The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg) [Paperback]

Mark Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2010 | Series: Bloomberg (Book 48)

A timely guide to overcoming the retirement challenges we all face

The Great Recession has placed a wake-up call to America's baby boomers. Many have not saved enough for retirement and have not taken a hard look at how many post-work years they may need to finance.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security tackles the tough questions about retirement in the new post-crash economy. Page by page, it puts retirement in perspective by touching on important issues such as insuring against the risk of outliving your assets, recalibrating damaged retirement portfolios, managing the risk of health-care expenses in retirement, and career strategies for workers who are 50 years old and up.

• Reveals how to boost lifetime income through better planning, and working just a few additional years
• Offers advice on how to hire a financial advisor whose first loyalty is to you, not Wall Street
• Discusses why you should rethink housing in the wake of the real estate crash
• Offers detailed advice on career reinvention, the 50+ job market and midlife entrepreneurship

Engaging and informative, this practical guide provides the strategies needed for a truly fulfilling and secure retirement.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security aims to help baby-boomers with retirement planning. Author Mark Miller covers topics such as managing health-care costs and becoming a midlife entrepreneur." (Kiplinger's Retirement Report, August 2010).

"Miller is an expert on aging and retirement...it shows in his careful reporting on the ominous subject of retirement. He is diligent about listing detailed notes in each chapter to support facts and figures. He paints the picture: "Real estate values and retirement portfolios are depressed, and job security has evaporated...the need to build retirement security has never been greater." He offers ways to build long-term retirement security and boost knowledge on an array of topics from money issues, such as 401(k) plans and managing health care expenses to ways to navigate the 50-plus job market. There are several chapters on the 50-plus job market – how to find a job, start your own business, even how to hire a career coach to help with career transitions. Each chapter concludes with a wealth of resources and suggestions for further reading. The listings are ample guidance, worth keeping close at hand for help along the retirement route." (USA Today, July 25, 2010)

Book Description

America's baby boom generation has done a poor job preparing for retirement. Now, the economic crisis has ushered in a new reality that will be with us for years to come. Boomers must reexamine their retirement outlook: income, the role of work, and lifestyle expectations.

The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security details realistic strategies for money, work, and living that can be interwoven and leveraged for retirement security despite the tough economy.
• Money: annuities and Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs, taxes, health care
• Work: reinvent yourself, job-hunting strategies, entrepreneurship
• Life: indulge your passions, voluntourism, returning to school
 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; 1 edition (June 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576603628
• ISBN-13: 978-1576603628
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Miller is a journalist and author focused on retirement and aging.

He is a retirement columnist for Reuters, Morningstar and WealthManagement.com, and is a regular contributor to the AARP Magazine.

Mark is the author of The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living (John Wiley, 2010). He also contributed chapters to The Silver Market Phenomenon: Business Opportunities in an Era of Demographic Change (Springer, 2008) and 65 Things to Do When You Retire, 65 Notable Achievers on How to Make the Most of the Rest of Your Life (Sellers Publishing, 2012).

Mark edits and publishes RetirementRevised.com, which has bee featured as one of the best retirement planning sites on the web by Money Magazine.

He is the former editor of Crain's Chicago Business, and former Sunday editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Information June 12, 2010

By J. Smith

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you don't pay much attention to finances or saving for retirement, then this is a good book for providing good basic "no nonsense" information. For those who do know good financial management for themselves or who have been thinking about retirement and what it will look like, this is a good book for summarizing what you know in one place and providing references for further information.

It is also written very well. It doesn't talk down to the reader nor does the reader need a technical background to understand what the author is trying to say. On that score, very well done!

Where I was disappointed, however, was in the fact that I was expecting something more (and maybe that's just me). But the title "Hard Times Guide to Retirement" led me to think this book was going to have some really cutting edge and innovative ideas for baby boomers during this particular time in the nation's history. But in reality, the information isn't really slanted toward now as a recessionary period. This book wouldn't look much different than if we were in boom times right now and the book had been titled "Boom Times Guide to Retirement." From that perspective, I was disappointed because I didn't feel the book lived up to the slant given it by the title.

