Showing results by author "Dale C. Maley" in All Categories

This short story explores the pros and cons of investing in variable annuities versus conventional mutual funds.

This short story explains how to become a financial planner or Registered Investment Advisor.

Although Wall Street tries to convince us that financial planning is too complicated for an ordinary Main Street citizen to understand, financial planning is not rocket science. This story provides a process map or flow chart for the entire financial planning process. Each process step in the flow chart then becomes a separate chapter. For each chapter, a list of the best books, best articles, and best short stories are given so you can explore each step in more detail. You can select the process steps that you are most interested in and then read the supporting books, articles, and short ...

Millions of Americans are saving and investing in an effort to fulfill their long term goals including college education for their children and retirement. One proven method of increasing the probability of achieving your goals is to put them in writing. This short story explores how writing an Investment Policy Statement can help you meet your financial goals.

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. Fairbury was home to one of great horse importers of Illinois, John Virgin. He was named by the Governor of Illinois to be on the planning commission of the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. The Keeley Institute was founded in 1891 as an alcoholic treatment center in Dwight, Illinois, 30 miles north of Fairbury. Many Fairbury citizens worked at the Keeley institute during the years it was open from 1891 ...

78 million Baby Boomers start to turn age 65 in 2011. Many of these Boomers will be seeking investments that have low risk and high returns. Equity indexed annuities are often promoted as low risk investments with high returns. This short story explores the complexities and hidden costs of equity indexed annuities.

Most retirement books assume you have time to save and accumulate money or you already have a significant net worth. Most of the 67 million Baby Boomers who are approaching retirement age have run out of time to save and accumulate more wealth. This short story explores the options available to people reaching retirement age who are broke. After reading this short story, you will be able to make your own well-informed decision on how to optimize your chances of being able to retire.

In August of 1887, the TP&W railroad began advertising for a special passenger excursion train that would take Central Illinois citizens on a short vacation trip to Niagara Falls. On August 10, 1887, the train with its 625 total passengers began it trip east across Illinois.Just past midnight, the passenger train encountered a burned out wooden bridge just east of Chatsworth. The second locomotive and several wood passenger cars derailed killing approximately 85 passengers and injuring 372 more. It was one of the worst train wrecks of that era.In 1970, Helen Louise Plaster Stoutemyer ...

In 1869, veteran surveyor Nelson Buck recruited five young Pontiac, Illinois, men between the ages of 16 and 20 to accompany him on a surveying expedition to southern Nebraska. When they reached Nebraska, he recruited about another six younger men to join the survey party. Nelson Buck expected the U.S. Army to issue his men guns, ammunition, and an armed escort. His requests were turned down, and he decided to start the survey anyway. Two days from the Army fort, the party ran into members of the Sioux tribe. Buck sent two of the Pontiac boys back to the fort to get help. When the Army ...

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. In 1861, John Marsh, and son Henry Marsh, dug 180 feet down just west of Fairbury and found coal. Their discovery of coal in the Illinois prairie, prompted the discovery of more coal through-out Central Illinois. Fairbury quickly had three main operating coal mines. These mines created jobs that attracted miners all the way from Europe. The population of Fairbury exploded from 269 in 1860 to 2,324 in 1890...

Illinois has a very interesting geological history. At one time, this area was covered by an ocean. Later it had lush tropical forests. Eventually the Ice Age glaciers leveled the ground to its current relatively flat topography. The Paleo-Indians are believed to have traveled from Asia to North America at the end of the last Ice Age about 14,000 years ago. These people gradually moved south until they occupied most of the United States. These early peoples adapted over time to the changing environment after the Ice Age. By the time the first white man explored Illinois, the Kickapoo ...

Many Americans work hard and live below their means so they can grow their wealth through saving and investing. Unfortunately, the U.S. has 50% of the world's lawyers. Umbrella insurance is an easy way to protect your hard earned wealth from lawsuits. This short story explains umbrella insurance including how much umbrella insurance you should have.

This short story explores the pros and cons of utilizing immediate annuities for retirement income.

Millions of American Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age. Many of them have set up estate plans using either wills or trusts. One additional document that can save their heirs a great deal of time is a Letter of Instruction. This short story explores how writing a Letter of Instruction can greatly ease the burden on your heirs of settling your estate.

Many new investors are shocked to discover there are over 8,000 different mutual funds to choose from! How do you know which fund to pick? Once you pick a fund, how do you know how well it is performing? Do you have to spend a lot of time learning about investing? This book answers all of these questions and more. It shows how regular people can simplify their investment life and beat the pro's results. Jill is a new investor who knows she must start investing for her daughter's education and her retirement. Jill turns to her nephew, a Business Major, and to William the friendly Finance ...

This short story explores how to find a good financial planner. After reading this short story, you will know how to find a good financial planner who meets your needs.

Many Americans have long-term financial goals including paying for their children’s college or their own retirement. Studies have shown you are more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. This short story shows how to develop your own comprehensive personal financial plan. It includes a template that you can modify to fit your needs.

Millions of Americans are stuck with poor 401K plans. These 401K plans have low employer matching ratios and very high annual expenses. At some point, it becomes better to simply invest in low cost index funds in a taxable account versus using the poor 401K. This story explores this problem and the trade-offs between a poor 401K and a taxable account.Hopefully, after reading this short story, you will have enough information to make your own well informed decision regarding your specific situation.

Two of Fairbury's most nationally famous citizens were Carl and brother William Goudy. They both raced nationally and held world records in early motorcycle racing between 1911 and 1916.Carl won the big Chicago motorcycle race held in September 1915. Carl loaned his fast Excelsior motorcycle to his brother William. In January of 1916, William was killed in an accident on a Bakersfield, California, track while doing practice laps.Carl's grade-school girlfriend told him that she would not marry him unless he gave up the dangerous sport of motorcycle racing. Carl gave up motorcycle racing in ...

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. This short story attempts do documents all the Fairbury citizens who have authored books over the years. Several of these book authors are major figures in the history of Fairbury. Additional biographical and historical information for these book authors is included in this short story.