Recommended Reading
The Total Money Makeover
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host, and also a New York Times bestselling author. Ramsey offers up his wealth of knowledge in “The Total Money Makeover” a thorough, sound and rational examination of personal finance. Ramsey details precise dos’ and don’ts and guidelines to financial security.
Ramsey covers a wide variety of financial situations and the pitfalls that can get people into trouble. He then offers up solutions, logical steps and boot strap methods to alleviate financial pressures. We highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. A great book to give to your children for the knowledge that you wish you had twenty years ago.
The Number: What Do You Need for the Rest of Your Life, and What Will It Cost?
The Number: What Do You Need for the Rest of Your Life, and What Will It Cost? by Lee Eisenberg , 2006
Do you know what your Number is? “The Number” is a favorite book of mine because it raises a question that everyone approaching retirement has; How much do I need to save? The Number walks through many scenarios of people planning for retirement, and offers suggested and ideal savings that a couple or individual would need. The book offers detailed asset allocations, and lifestyle expectancy, based upon retirement income and money saved. But the book is not as cut and dry and number based as one would think. I found inspiring stories and encouraging advice for people planning for their retirement. I would recommend “The Number” to anyone over 30, who is concerned amount how to plan for their retirement.
Complete Retirement Guidebook
The Wall Street Journal: Complete Retirement Guidebook: How to Plan It, Live It and Enjoy It . By Glenn Ruffenbach & Kelly Greene, 2007
This book is a very useful tool for the active planner type – those who want to take charge of their retirement and march the path to get there. This book reads like a travel guide, pointing out specific rules, tips, hints, and cautionary tales for each hike up the retirement mountain. This book reminds me of a travel guide for a trip to Hawaii. It details which sites to see, what hikes are worthwhile and which ones are a waste of time. This book has space for your notes, personal facts, and tests for the reader’s use in assessing where they are in retirement planning and what that means for their future. I recommend this book for the person who wants to dive in and get into the thick of planning for their retirement. If you wish to walk the steps to a successful retirement, this book shows you precisely where to go and how to go about it.
Retirement RX
Retirement RX: The Retirement Docs’ Proven Prescription for Living a Happy, Fulfilling Rest of Your Life. By Fredrick T. Fraunfelder, M.D. and James H. Gilbaugh, Jr., M.D.
Retirement RX is written by two physicians, I really liked this book for several reasons. One being, as doctors, these men get straight to the point, and ask the serious questions. Asking the reader to delve into the heart of their own circumstances, they implore the reader to look inside themselves to find what they really want out of their lives going forward, and how they wish to live. Interactive quizzes and questionnaires create specific information for the reader about their own lives that I have personally found to be very enlightening and useful. [Read more...]
Smart Women Finish Rich
Smart Women Finish Rich: 9 Steps to Achieving Financial Security and Funding Your Dreams. By David Bach, 2002
Written by David Bach, this book is designed for women of all ages and financial standing. This book stresses aligning your finances to fit with you as a woman, and your desired lifestyle. He includes subjects such as teaching your children about money, internet resources, and how to spend wisely. This book can at times stray from one’s own ideals, but fortunately he has broken each chapter into several sections which make finding what you are looking for much easier.
Retirementology
Retirementology – “Rethinking The American Dream In A New Economy” By Gregory Salsbury, PH.D
The book opens with a sad yet all too familiar story of a man who invested conservatively. For most of his working life he avoided equities during the boom years of the 90′s and early 2000′s because of the risk. He was told that he was missing the boat, until finally he decided to enter the market. He experienced strong gains and then invested more of his portfolio, and then 2008 hit and the market plummeted and he lost a sizable portion of his retirement.
This is a story you and I have heard before. I worked in the retirement planning business many years before the recession, and I hope to work long after the recovery, and these types of stories are why I do what I do. Helping a family ensure and experience their rightful retirement after so many years of hard work is the joy of my work.
This book provides an insightful and necessary look at the new mindset of retirement. Coming to understand that maybe we can’t have it all, and that it is OK. The author combines behavioral finance and retirement planning to create a clear idea of how to succeed in retirement and how to plan the right way. The book is not a sob story, it is entertaining yet sobering and it really explains how we have gotten ourselves into these harmful thinking patterns that hinder our successful retirement.
I recommend this book for readers over 40 who would like to better recognize the current and realistic strategies to plan your retirement.
