Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well (Get a Life)

Rating:
Summary: One of the best all round books on planning for retirement
Review: As a former Certified Financial Planner, I recommended this book to many of my clients who are seriously planning their retirements. Warner has done a great job putting things in the proper perspective with a book that is an "easy read". While adequate money is important to a satisfactory retirement (and helping clients build a satisfactory net worth was how I made my living), I do find, as has Warner, that there are more important things such as health, friends, and a purpose (i.e., reasons to get up in the morning) when it comes to planning out one's retirement. I frequently ask clients what they plan to do when they retire. When they say "go fishing" or "play golf", I then ask them what they plan to do the second week/month/year. And I keep asking the question until they realize that its a serious one. Warner takes it further with discussion and clear examples. In short, a must read for anyone approaching retirement.

Rating:
Summary: Change your thinking about retirement!
Review: As someone who will probably retire within the next dozen years, I was beginning to wonder whether the doom-sayers were right: I don't have a million bucks in savings or a fat stock portfolio, so was I being foolhardy in assuming that I'd have enough to live on comfortably in my old age? This book was tremendously reassuring. Some of the author's main points are: (1) The difference between a happy, fulfilling retirement and "waiting for the undertaker" is not money but quality of life -- family, friends, good health, and meaningful activities that give you a reason to get up in the morning. (2) It's possible to estimate fairly accurately how much money you'll need to live on after you retire, and in most cases it's nowhere near the "70% of your present income" that the doom-sayers insist that you need to maintain your present lifestyle. (3) The loudest doom-sayers are the ones who are trying to sell you retirement plans! The author tells readers how to access a free set of "retirement calculators" on the Nolo Press web site to assist them in financial planning, and that alone is worth the price of the book. But what really "made" the book for me was his many interviews with happily retired people from all sorts of backgrounds and economic levels -- just reading about them was a real upper. There are plenty of books on how to provide for your retirement financially, but this is the only one I know of that adequately addresses the REST of your life. Read it!!

Rating:
Summary: Retirment planning -- focus on the whole person
Review: This book presents a view that is difficult to find in print It's easy these days to find books that advocate the wisdom of investing/saving for retirement. Purveyors of investment vehicles often make us feel guilty for not saving every last cent of our disposable income.

The view that this author presents is rarely expressed -- namely that we can live on less than we think and that there are ways that we need to prepare for retirement besides focusing on money. I welcome this refreshing view.

Warner wants us to think about the "whole person" and not just about money. Now I find myself asking whether I've planned adequately for friends, family, activities, and interests.

This book makes me think of a good friend of mine who retired two years ago. She and her husband hadn't planned enough in terms of the "whole person." They're thinking about moving back. If they had read this book, I wonder whether they would have moved in the first place.