Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It by Stuart E Lucas - Book Report/Review Example

College: Asset Management Executive Summary Stuart E. Lucas book en d “Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It” has a lot of things to be learned from an investor perspectives which needs to be taken into consideration. There are a lot that can be learned among them being how to pick an investment strategy, making your most important hire and issues to deal with taxation. It also focuses on the ways of promoting entrepreneurial stewardship and how to make philanthropic contribution. Last chapter deals with multigenerational wealth transfer in the families which are all discussed in the paper below. Chapter 6: Picking Your Investment Strategy One of the main topics that the author placed across in the chapter is called index investing. It involves buying of shares from the already trading stock an investment strategy. Individuals who chose index investing have very little or no management initiation since the investments is managed by experts from the company where stocks are. The author also pointed out that this kind of investment needs little attention from the investor since it provides solid returns without doing much hence being able to benefit those investors as long as they have invested. This type of investment is very important for the investors or traders who don’t have the management skills for their assets. Investing in the stock market may be ideal for them since it will not require their time in checking and making adjustments but instead someone else will do it at the company’s expense. The second topic that the author focused on is barbell investing strategy. This investment strategy involves investing in long term and short term bonds as investment strategy. It does not involve investing in intermediate bonds since it seeks to attain higher amount of benefits through increased interest rates. The main aim of this investment as argued by the author is that it is characterized with higher returns from the bonds which end up increasing the overall value. This type of investment is very essential for people looking to invest in long term as well as short time through securities and bonds since they have different maturity dates which come with a lot of benefits to the investors. Chapter 7: Making Your Most Important Hire One of the emerging topics in this chapter is how to select the right financial administrator (FA). The author has outlined some of the roles the financial administrators has to play and they include supporting and partnering the investor to wealth strategist and meet the financial of the investment using the investment strategy that has been chosen. The author has also elaborated on the key responsibility of the financial administrator as being able to help in executing and measuring strategies and coordinating all the players that are involved in the investment. Similarly, some of the issues which the FA should manage include the investor, other investor’s advisors and the total financial assets. This topic is very important as it educates the investors on the roles as well as the importance of financial administrators in meeting wealth strategies. The second topic in this chapter is focusing on the key skills that the financial administrators are to have. The author has pointed out some of the skills to include the ability to measure financial performance of the investment. This will be crucial in initiating strategies for developing new investment strategies as per the performances. One should also have the skills to manage financial records to ease referencing in times of need. Financial administrator should be at a position and have the skills to coordinate and recommend the work specialists as well as asset allocation. This topic is equally very important as it spells out the core skills that financial administrator should pose. Chapter 8: Taxes Can Be Your Ally The first topic that the author focused on improving investment results through tax management. Tax has been taking a larger share from the individual’s investments which have called for the need to put proper strategies in managing the taxation in order to put more investments. The author outlined some of the ways on how individuals can put tax strategies which can ensure they cut on the tax and benefit from their investments. However, making this strategies first require crucial questions be answered in relation to the reasons why the investor needs extra money. This topic is very educative on how one can cut on his or her tax spending since it takes a larger portion of the investments. It lays down the strategies for cutting the tax spending which will ensure the investor pays less amounts. The second topic in this chapter is about committing to retirement and compensation plans. The author states that many people use retirement plans and differed compensations with the thought that tax deferral will make them have superior investments. However, this has not been the case due to a number of reasons as they have found it wrong. Retirements plans and compensations are very essential for saving as they delay payment of taxes over the years. This is because they will only be taxed at the time of distribution from the plan. This topic is very important as it educates the investors about retirement plans and deferred compensations. Chapter 9: Promoting Entrepreneurial Stewardship One of the major topics in this chapter is reorienting oneself with wealth. Once somebody has acquired wealth, there are a number of orientations that he or she has to undergo which will enable one to define his or herself. One will have to be changed once the wealth is acquired and the changes will directly be related to his or her life in many aspects. Some of the orientations that one will encounter include paying for the life necessities which will minimize worries to the investor; one will have full access to capital which will give proper financing to the business. One also has luxury time which enables him or her to pursue other non financial interests like helping others. This topic is essential as it helps the investor to realize some of the orientation that he or she will undergo. The second topic that the author highlighted is taking risk in preserving and growing wealth. It also requires much discipline, imagination and persistence in acquiring mass wealth. The multiple risks that are associated with the wealth creation include taxation, inflation, stock market volatility and spending. The topic therefore advices to wise investments opportunities which seeks risks when good opportunities avail themselves and will be cautious when the environment is dangerous. Observing this changes will ensure the investment survive some of the challenges it may encounter in the way. This topic is important for investors as it informs the investors on the possible risk they are likely to encounter and how to overcome them. Chapter 10: Making Philanthropy Part of Your Strategic Wealth Program One of the topics which stand out in this chapter is how an investor can be philanthropic through defining a number of ways. A wealth strategist has four ways which forms the principles if structural options in allocating funds to charity causes. One of the philanthropic include direct donation which involves giving direct resources in terms of money or any other resource directly to the beneficiary. Second aspect involves support organization which involves giving different supports to enable their survival. Third philanthropic aspect is donor advised funds which encompasses partnership. Lastly, private foundation gives sponsorship to the deserving group of people depending with their need. This topic is relevant as it outlines different ways an investor can give to the society and outlines the legal ways. The second topic in this chapter involves the thoughts about giving options for the investors. Some of the options which the donors have are either to control their gifts or to remain anonymous in giving their support. According to the author of this topic, more and more donors are willing to support the programs rather than giving operating support to the beneficiaries. This is because supporting the programs gives greater accountability among the non-profit organizations as they needs different formats which meets the preference of the donors. Some other donors prefer to preserve their identity from the projects they are supporting as a result of different reasons related to security and negative influence that these projects may have. This topic is very informative as it gives the potential donors various option of giving support directly or indirectly. Chapter 11: Putting It All Together: Multigenerational Planning and Wealth Transfer One of the topics in this chapter is dealing with family houses and other legacy assets. The notion that real estates provide positive cash flow may sometimes been misleading depending with the circumstances. As families grow bigger, some children may want to remain in the family house which may affect the cash flow. Family members may resort to settling on the families real estates which will automatically divert the revenue generation. There is need to deal with these issues as they may work against the interest of the investor making the strategy not to be realized. This topic is very essential in informing the investors on how to deal with family houses and other assets from family interference and other challenges that might be associated with it. The second topic in this chapter is perpetuating the family economic engine. The author argues that successful business usually have existing cash flows which generates some revenues to the business. This may involve passing of investment from one generation to generation through providing financial support to the young ones who may be willing to start a business. This will ensure the family maintains its wealth building capabilities which will be passed from generation to generation. This topic is very educative for any investor who may want to stabilize their wealth by passing them from generation to generation with the children taking the roles. Work cited Stuart E. Lucas. Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007. Print. Read More