Customer Reviews

The New Retire-Mentality: Planning Your Life and Living Your Dreams . . . at Any Age You Want

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It has given me a new perspective on my career. I am glad that this wasn't just another book on how to save millions of dollars. Anthony discusses the importance of finding your calling, so to speak. He wants readers to look at what they enjoy most and do that for most of their lives. Of course, there may be a time when we are unable to work or no longer want to work. Then, it is important to have some money set aside. Otherwise, you can retire from the typical working world at any age and begin the life you've always wanted to live.

If you want to read a book that is encouraging and informative about the retirement phase of life, "The New Retirementality," by Mitch Anthony is probably not for you. A better title for the book, at least for the first third of it, might be "The New Anti-Retirementality," because the author works so hard at trouncing any possibility that a traditional, kick-back style of retirement can be any good for anybody. For example, the author says, "The concept of retirement was an illogically founded and shortsighted social manipulation, which is no longer relevant and is hopelessly out of touch with our times." No margin for error there, but in case you have any doubts, get this: "The hangover can start within a week or two (into retirement). It begins when the retiree starts asking, 'Is this all I've got to do for the rest of my days?'" Want more? How about, "A life of total ease is one step from a life of disease. The reason so many retirees are ill at ease is because without the contrast and paradox of meaningful labor, leisure loses its meaning. First you become bored and then you become boring....Bored retirees form bad habits. Purposeless retirees are sick retirees." Are you getting the drift? Apparently, his viewpoint comes from some personal trauma. Although he never completely describes the retirement experience of his parents, it must have been a bad one. Among his references to it is this one: "Many of us have already seen enough of our parents' and forerunners' retirement scenarios to know that this is not the life for us." And the book's back cover reveals, "A living example of the New Retirementality, Mr. Anthony has no plans to ever retire." So, what is the "New Retirementality"? It seems to me that it begins with a solid put-down to retirement as it is generally thought of, mixed then with contradictions about how awful some jobs can be but how the true purpose in life is to find one's true passion in the workplace, concluded by how the new psychology based financial planners and coaches can lead the obviously helpless commoners to true happiness, not in "retirement," since the point has already been made that that is a no-no, but more likely to a state of financial "emancipation," which seems to be more playing with semantics than anything else. Also thrown in to add bulk perhaps are sections on how a good attitude leads to a longer life, basic tips on how to save and accumulate money, tips on how to improve your job situation and evaluate employers, a chapter on how to find happiness, plus profiles of what the author calls "a whole new breed of planners and advisors." The book, in my opinion, presents an unconvincing thesis that there is something to look forward to more than traditional retirement and that he has explained it coherently within the covers of his book.

The book's hypothesis is a good one and Anthony may be on to something here, but he never quite delivers on how exactly to go about it, which is retire when you want to but keep on working on your own terms. The answer, of course, is the same as other retirement books dish out. Have a fat portfolio. It is really another investment planning book in a different guise, and, frankly a lot of the figures he uses are still based on the roaring bull market of the '90s and not the reality of today's market. It is a book pretty much directed at a target audience of the upper middle income baby boomer who wouldn't mind keeping on working after retirement because his work is not all that taxing to begin with. A policeman who has been walking a beat in Watts for 30 years or a Detroit assembly line auto worker would get a big chuckle out of this.

As a financial planner who specialized in retirement and life planning I have read many books on the subject of retirement planning. Many are good, some are great and a small number are of no use. This is one of the great ones because it addresses retirement in a new light. I see far too many people that have bought into the traditonal view of retirement only to find them selves bored and frustrated with life. They may have done a great job accumulating financial wealth but when it comes down to transitioning into this new phase of life called retirement they fail. Mitch Anthony does a great job of getting the reader to think about retirement as something much more than the traditional view that so many people have been sold for many years. I don't believe that the book is "The Book" on retirement planning and I don't believe that there is one book out there with all of the answers. This book is a great additon to my library of resources that I continually use to help my clients retire (what ever that may be for them) as successfully as possible. The cost of the book is low so buy it and decide for yourself. I dont't believe that you will feel like you wasted your money or your time.

