Customer Reviews

Stay Rich for Life!: Growing & Protecting Your Money in Turbulent Times

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

 

 

Slott asserts that Americans not only need to accumulate a nest-egg while working, but take good care of it after retirement so it will last through their retirement.

High taxes and huge medical expenses (prior to qualifying for Medicare, nursing-home care at any age) stand as challenges to those wanting to preserve their retirement. Exploding deficits caused by multi-billion-dollar bailouts, skyrocketing health care and entitlement costs, failing pension plans will push government to sharply increase taxes. Slott notes that today's top tax rate (35%) is far lower than it bas been for most of the years income taxes have been levied - most years it was at least 70% or higher.

Retirement funds will be a tempting target - there was $17.4 trillion in them mid-year 2007, almost 40% of all household financial assets.

Slott then goes on to advice on picking an accountant and attorney (I'd rather see basic advice allowing one to avoid their high fees), and the details of "the first half of the game" (saving and investment strategies - especially Roth IRAs), and then the "second half" (withdrawal strategies, estate-planning basics).

When Slott talked of strategies for turbulent times I was hoping he had macro-level strategies dealing with the current deflation we are in, followed by subsequent inflation. Examples might be buying a home(s) at auction (which cities, price range, areas), or which areas of the stock market are most likely to revive in the next few years. Lacking those, the book focuses at too low a level to be of much use.

Stay Rich for Life!: Growing & Protecting Your Money in Turbulent Times

Mostly easy to understand for the non-CPA. It is a rapid read and gives useful tips and scenarios for distributing savings built up in a retirement savings account with tax efficiency. The author points out pitfalls to avoid, especially in designating IRA beneficiaries. Am also reading a related book by Mr. Slott, "The Retirement Savings Time Bomb. and How to defuse it."

Ed Slott's book offers concrete advice on how to plan for the future and keep the federal government out of your pocket. This is not a book to be read passively. To get any good out of it, you have to follow up with action on your part.

I highly recommend it. I intend to keep it nearby for future reference.

Maybe I overlooked them, or missed them -- and, while I appreciate the ideas and suggestions presented here -- I see no recommendations for order (sequence) or ratios of $ amounts between the proposals. For example: if A, then B... else C.

There ARE repeated suggestions to "Do this first," such as getting records in order, or specifying beneficiaries wisely.

But, e.g., how much life insurance as a percentage of assets? I'd like guidelines for numbers, or quantities. Something simple, such as "Try X% until you reach Y," or "When you exceed a rough floor of [amnt.], then consider placing Z% in such-and-such a product." Kind of like those classic guidelines for investing (100 - Age) % of investable assets in stocks, remainder in bonds.

I don't see it.

Not bad for my situation with the zig zags of the economy. The book made me rethink how I as a retiree should be protecting my savings from the inevitable Obama tax increases and deflation and then inflation coming.

I've always felt I was informed about investing, but learned a lot with this book. I highly recommend it - excellent info!

Exactly what I was looking for; content was what was advertised and gave me what I was looking for.

The Losing Game: Why You Can't Beat Wall Street

One has to understand that Ed Slott makes far more money on his books and seminars than he does by following any of his own investment advice.

By promoting a title like "Stay Rich For Life," we are led to believe that Slott has a "magic formula" that no one else has. However, one needs to ask themselves if this information was so valuable, why is he sharing it with the public? If you magically knew the lottery numbers, would yo tell the world, or keep that information for yourself? Ultimately, good information told to too many people eventually becomes bad information.

I can find a used paperback copy of this book for about $12.04, but the Kindle version is over $13.20. That does not seem like much of a bargain to me. I think I will wait until the Kindle version is $9.99 or less.