I read Gibson's book a little over three years ago, shortly after I took my early retirement. I can thankfully say that book, along with a couple others, probably saved me $50,000 that summer.
We (the wife and I) had nearly $100k in Fidelity Advisor Growth for the boy's college funds. The oldest had just finished his freshman year, and the younger was to be a senior in high school. Gibson's book convinced me I could not afford the risk of having this money in the stock market (particularly growth oriented funds). So in July 2000, I called our financial advisor and told him I wanted to sell the fund and go to money market. Can you believe the a**hole tried to talk me out of that. I did not take the advisor's advice.
Needless to say, this fund lost half its value in the next 12 months. Mr. Gibson taught me a lot about risk and asset allocation, as well as about financial advisors.
It's not an easy read, but it is worth picking up at the library and spending some quality time.
Red