The New Retirementality by Mitch Anthony is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. Not since seeing the terrifying opening scenes of The Matrix, have I had the sense of a socially induced reality collapsing so completely. In deconstructing the commonly held assumption that a non-working retirement is the best way to spend the last years of our lives, Mitch Anthony provides readers with an escape route from the Orwellian world of institutional thought control.

Save your retirement, read this book!

The New Retire-Mentality by Mitch Anthony was a good read and I did get some helpful hints from it as I think more and more about retirement. Mr. Anthony should interview more people who are retired and are enjoying it. Most people that I know whom have retired are enjoying themselves and have no plans of calling it quits just because they have retired. They are beginning a new chapter it is not the end of the book yet!

The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide To The Rest Of Your Life is the most comprehensive book on the subject that I have seen. I especially recommend this book to those who are about to retire since it provides an excellent self analysis on the type of retirement that would best suit you (and your spouse if you are married). The book covers but goes beyond the typical "where to retire" and the "financial aspects" of retirement and expertly covers subjects of "readiness" for retirement, and "options" on the type of retirement that would be right for you. I have developed many strategies for retirement after having read this book that I would have never even thought of!

Mitch Anthony does a wonderful job reminding us that the common expectation of retirement is a very impractical and downright unhealthy.

Our concept of retirement is only about three generations old. When Social Security retirement benefits came into being people died about the same time benefits started. We now live decades longer. Yet most people still feel that they are "entitled" to retire in their sixties.

Only about 1% of all Americans will be able to retire in their sixties and maintain their standard of living. Why are we stressing ourselves out in jobs we hate hoping to save enough money to buy our freedom, i.e. retire? Add to that stress the guilt we feel because we have not saved nearly a fraction of what it will take.

A recent study by AARP showed that most seniors plan to have some sort of gainful employment in their retirement years - out of choice, not financial necessity. It is human nature to be involved and productive throughout our lifetimes.

The New Retire-Mentality is a very important wake-up call to help us re-think the "traditional" notion of retirement.

This book offers timely advice for the millions of leading edge Baby Boomers like me that want something more compelling to look forward to than the traditional retirement lifestyle. Anthony also reminds us that more important than building a fat nest egg is the goal of building a "rich" life.

This book has some good ideas and was able to get me thinking in different ways about what retirement might mean. Throughout the book, though, there is the drum beat of "you can't do it on your own". Then, the second to the last chapter the cymbals crash and it's the hard-sell for the traditional broker salesman instead of something more like the couch potato investor.

I had to laugh at the list of 8 questions to ask your prospective "wealth building partner"; any decent salesman could learn how to act and answer these questions in a two day seminar. That means no matter their true motive, they could easily fool you if you bought into the author's approach.

The author is on a rant about low transaction fee brokers and their do it yourself clients. Never a mention that there just are not that many transactions with the buy and hold strategy touted earlier in the book. And even, get this, a pitch FOR mutual funds with a sales load! Then as proof, he finds a few funds, in hind sight, that beat the index. Ok, is that proof to you? I hope not.

The chapter mentions a testimonial from a broker saying that of course he wouldn't take action that was not in the best interest of his client just to make a commission. Can the broker even separate out the motives? Brain science suggests that people can convince themselves of some very extreme positions. Consider the stories of politicians with cash in the freezer that say they've not done anything wrong, and BELIEVE it! If the same guy that makes money on your trades also advises your trades, you are in a very weak position.

There is brief mention of advisors that charge a percentage of assets under management as their fee (presumably instead of commissions), but no recommendation to ask if those planners sign a fiduciary oath to act ONLY in the best interest of the client. No advice to ask the advisor how they are compensated and if they receive any incentives for selling things.

I love that UPS commercial where they are talking about delivery confirmation, and they guy says "it's not that I don't trust you..... well, actually, yes it is". That's how everyone should feel about salesmen and politicians. So my recommendation would be for people to just skip chapter 21, and instead go the the NAPFA web site and use the comprehensive financial advisor diagnostic question list there.