About the Author
Russell Wild has been a fee-only (takes no commissions) financial advisor for the past 20 years. He heads Global Portfolios, LLC, an investment advisory firm based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm name reflects Wild’s strong belief in international diversification — using exchange-traded funds to build well-diversified, low-expense, tax-efficient, global portfolios.
In addition to the fun he has with his financial calculator, Wild is also an accomplished writer, having written hundreds of articles for national magazines, including AARP The Magazine, Consumer Reports, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Parade, Reader’s Digest, and The Saturday Evening Post. He has also contributed to numerous financial professional journals, such as Financial Planning and Financial Advisor.
The author or co-author of two dozen nonfiction books, he also wrote two other Dummies titles in addition to this one: Bond Investing For Dummies and Index Investing For Dummies. No stranger to mass media, Wild has shared his wit and wisdom on such shows as Oprah, The View, CBS Morning News, and Good Day, New York, as well as in hundreds of radio and blog interviews.
Wild holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree with a concentration in finance from Arizona State’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale, Arizona; a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in business/economics magna cum laude from American University in Washington, D.C.; and a graduate certificate in personal financial planning from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) since 2002, Wild is also a long-time member and past president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
Dedication
To the small investor, who has been bamboozled, bullied, and beaten up long enough. And to Lenore Wild of Boca Raton, who taught me early on that wordsmithery (such as using the word wordsmithery, rhymes with rotisserie, sort of…) can be lots of fun.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I’d like a big round of applause for the editorial staff at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., for running such a well-oiled machine. We’ve worked on quite a few projects together now, and each one has been dust-and-drama free. As any author knows, that’s not always the case in today’s publishing world. Special thanks to Charlotte Kughen, project editor; always pleasant, always respectful, she made this project a joy.
Thanks, too, to Marylouise Wiack, copyeditor with Superwoman vision. And to Ben Johnson, editor of Morningstar’s ETFInvestor newsletter, who knows ETFs like Mozart knew classical music. I’m grateful that Ben served as technical editor on this book, making certain that it remained strictly a work of nonfiction. I’d also like to thank Ben’s research colleagues at Morningstar, who provided valuable fund data and analysis.
Thanks, too, to the Investment Company Institute, Cerulli Associates, and the helpful staff of many of the fund companies, indexers, and brokerage houses discussed throughout this book. Thanks, too, to Tensie Whelan, head of the Center for Sustainable Business at NYU Stern School of Business, for helping make this a better world, and for helping me to better understand the mechanics behind socially responsible investing.
And special thanks to Marilyn Allen of Allen O’Shea Literary Agency, my agent of many years and quite a few books.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Acquisitions Editor: Elizabeth Stillwell
Project Editor: Charlotte Kughen
Copy Editor: Marylouise Wiack
Technical Editor: Ben Johnson
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Production Editor: Tamilmani Varadharaj
Cover Image: © jijomathaidesigners/shutterstock