What does a horrific airline crash have to do with retirement planning? Thomas C. Scott saved a dozen lives as a crewmember on a Boeing 747 that crashed in 1974, killing 59 people. When he became a financial adviser he discovered that, like airline passengers who ignore preflight safety instructions, most people ignore the basics in handling their finances, make assumptions that are inaccurate, and leave themselves unprepared for disaster. This is the book you should have read before the global financial meltdown in 2008 and it is the book that will prepare you for the future by explaining how you can fasten your financial seatbelt. Tom Scott has taken what he learned about how we behave under stress and the common mistakes people make with their money and put it all together in this unique, inspiring, and personal look at how easily we can lose what we have when we forget to fasten our financial seatbelts. Scott's hard-earned insights include the value of planning and preparing for the worst. Like airline crashes, most of us think that financial disaster only happens to other people-until it happens to us. As in an airline crash, the survivors of a financial calamity are often paralyzed by fear and unable to see the way out of their predicament. Like flying, our relationship with money is often emotional and tinged with anxiety. It's important to have a trusted adviser on your side, protecting you from those human instincts that interfere with our ability to make good financial choices. Discover important principles that can change your financial life: *The ""rear-view mirror"" investment trap *The difference between investing and speculating *The ""plumage"" trap *Why a big salary is not wealth *How shame and guilt keep us from seeking help *How to find a good investment ""sherpa""

Thomas C. Scott was a 23-year-old crew member on Lufthansa Flight 540 when it crashed on takeoff in Nairobi, Kenya on November 20, 1974. In the midst of the burning wreckage he kept his head and helped a dozen people barely escape with their lives from the first-ever fatal wreck of a Boeing 747. Today, Tom is a seasoned financial planner and Forbes guest columnist who has rescued hundreds of people from economic catastrophe. He is founder and CEO of Scott Wealth Management Group, Inc. in Orange County, California, where he has been a financial planning professional since 1983. His practice is affiliated with LPL Financial, one of the nation's largest independent brokerage firms, where he is a member of LPL's Chairman's Council, an honor reserved for those advisers ranked in the most successful top two percent of nearly 12,000 financial advisors. He lives in Irvine, California, and is the father of two grown daughters.