14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
On Obtaining Retirement Security, June 22, 2010
This review is from: The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg) (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.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Basic Information, June 12, 2010
This review is from: The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg) (Paperback)
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.
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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
This review is from: The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg) (Paperback)
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.
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