Straightforward, reliable financial guidance is contained in this one-of-a-kind reference. This handbook clearly explains the concepts you need to invest, borrow, or lend intelligently with reduced risk and greater understanding. Here are the ready answers to virtually all of your questions about interest, yields, and returns, whether you are an investor trying to decide which kind of bond to invest in, a business manager evaluating alternative prospective capital investment opportunities using discounted cash flow techniques such as the internal rate of return (IRR), a senior citizen pondering increasing his or her cash flow by taking out a "reverse" mortgage, a borrower who is unsure whether refinancing is a good idea, and an individual who simply wants to make financial decisions that pay off. This valuable handbook provides you with the analytical tools essential to making decisions about buying, selling, or holding stocks, bonds, and real estate. Or if you are lending or borrowing money, you will find the information necessary to compare different forms of investment proposals by using the IRR or net present value as simple, accurate yardsticks. In the Handbook, you will find answers to such other vital questions as: . Why does the Fed's annual percentage rate understate the true cost of most loans? How can you make tax shelters work for you? Why don't you have to reinvest at all to achieve the IRR or yield-to-maturity at purchase? What are the big dangers of investing in callable or zero coupon bonds? Which kind of bond is most desirable: discount, par, or premium? What is the most you can withdraw monthly from your retirement savings and still have the income last for yourexpected life span? How can you construct a loan amortization schedule? Is it advisable to accelerate paying off your mortgage or other loan? What is modified duration, and how can it help control a portfolio's risk level? The Handbook is written in a no-nonsense style that makes its subject accessible to a broad spectrum of readers. In addition, you will find numerous graphs that will help solve even the most complex money puzzles in moments. If you are among the investors, borrowers, portfolio managers, bankers, accountants, and business professionals who must grapple with financial decision making in an uncertain business climate, you will find this one-stop guide to be your invaluable financial coach, ever at your aide with dependable and practical information presented in a lucid, easily understood manner. With this handbook, you'll make informed, advantageous money decisions.