ข้อมูลทรัพยากร

เนื้อหาย่อ : Britain's popular TV star, Frank Muir, in his book An Irreverant and Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of AImost Everything (New York: Stein and Day, 1976, . xi) wrote: Having to write a preface after labouring for five years t to produce the book is an unnerv- ing experien ence and something of an antic climax; rather like an elephant who has suc cceeded at long last in giving birth to her calf being then required to balanc ce a bun on her head. We do not share that opinion. Rather, we view the writing of a preface as an oppor- unity to chat with our readers about the book on an informal basis. That is why we hoose to use the format of a prefatory letter instead of the traditional preface. The primary purpose of this letter is to give you our objectives for this fourth edition and to thank the people who helped us accomplish these goals. A major objective for this revision n was to update the material. Even though it has been only three years since the third edition was published, changes affecting the fi- nancial services industries have occurred so quickly that the task of updating the book was indeed challenging. One of the most im portant developments impacting on this edition is the greatly expanded emphasis on financial planning in many segments of society. This concept, in which investments, trusts, and insurance policies are viewed as financial planning tools, is certainly not new. Readers of previous edition ns of this text will remember that we have alway: ys urged students to view life and health insurance contracts in rela- tion to individual situations rather than as isolated arrangements. In keeping with in- dustry developments, we have expanded this emphasis and made the link between in- surance and fnancial nlanning o even more exnlicit for this fourth edition. For