Stoker, R. Bryan 1962-

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STOKER, R. Bryan 1962-

PERSONAL: Born March 8, 1962, in Hickory, NC; son of Roy D. (a district engineer) and Nancy D. (a bank officer) Stoker; married December 14, 1985; wife's name Sharyn D. (a programmer); children: Melissa L., Michelle B. Ethnicity: "White Caucasian." Education: North Carolina State University, B.S.E.E., 1984; Johns Hopkins University, M.S.E.E., 1987; California Coast University, M.B.A. and Ph.D., B.A., 1997. Politics: Republican. Hobbies and other interests: Investing, travel, martial arts, computers, fishing.

ADDRESSES: Home—Eldersburg, MD. Office—Lifestyle Publishing, 6685 Slacks Rd., Sykesville, MD 21784. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: U.S. Department of Defense, Fort Meade, MD, technical director, 1984—. Lifestyle Publishing, Sykesville, MD, president, 1993—.

MEMBER: Theta Tau.

AWARDS, HONORS: Named master member of technical track, U.S. Department of Defense, 1998; ribbons from Toastmasters International.

WRITINGS:

Financial Freedom: A Wealth Manual for the Middle Class, Lifestyle Publishing (Sykesville, MD), 1994.

Growth and Income: How to Build a Mutual Fund Money Machine, Lifestyle Publishing (Sykesville, MD), 1999.

Money Secrets: How to Make . . . and Save . . . a Fortune for People Who Want More Money, Lifestyle Publishing (Sykesville, MD), 2003.

The Car Book: How to Save Big Money When You Buy, Sell, Drive, and Maintain Your New or Used Car . . . Including Free Money-Saving Internet Links, Lifestyle Publishing (Sykesville, MD), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: R. Bryan Stoker once told CA: "I have been fascinated with personal finances and investing since I started working at age fourteen. The concept of making my money work harder than I do seemed like the only logical thing to do. Since then I have successfully invested in stocks, real estate, mutual funds, stock options, and commodity options. Although bonds do not really appeal to me, I have even owned a few of them. I have also created a handful of businesses, the first of which was a freelance house-painting business back in high school. Of course, the most recent is my publishing company, Lifestyle Publishing. In all cases, I have always had a full-time job, either as a student or an electronics engineer, at the same time.

"So, my primary motivation for writing about personal finance, investment, and retirement stems from my incessant desire to constantly research and create new ways to invest and to convey these new concepts to my readers. Eventually, I hope to create seminars on investment and personal financial planning as well. One special goal I would like to accomplish is to create a personal finance and investment course for graduating high school and/or college students, since this seems to be one of the biggest holes in the American education system.

"My first book, Financial Freedom: A Wealth Manual for the Middle Class, was inspired by a realization one night, about one o'clock in the morning, that most books present generic concepts for how to invest in one thing or another, or they discuss how you can become better with a 'more positive attitude' or whatever. However, none of the books I had read pulled everything together into more or less a life-plan. I attempted to do this in Financial Freedom by presenting some simple, 'can't fail' steps that anyone can take to get out from under the burden of the myths created by the financial and insurance industries. Once you have obtained your freedom, the book tells you how to boost your wealth tremendously and reduce your taxes at the same time.

"My second book for the consumer, Growth and Income: How to Build a Mutual Fund Money Machine, emerged from more than two years of research I conducted to obtain a master's degree and a doctorate in business administration. For my long dissertation, I examined a fairly unknown investment technique called 'dollar value averaging' and compared its performance to two other automatic-investment techniques: dollar cost averaging and asset allocation. This technique is very intriguing, because it truly does buy low and sell high, unlike dollar cost averaging. For my doctoral research, I determined when and in which type of markets value averaging outperformed or underperformed dollar cost averaging and asset allocation. I also investigated the impacts of several real world constraints, including income taxes, capital gains taxes, minimum investment requirements, volatility, long-term market trends, minimum number of exchanges, and more. The results were sometimes unexpected, and I incorporated them into a simple step-by-step plan that anyone can use almost without thinking. An exciting bonus I never expected, I created a new hybrid technique that really supercharges the performance of your investments. Once again, I tried to incorporate the rest of a life-plan by including sections on maximizing your retirement wealth and making it last longer than you do. Growth and Income even includes software, special reports, and another book at no extra cost."