Customer Reviews

J.K. Lasser's Your Winning Retirement Plan (J.K. Lasser Guide Series,)

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Recently I saw a film titled The Pledge. One of reviewers said it was an excellent movie but people wouldn`t like it. That's the way people may feel about Mr. Hebeler`s book. This is not a book about the joys of the golden years.This book is all about having enough bucks to get through the golden years. If you are planning or in retirement and want some excellent guidence then this book is for you. Mr Hebeler is critical of most financial programs and his research has led him to believe that most of them are too optomistic. There are plenty of tables with loads of figures in them regarding bull and bear markets. He does an excellent job on showing the reader how inflation has hurt the investor over the long run. His advice on how to set up an auto pilot regarding drawing down funds in retiremnt is worth the price of the book alone. His description of reverse dollar cost averaging will help the retiree determine what it really means to preserve their money. Mr.Hebeler has a very heavy math background. He has a degree from MIT in engineering.This should not deter you. There are plenty of tables and Mr.Hebeler takes the space and time to guide you.I have a general high school diploma and found the tables as well as the book very enjoyable.

I read everything I can get my hands on about retirement and this book is one of the best. Best because it's one of the most objective and factual accounts I've read. Hebeler backs up what he's talking about with fairly easy to understand charts giving different case senarios so you're bound to find your particular situation. His autopilot program explains how to keep your pre-retirement program on course. For the already retired, he shows what's necessary to keep from "out-living" your money, a fear many of us have in trying to decide when to retire. Hebeler provides worksheets at the back of the book for you to copy and do your own planning. Been thinking of hiring a retirement planner; now I think I can try it on my own. At the very least I'll be better prepared if I do decide to go to a financial retirement planner.

Mr. Hebeler was a practicing engineer and manager at Boeing for many years before he retired and his engineering mind with its attention to details shows through. Of significant note is his discussion of reverse dollar-cost averaging and his retirement autopilot method to provide a feedback mechanism. Nothing more than simple mathematics is used and his principles can be used without buying expensive software. This is one of the best investment books I have read in years!

Hebeler's approach answered for me my most challenging questions: 1] Will my retirement assets allow me to spend what I need (want) to spend each year during my years in retirement? 2] Can I grow my assets at my desired rate while simultaneously lowering the risk of my portfolio? 3] How can I evaluate my financial health each year in a meaningful and action-oriented manner?

All your family members should read it. And if after reading Hebeler's book you still feel the need for professional financial planning, insist that he/she read it as well.

I was fortunate to meet Mr Hebeler in 1995 at an economic summit during which he explained the difficulties of retiring.

I purchased his spiral-bound books back then for $15 each and learned the painful truth of his affordable fractions.

I still remember one cartoon featuring two big, nasty looking bulldogs. They were labeled "taxes" and "inflation". The caption read: After feeding both of these there isn't a lot left over for you.

I still have vivid memories of realizing a comfortable retirement was going to be the end to a very careful journey. Fortunately I was 35 at the time and there was plenty of time to plan and execute the path to retirement.

I laugh out loud when I read the criticisms of this book saying it is too outdated and there are easy to use, web based programs that make retirement planning simple.

The problem with simple programs is that they are simple. Life takes many twists and turns. Even if you were able to accurately project the 30 year average of inflation and investment returns, the order in which you receive them makes a tremendous difference in your success of failure.

Read this book and you'll see the folly of projecting constant rates of return or inflation.You'll be able to use realistic figures in the retirement planning software.

One shocking discover I kind of knew, but failed to grasp, was the tremendous drag the high annual expense costs of the average mutual fund had upon a sound retirement. The average mutual fund charges 1.5% per year to manage the fund and many index funds are as low as 0.2%. One could construct a well diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, cash, and real estate with a cost well under 0.5%. That 1% difference is huge when compounded over 30 years!

Don't buy a cheap software program to base your retirement upon! I use the $49 Excel spreadsheet from Mr. Hebeler's website, Analyzenow. Goolge it. This isn't pretty, but it does the basic job. It's a deal at that price. Check what a financial planner charges per hour.

I also use a program from MoneyTree called Silver 4.0 which was recommended to me by a CFA whom had used it for himself. It's not cheap. $450 and $225 a year to maintain, but it is pretty. You can call the company and request an individual copy for half the regular price and $75 annual fee. When I feed it the conservative estimates based on the recommendations Mr. Hebeler advocates in his book, The numbers make sense and I can see how the cash flows from the retirement accounts for the next 45 years.

This book doesn't cover all the bases you'll need for retirement planning, but it does cover the assumptions you'll need for basic planning.

This is what happens when a highly qualified person writes a book to help others understand their retirement finances so that they can realistically plan and feel as comfortable as is possible with their present and future financial well-being.
It is based on realistic historical and mathematical facts. The planning methodology is as good as it gets. I can't say enough about how useful this book has been to me to say nothing of the confidence I now have in my personal finances. It's not enough to say that Mr. Hebeler is to be congratulated!

JK Lasser's Your Winning Retirement Plan was very informative. If you are thinking of retirement you may want to read this book first. I found it helpful, and more than ever realize that I need to hire a Financial Advisor, because this is a big step. My money is going to have to get me through my golden years, hopefully for a long time.

Henry Hebeler is by far the best retirement author ever. His knowledge and insight are unparalleled and here he provides his help and spreadsheets so you can be properly prepared to have a financially successful retirement.

If you can only get one book on financial retirement planning, this is the one to get.

It is not an easy, feel good, read. Instead it is a great reference that you will often come back to read.
Great companion to their amazingly detailed Excel spreadsheet for managing/tracking your retirement
investments.

This book is different that others I have read and makes much more sense. Just wish I had it 30 years ago.