Understanding Financial Statements : Making Sense of the Numbers for Better Investment Decisions

Millions of Americans invest. And, as online investing proliferates and more and more companies switch from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, more adults will be managing their own portfolios - and shouldering the responsibilities associated with portfolio management and retirement planning.

But how many individual investors are ready to bear that responsibility successfully?

For many, understanding the oft-confusing language and practice associated with risk and return is an elusive concept shrouded in a mystique that seems penetrable only to the most seasoned financial professional.

It doesn't have to be that way. In Understanding Financial Statements, Susan & George Mangiero help individual investors conquer the basic concepts surrounding investment management.

Using SEC-sanctioned plain English and straightforward examples, the authors demystify essential performance reports that are all too often tossed out or filed away with barely a thought.

Understanding Financial Statements gives investors the tools they need to understand different measures of risk and return and the pitfalls associated with varying approaches.

With that knowledge comes improved performance. Unlike guides geared toward professional portfolio managers, Understanding Financial Statements explains the basics with a refreshing degree of clarity - and without a lot of high-level math or confusing formulas.

Dozens of examples, case studies, and graphics help walk the reader through the fundamental concepts that are key to this integral facet of investing.

But unlike many investment guides, the authors fully explain the pitfalls of failing to understanding investment management performance reports.

The authors show how investment-related graphs, tables, and numbers themselves can mislead investors into complacency or needless panic.

Armed with this knowledge, investors can protect themselves from potentially damaging losses, especially in light of today's turbulent markets. The authors provide a three-step approach that covers: - The basics of investment reporting, including the importance of understanding risk and return concepts - The ins and outs of reading statements - understanding the numbers behind your mutual fund statements - The warning signals of misleading data and how use the right data to reevaluate your portfolio More people could probably tell you where the Dow closed today than can tell you the returns on their own 401(k) portfolios.

In Understanding Financial Statements, the authors help pull investors out of the dark with a complete guide to understanding performance reports to improve their portfolios.