Customer Reviews

Live Long and Prosper: Invest in Your Happiness, Health and Wealth for Retirement and Beyond

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a Life Coach who helps retirees live their dreams in retirement, whatever retirement looks like to them. Steve Vernon's book is in my permanent collection. It is easy to read and well laid out. The first part of the book covers what I call the soft side of retirement; what will your retirement life look like and how can you make it the best years of your life. The middle part is about saving and investing and how to determine how much you will need. The end ties all this together. It has lots of information based on facts and research that I found very helpful. While I'm not sure I've found the perfect retirement book yet, his is worth reading.

The first thing I did after putting down Steve Vernon's book was to sock more money away in my 401(K). I've also decided that if my employer doesn't go for the "phased retirement" plan that Vernon puts forth in this very readable map to the "rest of life," then I'll just use some of my vacation time to construct my own four-day work week, at least in the summer, and start my own "rest of life" right now! So you could say that "Live Long and Prosper" has changed my outlook on life. What more could you ask from a retirement manual?

This is a great book. It offers real help in answering two questions that are important to me: When can I retire? And will I be able to afford the world travel and other activities I enjoy during my "rest of life"? In this book, Steve Vernon applies sophisticated analytical tools to individual retirement planning --- tools that are usually reserved for the biggest company pension plans. Yet this is no dry actuarial text. He mixes in a hearty dose of humor and good sense advice for balancing health, wealth and happiness. I will be giving copies of the book to family and friends this Christmas. "Live Long and Prosper" will be a holiday greeting to people I care about. And it just may inspire a few New Year's resolutions.

This book answered all my questions about "what should I do about retirement."

A blow by blow account of how much money, heart and mind should go into "the rest of your life."

I strongly recommend it.

This engaging, user-friendly book is unique among other retirement or self-help guides, as it helps us develop an integrated approach to our rest-of-life: being prepared is not just about the money. "Live Long & Prosper" provides intricate data and information in an approachable style, while it raises questions that guide us toward adopting a wholisitc approach to enjoying a healthy, gratifying, and abundant lifestyle. By following Steve Vernon's explorations, explanations, and tools, we are motivated and empowered to design our future now!

Steve takes a very positive approach to daaling with intimidating subjects, like having enough money in retirement. This book takes a step (or three) back and discusses quality life after the traditional working phase. Aside from providing perspective on the the role income and savings play during this time of life, there are concrete suggestions regarding investments, insurance and methods of generating income and cutting expenses. It's interesting to see how much income you can expect from your savings after retirement.

Live Long and Prosper presents an evolutionary view of the "rest of life" for readers to consider. This book is for everyone, but is a must-read for anyone currently in the workforce and planning for retirement. It's a fascinating read and will lead you to ask introspective questions about your finances, your health and your life-style which will help you enjoy life to the fullest both now and later. You'll be surprised what you're missing! Excellent New Year's resolution material.

I read and listen to all I can about this subject. This is a great book that's well worth reading by all. It's an easy read too. Highly recommended.

This is an easy to read, informative, straight forward, extremely helpful retirement guide. It makes inverstments understandable. I highly recommend it, as do all the friends & family that I gave it to.

I just skimmed "Live Long and Prosper," by Steve Vernon. I can now read an entire retirement book in about an hour. There is a lot of wisdom in the book. It's probably the best "all in one" retirement book I have read. This is because Steve does an adequate job on both the financial and the "touchy feely" sides of retirement. His aproach is a wholistic one which tries to address both aspects of retirement in an integrated fashion. A few comments:

- His answer to the SWR is somewhere between 3% and 4% (surpirse surprise)

- He advocates a mix of passively managed indexed and actively managed funds. As a believer in EMT of course I disagree.

- He advocates hiring a professional financial advisor. I think people can do it themselves and save a bundle.

- He doesn't use what I would call early retirement examples. His usually start at age 50, late by my standards (I retired at age 44).

4 out of 5 stars if you are out there Steve. Nice Job.