When it comes to protecting your 401(k) and IRA, the power is in your hands. You have the power to ensure that it is large enough to provide security in retirement. While this might seem like a great deal of responsibility, it’s actually a good idea. You can create the flexibility that you want. Your money can grow whether you continue to work steadily at a career or take some time off to go back to school or to raise kids; you can plan to retire early without waiting for a pension or Social Security to begin paying you.

Managing retirement and financial accounts can be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one if you understand the rules and do all the planning and careful management that employers used to do with workers’ pensions. Whether you have a 401(k), an IRA, a 403(b), a SIMPLE IRA, or any of the varied retirement plans that you’ll soon understand, each can be an important part of your retirement toolbox. Learning to manage these accounts can be fun—we show you how in this book.

Whether you’re in your 20s and just starting your account, in your 30s or 40s and are building your nest egg, in your 50s—or even your 70s—and getting ready to retire, or you’ve been retired for years, we have the information you need to manage your accounts and protect your nest egg.

You’ll find four types of sidebars in this book. These little snippets of information are geared toward keeping you out of trouble, providing tips, telling you what something means, or just giving you some inspiration and deeper context.

It’s pretty amazing how many people are involved in creating a book like this, which is less a collection of words on a page than a compilation of years of practice and experience. First we acknowledge the late William C. Lane, whose IRA provided the seed money that helped launch Jennifer’s company. We’re forever in his debt. And to Jennifer’s clients, your willingness to share a very personal part of your lives with her continues to be a wonderful experience and has created many of the insights in this book.

Special thanks go to the team at Compass Planning Associates: John Perkins, CFP; Peggy Hughart; Sarah Heller; Heather Dmochowski; Catherine Heller; and Tom Vahey continue to be an enormous source of support and have kept the firm running beautifully while Jennifer has been writing this book. Although any remaining inadvertent errors remain ours alone, John and Peggy’s willingness to also act as technical editors on the book has been very helpful.

And Jennifer owes a debt of gratitude to everyone at New England Cable News, past and present, both in the newsroom and in the booth. It’s exciting to be able to interact with you and with viewers every week. The opportunity to work with you continues to be an invaluable one. And of course, to the viewers, if you keep e-mailing your questions, Jennifer will keep answering them.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Protecting Your 401(k) and IRA was reviewed by experts who double-checked the accuracy of what you’ll learn here, to help us ensure that this book gives you everything you need to know about protecting your 401(k) and IRA. Special thanks are extended to Margaret Hughart and John Perkins.

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.