What if everything you thought you knew about money turned out not to be true? Since pension plans have all but disappeared from the retirement landscape, most Americans are on their own to financially prepare for their post-work lives. Unfortunately, many of the options available to save for retirement have set us up to fail. We're either at the mercy of Wall Street, which saddles our mutual funds with enormous fees, plays fast and loose with the rules, and forces us to gamble the money we need to live on in retirement on the whims of the stock market. Or we have to trust Washington, which...

The retirement deck is stacked against you. Between the demise of the traditional pension system, the shaky foundation of Social Security, the utter train wreck of the stock market, and the lackluster returns on fixed-rate investments, seniors are struggling to accumulate enough to live on in retirement, especially as they are living much longer than ever. Today's retirement system is broken, and it's only going to get worse. But there is hope. There is a way to earn solid returns on your savings without risking your money in the foolish gamble of the stock market. And there is a way to avoid...