Possible Solution? 207    Summary 210    Notes 210    Chapter 13: Gratuity Government: Should I Take the Free Butter? 213    Taker Trends: Get Wise and Do Less for Yourself 215    Entrance to the Land of the Takers 216    Transfer Payments and a Hypothetical Monthly Budget 223    Summary 225    Notes 226    About the Authors 227    Index 229