Affluent Investor

by Phil DeMuth

Newcomers to financial investment can find dozens of advice books written especially for them, but this brand-new title is a book with a difference. It speaks directly to you—if you’re an investor with a portfolio worth $100,000 or more. The well-known investment advisor and bestselling author Phil DeMuth addresses the bread-and-butter issues facing that underserved segment of the equities investment community. He will tell you—

How to custom tailor your asset allocation to your personal circumstances How to capture the recognized outperforming market anomalies in your portfolio How to keep what you’ve got and avoid Wall street’s wealth extraction machine

Author DeMuth also passes along some invaluable retirement investing advice learned from Warren Buffett, and he explains the primary asset protection and tax minimization strategies that work for those in the high-net-worth bracket. Here are investment strategies for the affluent, as well as for those who are approaching affluence and are trying to take that big step forward.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2013

About the author

Phil DeMuth is an investment advisor. He was valedictorian of his class at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972, and then went on for his master's in communication and Ph.D. in clinical psychology before anyone could stop him. A psychologist and investment advisor, Phil has written for the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes, the Journal of Financial Planning, Human Behavior and Psychology Today (and anyone else who will dare to publish him), and is the author of nine books on investing, most co-authored with his pal, economist Ben Stein, and some of which have been New York Times bestsellers.

His opinions have been quoted in the New York Times, the Financial Times, Yahoo! Finance, On Wall Street, Fortune, Research Magazine, Investor's Business Daily, Motley Fool, theStreet.com, and Playboy (not a pictorial, though) and he has been seen on various TV shows, including Consuelo Mack WealthTrack, CNBC's Worldwide Exchange, On the Money, Squawk Box and Closing Bell, as well as Fox & Friends, and Wall Street Week (basically, anyone who will stick a microphone in front of his face).

Importantly, his high school rock band opened for Herman's Hermits at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, and he served as a judge for one episode of the immortal TV reality show America's Most Smartest Model.

For his day job, Phil runs Conservative Wealth Management LLC.

Reviews

[Malin Friess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Affluent is defined as net worth of $100,000 to $999,999. High net worth is defined as 1 million to 10 million. Demuth would say if your are reading this book you are likely highly educated, in your 40's, married, have a few children (all though children are the great income equalizer and can even make a high income couple feel like they are in poverty), were raised in a family that stressed education and hard work, are a small business owner or a doctor or a lawyer.

He argues to be well insured, invest in index funds, and also more a proponent of annuities than I am used to and also a very conservative (2-4%) withdrawal rate in retirement. Demuth believes target retirement funds get it wrong and under allocate stock ratios in the 65-95 YO range. Rather than decrease your risk by decreasing portfolio in stocks, Demuth argues you should be increasing your risk because Social Security kicks in (which is essentially a guaranteed annuity).

Demuth argues to be wary of stock brokers and financial planners---they like people with deep pockets and their fees can quickly eat up any income gains your money has made.

Where do your quarterly statements come from--do the envelope test. If it doesn't say either Vanguard, TIAA-cref, fidelity, schwab, TD ameritrade, or T Rowe Price...you are likely in trouble.

4 stars.

[Saif Al-Saffar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I believe you can spend your time reading a better one. it has a couple of ideas but not so much and the language could have been easier to understand. in general you can find a better one for investment and financial management.

[Janiece Brown Spitzmueller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the third of three "Must Haves" in the finance section of everyone's private library.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good investment book for those that do not need to keep re-reading the same steps 1 through 5. Not ideological, very conversational. A keeper.

[Malin Friess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book may be wrongly titled as it is not necessarily geared to that "evil" 1% that kept people in parks in big cities protesting last year. This book is for any investor with 10 k to 10 million (which is most ordinary folks who have any type or IRA or 401k).

I agree with a lot of what DeMuth suggests. He writes with Ben Stein and would agree with a lot of what Warren Buffet would say. Put your savings in Passive (no flip-flopping of stocks) Index funds with very low fees (Vanguard are typically .25%). These index funds will beat 75-90% of actively managed funds. Avoid finacial advisors if you can..their fees eat up a lot of your savings and they often sell what makes them money (annuities, active funds).

DeMuth strays from conventional wisdom in one aspect...After retirement instead of shifting from stocks to Bonds. Demuth wants the investor to increase their exposure to stocks after retirement. 100% stocks until age 30, 80% at age 35, down to 60% at age 46, down to 50% at age 50-66, then ramp back up from age 70 to 60% all the way to 80% by age 90. Demuth feels that if you only have your portfolio in stocks for a few decades 35-55, one bad decaded can spoil everything. You need exposure over a longer period of time (age 35-75) to account for market upturns and downturns.

3 stars..good sound advice.

[Frankdbartlett]

We in America need several normal services to be provided by
1. government
it has mismanaged salaries for too long
2. churches
the girls that visit them need need ethical teaching
(not sick sexual people playing games with their heads..to
lure the actress into in the office...and close the door

This is not wealthy values.

People including myself who owns growing business needs to
avoid (not confront or even associate with
pretenders)

Our focus has to be

1. create our own business.

2. stop teaching the truth to people


(so many do not have values and hold titles only temporarily)


The wise statement is to

"be pure with the pure,

talk about business with business people

renew ones on

health

and property will grow


when it does...be very careful about


whom one invites over...even on Christ Mass....


a Small Smart Christmas is better than


than a Big Crasy LA style.

LA and New York are CraSy PeOPLe


They Fake out everyone.


Wealthy creaters are needed in every city.



Let downtown collaspe.


Re Invest. IN Self.

[Rich Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book written in an easy to read conversational style. It' reads like having your kindly uncle giving you financial advice. The book, like many others, focuses on the advantages of passive investing with some extra chapters on insurance, tax and estate planning.

My copy doesn't say "the 1% and anyone with too much to lose" in the title. It's "Financial Advice to Grow and Protect Your Wealth." The advice in the book is applicable to anyone who has significant (to you) savings invested to stocks, bonds and retirement accounts.

[Jim Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Contains good reference material.