How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street: Golden Rules Any Investor Can Learn »

Allan S. Roth is the founder of Wealth Logic, LLC, an hourly-based financial planning and investment advisory firm, that advises clients with portfolios ranging from $10,000 to $50 million. His expertise is in portfolio construction and performance benchmarking, and he is frequently quoted in the financial media. An adjunct finance faculty member at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado College, he teachesbehavioral finance at the University of Denver's GraduateTax Institute. Mr.

Investing is simple, but never easy. We carry a lot of investment baggage, including hot tips from friends and thefinancial media, as well as complicated financial recommendations from Wall Street "experts." Yet the biggest obstacle we face is the tendency to outsmart ourselves.

In order to overcome this obstacle, you need to follow straightforward strategies that will consistently push yourportfolio ahead of the pack by an additional 3 to 4percent annually. These are strategies that work in upmarkets and especially in times of market crisis and panic. Most importantly, these strategies are basic enough for even a kid to understand.

In How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street, you'll follow the story of Kevin Roth—an eight-year-old who was schooled in simple approaches to sound investing byhis father, seasoned financial planner Allan Roth—and discover exactly how simple it can be to become a successful investor. Page by page, you'll learn how to create a portfolio with the widest diversification and lowest costs; one that can move up your financial freedom by a decade and dramatically increase your spending rate during retirement. And all this can be accomplished by using some commonsense techniques.

Along the way, Kevin and his dad discuss fresh, new approaches to investing, and detail some tried-and-true but lesser-known approaches. They also take the time to debunk the financial myths and legends that many of us accept as true and show you what it really takes to build long-term wealth with less risk. You'll also learn how not to confuse the unlikely with the impossible.

Whether you're young or young-at-heart, the straight-talking advice found here will help you:

• Design a portfolio composed of a few basic building blocks that can be "tweaked" to fit your personal needs

• Go beyond indexing, which owns the entire market, and actually beat the market

• Reengineer your portfolio to stop needlessly paying taxes

• Increase your return, regardless of which direction the market goes, by picking the "low-hanging fruit" we all have in our portfolios

• And so much more

Engaging and insightful, How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street takes you through Kevin Roth's real-life story, while driving home key strategies and tools you can implement in your own portfolio. With just a little time and a little work, you can become abetter investor. With this book as your guide, you'll discover how a simpler approach to today's markets can put you on the path to financial independence.

For more information, visit www.SecondGraderPortfolio.com.

Lawrence Maxted - Library Journal

Financial adviser Roth uses the example of his second-grade son to hammer home the point that investing is simpler than the experts want us to believe. Roth explains that keeping investment costs low with wide diversification has historically beaten the vast majority of professional money managers. He makes specific recommendations on index fund investments and keeps his explanations clear and concise. Not to be overlooked are his many significant insights into market mechanics and psychology. Like Bill Schultheis's The New Coffeehouse Investor(reviewed below), Roth's book is heavy with metaphors, but don't let this distract you from the author's detailed insights. Recommended.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction. The Seeds of Financial Success.

Chapter 1: The Claw Will Take Your Money: "10 – 2 = 8."

Chapter 2: Own the World: “Don't Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket.”

Chapter 3: The Advantage of Having Wall Street Marketing Blinders (and Where Can I Get Some?): “I Don't Watch Cramer, I Like Sponge Bob.”

Chapter 4: Adults Behaving Badly: “Don't Act Silly When Something Is Important.”

Chapter 5: Can You Beat a Second Grader’s Portfolio?: “I’m Not Going to Win All Three Spins.”

Chapter 6: Beyond the Second-Grader's Portfolio: “If Dad Says There's a Better Way I Might Try It, but I'm Not So Sure.”

Chapter 7: Bonds—Your Portfolio's Shock Absorber: “Don't Lend Money To Someone Who Won't Pay You Back.”

Chapter 8: Better Than Bonds: “If the Teacher Promises You’ll Be Paid Back, Then It's Okay to Lend Randy Money.”

Chapter 9: Simply Brilliant or Brilliantly Simple—Building Your Portfolio: Don't Bet Your Lunch Money.”

Chapter 10: Investors Who Love To Pay Taxes, and the IRS Who Loves Them: “Don't Pay the Tax Man If You Don't Have To.”

Chapter 11: Nightmare on Wall Street—The Scary Tale of Trick-or-Treat Investing: “If the Game Is Too Hard to Understand, I'm Not Playing.”

Chapter 12: Increase Your Return No Matter What the Market Does: “If You Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit, You Don't Have to Climb the Tree.”

Chapter 13: Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS): “Why Do Grownups Have to Make Things So Complicated?”

Kevin's Postscript.

Notes.

About the Author.

Index.