Also, the book is very light on advice. It is like a primer more than anything. It tells you what the situation is with different things like Social Security, annuities, etc. But it doesn't say much about individual type situations or as noted above about these being hard times.

Having said all of that, I'm glad that I bought the book. I've found it easy and interesting to read. And it does summarize everything in one place and provide additional references to look things up.... And I did learn about "file and suspend" with Social Security benefits. That was something I didn't know and learning about was worth the price of the book itself. Read more ›

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars On Obtaining Retirement Security June 22, 2010

By Martin Diano

Format:Paperback

The book is dog-eared with yellow and green highlight markings on just about every other page. There are lengthy passages that I have underlined in ink, and my scribbling appears adjacent to page columns where reminder notations are marked boldly with! or ? Within the book there are post-it notes from my wife that say gWhy havenft we done this?h and gWe need to think about this Y now! About a dozen paper clips identify pages of special importance.

Although we have had the book for only a few weeks, it looks like an old and ragged pass-it-along book read by dozens of people before us. Books like you might find at a garage sale. But thatfs not the case. Only my wife and I have read the book. We have devoured every page of the bookfs contents as if we were cramming for a college final exam on economics. And, thankfully, we are better off for it.

The book I refer to is The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living, written by Mark Miller.

This past April I attended a conference where Mr. Miller was a featured speaker. His presentation really hit home. I pigeon-holed him afterwards during a break to ask a few questions about my personal finances and retirement options. He was very generous with his time and said hefd send a copy of his book for me to review. I took him up on the offer.

I am 62 and semi-retired; my wife is 63 and also semi-retired. While we have done some planning with regard to our retirement, wefve clearly not done enough. Mr. Millerfs book, tough, pointed us in the right direction and impelled us to think and act. It was a clarion call to action, for sure.

Owing to the retirement planning advice Mr.... Miller discusses in his book, some of the issues we confront as soon-to-be full-time retirees we have already taken action on.

These actions include:
Outliving our assets YY God willing, of course, we hope to live another 25 years. We took some steps with our financial advisor to calculate our needs well beyond the next 25 years.

Housing YY The book has actually helped us decide on what to do about the second home we own in New York.

Healthcare YY The rising cost of healthcare is an issue every American family grapples with. We now have a strategy in place with regard to should a catastrophic illness befall either me or my wife.

Work YY We both have pledged to each other, two more years and out. But what helped us reach this decision was factoring in 1. determining if we will outlive our assets; 2. resolving the housing issue; and 3. addressing future healthcare costs. The book really helped us connect the dots.

Timely, targeted and thoughtful, The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living is an awesome primer for Boomers and Seniors whether they are facing hard times or not.

I am grateful for having met Mr. Miller, and for his efforts in writing a guide that I believe is worthy of consideration by any one that needs and or wants eretirement security. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as Chris Farrell says, but ok. August 2, 2010

By Ron H. Miller

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book does provide some basic information but it does not give much discussion as to how to manage retirement money when one does not have a defined benefit plan. It gives some basic information but it misses as it does not cover a lot of issues with a defined contribution plan. It does address issues such as working longer than one thinks one might to avoid running out of money. Overall a good read for those a few years from retirement but it is not a comprehensive guide in this area such as books by Quinn and Orman are for money management overall.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great info, fast read June 22, 2010

By Greg David

Format:Paperback

Mark Miller has created a comprehensive and yet fast guide to the choices and strategies people need for retirement amid the current economic difficulties. As a longtime business journalist and a reader of retirement advice, I found considerable new information, especially on longevity, career choices and the ins and outs of social security.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth buying July 6, 2010

By Dick Stroud

Format:Paperback

Whilst a lot of Mark's advice is specific to the US there is a lot that is applicable to the UK. As Europe enters its "Austerity Era" there has never been a more important time to make a comprehensive plan for life following your last job. I guess we once called this period `retirement' but for many of us it is the beginning of a whole new phase of life that might or might not include work.
Not only has Mark amassed a lot of facts that cover all aspects of retirement he presents them in an extremely readable way. If you don't want to read all of the detail you can use the book as a comprehensive checklist of all of the topics that you should be considering.