Teaching Loved Ones About Money? Here's a Tool Kit

Only 17 states require that their high school students take a course in personal finance. There should definitely be more. But I also believe that the most effective financial education comes through our loved ones: parents modeling sensible financial behavior for their kids; aunts, uncles, and godparents gifting shares of mutual funds in lieu of birthday gifts that are here today, gone tomorrow; and so on.

That's why I've been so heartened when Morningstar.com readers have told me that they've tried to impart investing and personal finance knowledge to their own loved ones. Over the years readers have told me that they've given worthwhile basic investment books to their children, or passed on one of my articles. Those stories do my heart good.

But as anyone who's ever tried to teach investing or personal finance knows, there's a fine line between providing just enough information to get the job done and information overload. Your 23-year-old nephew needs to know that investing in the company 401(k) plan is a fantastic first step--and that target-date funds are fine one-stop solutions. He doesn't need to know that about required minimum distributions, hardship withdrawals, or how to use the brokerage window (or that the brokerage window even exists). Your granddaughter might actually read and enjoy Farnoosh Torabi's You're So Money, but A Random Walk Down Wall Street--while a must-read for serious investors--is probably too in the weeds.

With the mission of giving "just enough" information to set early stage investors on the right path, I've pulled together some articles that speak to some of the decisions they face. The articles tackle topics ranging from the big picture (setting financial priorities, allocating finite resources) to topics that are smaller-bore (how to decide among various retirement vehicles and allocate a 401(k)). You can print them out as an entire packet or dole them out on a one-off basis based on what your loved ones are confronting in their financial lives.

On Getting the Big Picture Right

A Primordial Take on Asset Allocation Most investors start their investment lives by making very specific decisions: picking funds in a 401(k), for example, or funding an IRA. But one of the best pieces of advice you can give to people just starting out on their investment journeys is to take a step back--way back. Given finite "assets" to invest, pay down debt, or spend, are they deploying them in a way that aligns with their goals and priorities?

Security selection is the sexy part of investing: Doesn't every investor just starting out want to identify the next

On Keeping It Simple

Why Your Investment Strategy Should Fit on an Index Card It's easy to get distracted by investing experts who claim they can predict what will happen next and employ byzantine strategies. To help ensure that a plan is sensible and not overwrought, investors should also be able to distill their investment approaches into just a few easy-to-understand sentences--or at least get them onto a single note card.

5 Tips for Fighting the Financial Complexity Complex Some segments of Wall Street love to sell the message that investing well is a hopelessly complicated exercise; if investors buy that idea, they also might buy into newfangled products and think they need constant hand-holding to make smart decisions. This article shares tips for avoiding the "financial complexity complex," including exhausting every single "dumb" questions and ruthlessly editing a portfolio as the years go by.

On Juggling Competing Financial Goals

An Investing Road Map for Early Career Accumulators People just starting out in their careers are navigating a lot of financial decisions: They've heard they should get started on investing for retirement, but they're also paying down student loan debt, amassing an emergency fund, and saving for weddings and first-home purchases. This article outlines what should be the key priorities for people at this life stage.

An Investing Road Map for Midcareer Accumulators Even as student loan debt might be receding in the rearview mirror, midcareer accumulators--people in their 40s and 50s--are often juggling the competing financial jobs of saving for college and paying for their own (rapidly approaching) retirements. This article discusses how investors at this life stage can turbocharge their own retirement savings and protect what they've managed to build, while also assisting with college funding.

On Investing Well for Retirement

A Hierarchy for Retirement Savings It would be great if there were a single vehicle that savers could use for retirement. But as things stand now, retirement savers have to contend with a lot of choices: 401(k)s and IRAs, both traditional and Roth, as well as a dizzying array of options for the self-employed. What's the best way to deploy assets across those silos, given an investor's specific choice set?

Assess Your Asset Allocation for Retirement Setting a life-stage-appropriate mix of stocks and bonds might seem like a job best left to academics--hopelessly black-boxy. But an understanding of human capital, risk tolerance, and risk capacity--along with some good old-fashioned common sense--can help investors arrive at asset allocation mixes that are customized to their own situations.

Retirement Planning for the 'Gig' Economy More and more workers, especially younger ones, are foregoing work as actual employees, complete with W-2s, health insurance, and 401(k) plans. Instead, they're fending for themselves as contractors or in entrepreneurial roles. This article is a primer on how workers in the gig economy can lay the groundwork for their retirement savings while also building their careers.

Five (Easy) Steps to Setting Up a 401(k) Stocks, bonds, stable value ... what? New employees are often thrust into making crucial investment decisions without the information or education they need to make sane choices. This article walks through the key steps to take when allocating 401(k) assets for the first time.