Customer Reviews

This is Not Your Parents' Retirement: A Revolutionary Guide for a Revolutionary Generation

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I think he really means grand parents, not parents. Or, then again, what he is really referring to is perhaps only a dream of what should have been. At any rate, the old story is going to work for a giant company, working your entire life for that same company, married (forever, no divorcing), 2.4 kids, retiring at 65 and kicked the bucket five years later.

Instead, my parents worked for the same company for 30 years, the company got sold, both companies had too many people and my father was out of a job in his late fifties. His company retirement plan was out the window. You had best plan for a life with some ups and downs like this. And Mr. Astre does an excellent job of presenting you with the options that exist in today's world. He talks about all the different kinds of investing, the implications of the IRS being your partner for life, basically he covers the classical approach to financial planning the will work for some people.

I particularly like his twelve 'Prosperity Points." These are things like protecting yourself from Lawsuits, Audit-Proofing your Tax Return. My only complaint would be that it doesn't go quite far enough. He needs a few more points. I'd suggest:

13. Divorce - If you're male, your savings, retirement, etc. get wiped out. If you're female, you don't get anything. Sound stupid, go talk to ten divoced people.

14. You plan to spend your retirement driving around the country in your motor home. Today oil is $67 a barrel. Suppose it goes to $200 and fuel is $10 a gallon, do you still like that motor home?

15. Retirement is fun. Nursing homes for the last few weeks/months/years are not, and they are very expensive.

16. Can you retire? I can't. I started my own business and work 50-60 hours a week, but then take off 3-4 months a year. I haven't touched savings.