Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well [Paperback]

Ralph E. Warner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well | Publication Date: June 2001

The financial-service industry wants you to believe that in order to avoid financial destitution, you need to put aside huge amounts of money that you -- let's say it together -- "should have begun saving years ago."

Not true, states Warner, the author of Get a Life. Although a sensible savings plan makes good horse sense, many other actions and decisions will determine whether you enjoy your retirement years.

Get a Life shows you how to beat the anxiety surrounding retirement, and to develop a plan to make your golden years the best of your life by:

* developing family relationships
* maintaining and creating friendships
* improving health
* keeping active
* developing a robust curiosity for the world
* realistically calculating how much money you need and how to secure it

Interviews with successful (and successfully) retired people illustrate how to put Warner's advice into action.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Warner, attorney and founder of Nolo, the do-it-yourself legal publisher, has written a unique retirement guide which, despite its title, focuses on non-financial issues as well as the traditional retirement concerns. The book also includes conversations with notable people who have led productive "retirement" lives, including environmental activist and writer Ernest Callenbach and mathematician Arthur Levenson. By focusing on important concerns such as broadening circles of friends, relying on one's extended family, turning to hobbies and nonwork activities, the book will help readers gain a healthier perspective on retirement. The sections on friendship and love are particularly compelling. The chapters on specific financial planning are not as complete as readers might want; for example, there's only one brief chapter that explains how investments work. Warner can also be something of a contrarian in his financial advice. He maintains that experts who say people need roughly 80% of their pre-retirement income are wrong. In addition, Warner says (arguably) that the Social Security system is not actually in precarious shape and will be around for many years to come. Still this is one of the freshest and most practical approaches to retirement planning in a long time.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Money for retirement doesn't matter? Well, not exactly. Warner puts a different spin on how to prepare for retirement by recognizing that a sensible savings plan is important, but the real keys to successful retirement are good health, spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and having interesting things to do. His mission in this book is to identify the habits and life-style choices that set zestful people apart from those who spend their last years bored, lonely, and depressed. He reveals that there is often a direct connection between mid-life obsession with work and saving and an unhappy retirement. He has developed a thoughtful catalog of retirement activities and options that are worth reviewing; and he makes recommendations on the financial aspects of retirement by offering advice to "the savvy peasant," someone he identifies as being too busy to spend time on Wall Street "gobbledygook" but having more than enough financial smarts to invest money wisely and get rich slowly but surely. Mary Whaley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Nolo.com; 3rd edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873375831
• ISBN-13: 978-0873375832
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #863,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ralph "Jake" Warner, is the Chairman of the Board at Nolo. Widely recognized as a pioneer of the do-it-yourself law movement, Warner founded Nolo with Ed Sherman in 1971. He began publishing do-it-yourself law books written by him and his colleagues after numerous publishers rejected them. When personal computers came along, he added software to many Nolo books. When the Internet arrived, he pioneered online marketing of books.

In addition to running the company for much of the past three decades, Warner was an active editor and author. He wrote many books, including Retire Happy: What You Can Do Now to Guarantee a Great Retirement and Save Your Small Business: 10 Crucial Strategies to Survive Hard Times or Close Down & Move On. Today, he serves as chief executive officer as well as chairman of Nolo's board of directors. During a three-year break earlier this decade, Warner embarked on a new business venture: TallTales Audio, an audio book production company devoted to children's storytelling, online and on CD.

Warner holds a law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and an undergraduate degree from Princeton.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

158 of 161 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your thinking about retirement!, February 2, 2001

By 

P. Lozar "plozar" (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well (Paperback)

As someone who will probably retire within the next dozen years, I was beginning to wonder whether the doom-sayers were right: I don't have a million bucks in savings or a fat stock portfolio, so was I being foolhardy in assuming that I'd have enough to live on comfortably in my old age? This book was tremendously reassuring. Some of the author's main points are: (1) The difference between a happy, fulfilling retirement and "waiting for the undertaker" is not money but quality of life -- family, friends, good health, and meaningful activities that give you a reason to get up in the morning. (2) It's possible to estimate fairly accurately how much money you'll need to live on after you retire, and in most cases it's nowhere near the "70% of your present income" that the doom-sayers insist that you need to maintain your present lifestyle. (3) The loudest doom-sayers are the ones who are trying to sell you retirement plans! The author tells readers how to access a free set of "retirement calculators" on the Nolo Press web site to assist them in financial planning, and that alone is worth the price of the book. But what really "made" the book for me was his many interviews with happily retired people from all sorts of backgrounds and economic levels -- just reading about them was a real upper. There are plenty of books on how to provide for your retirement financially, but this is the only one I know of that adequately addresses the REST of your life. Read it!!

102 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Contrarian Viewpoint, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anyone who thinks about retirement, from those just starting out in their 20's and 30's to those nearing retirement. The book is a refreshing, contrarian view to the conventional wisdom of "save tons of money for retirement", "you'll need 70-100% of your current income in retirement", etc., etc., etc. The traditional retirement literature is focused almost exclusively on money, with which Warner takes exception.

Warner's focus is on the whole person - he makes a very compelling argument that money is a FACTOR in a good retirement, but that it is also important to cultivate health, outside interests, friendships and family. He believes these latter factors have a FAR greater influence on a successful retirement than money. He bases this viewpoint on research among those enjoying active, successful retirements.

Warner is not a Pollyanna, saying not to even think about retirement savings (as some critics seem to suggest). The book contains some common sense ideas on savings and admits that having SOME money may help. Warner's point, however, is that money alone isn't going to make you have a successful retirement if you neglected your family, friends, outside interests, spirituality and health in order to get the money.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who ever thinks about retirement. You may not agree with the proposition, but the book will really help expand your view of the elements of a good retirement and may help you plan a more enjoyable life.

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best retirement planning book I've ever read!, September 2, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well (Paperback)

This is the first retirement planning book I've ever read that realistically addresses how much money you really need to save for the lifestyle you want. I now realize that I don't need to save millions, that my current saving plan is perfectly adequate for the lifestyle I want. I can relax, enjoy my life and family, and work on retaining my health.