Planning for a secure financial future has never been more challenging-or richer with opportunity. Not only are people living longer, requiring ever-larger retirement nest eggs, but the investment vehicles they need to understand have become more numerous and complex. Mention such terms as "P/E ratio," "derivatives," and "cashless collars" to most people, and all you'll get are a lot of blank stares. A program of research and study could help people sort through the "investo-babble," but that regimen is too strict for most. That's where What's Your Investing IQ? comes in.

By the dynamic co-authors of the popular The Newlyweds' Guide to Investing & Personal Finance (Career Press, 2001), this book is a fun, educational tool to help familiarize readers with the investment options available to them. Each chapter features multiple-choice questions about investing, finance, and economics, with hypothetical points awarded for each correct answer. Readers will be able to tally their scores-and learn where they fall on the Investing IQ Scale-at the end of each chapter.

The real learning occurs in the answers, which provide definitions, historical perspective, and suggestions on how financial vehicles can best be deployed. Learning about investing is something all of us have to do-it might as well be fun!

Carrie L. Coghill, CFP, is president, chief financial planner, and co-founder of D.B. Root & Company, a financial planning firm based in Pittsburgh, PA. She has more than 16 years' experience in the financial services industry and specializes in counseling those with substantial funds to invest and little or no experience doing so. She is a regular guest on CNBC's Power Lunch and co-host of Financial Planning, a twice-monthly program on Pittsburgh's NBC affiliate, WPXI-TV.

Evan M. Pattak, a Pittsburgh native, is a writer, editor, publicist, and teacher, among other pursuits. He is co-author of Insiders' Guide to Pittsburgh, and his magazine writing has won Golden Quill and Women in Communications Matrix. He served as editor-in-chief of Executive Report, a former monthly business magazine in Pittsburgh, and began his career as a reporter for the Associated Press. For more than 20 years, he has served as an official scorer for Major League Baseball in Pittsburgh.