HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

ABC-radio commentator Williams, author of Financial Survival in the Age of New Money (1981), here addresses personal finance and investment from an anti-expert perspective--contending, with some justification, that few seers have compiled records worth following. So, he advises, go-it-alone--with an eye on predictive indicators like the stock market and money-supply data. The first step is to achieve control over household finances via smart-money management of banking, credit, insurance, retirement planning, real estate, and taxation. The aim: to create a budget that provides funds for investment. Williams then offers step-by-step rundowns on available opportunities, keyed to his do-it-yourself economic analyses. For instance: those inclined to play the interest-sensitive bond market should ""buy quality, but not too much""--favoring utility over industrial issues for their somewhat greater security. As far as equities are concerned, Williams is basically a business-cycle theorist who recommends purchases when the economy is emerging from recession--and a rally most likely. (Conversely, he favors sales when a recovery is ""in fullest flower."") Also covered are exchange-listed options, commodities, financial futures, collectibles, precious metals (more as a hedge against hard times than as an investment), mutual funds, investment trusts, and tax shelters. In other, related areas, Williams notes that tomorrow's good jobs will require more skill and training--and most people are apt to find themselves working at an older age and getting less government aid: all of these, of course, arguments for provident planning. Though less encyclopedic than Bob Rosefsky's estimable Money Talks (1982), serviceable-plus for busy folk in search of dependable self-help guidance.