The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg)

The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living (Bloomberg)

Product Type: Book

Product Price: $16.95

Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press

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Description

A timely guide to overcoming the retirement challenges we all face

The Great Recession has placed a wake-up call to America's baby boomers. Many have not saved enough for retirement and have not taken a hard look at how many post-work years they may need to finance.

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security tackles the tough questions about retirement in the new post-crash economy. Page by page, it puts retirement in perspective by touching on important issues such as insuring against the risk of outliving your assets, recalibrating damaged retirement portfolios, managing the risk of health-care expenses in retirement, and career strategies for workers who are 50 years old and up.

Engaging and informative, this practical guide provides the strategies needed for a truly fulfilling and secure retirement.

Reviews

Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2010-08-03
Summary: "Not as good as Chris Farrell says, but ok."

This book does provide some basic information but it does not give much discussion as to how to manage retirement money when one does not have a defined benefit plan. It gives some basic information but it misses as it does not cover a lot of issues with a defined contribution plan. It does address issues such as working longer than one thinks one might to avoid running out of money. Overall a good read for those a few years from retirement but it is not a comprehensive guide in this area such as books by Quinn and Orman are for money management overall.

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-19
Summary: "Great guide to encore careers"

Looking for advice on how to sell your 50-something self in the current challenging
job market? This is the book for you. "The Hard Times Guide" is chock full of information on how to prepare yourself financially for retirement, delivered
in a conversational yet no-nonsense tone that makes you think, "I can do this!" But even more useful to me was the
savvy advice on encore careers. If you're in the same boat, start with p. 135: "Rule No. 1: Package Yourself as the Solution."

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-07-06
Summary: "Well worth buying"

Whilst a lot of Mark's advice is specific to the US there is a lot that is applicable to the UK. As Europe enters its "Austerity Era" there has never been a more important time to make a comprehensive plan for life following your last job. I guess we once called this period `retirement' but for many of us it is the beginning of a whole new phase of life that might or might not include work.
Not only has Mark amassed a lot of facts that cover all aspects of retirement he presents them in an extremely readable way. If you don't want to read all of the detail you can use the book as a comprehensive checklist of all of the topics that you should be considering.

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-06-22
Summary: "Great info, fast read"

Mark Miller has created a comprehensive and yet fast guide to the choices and strategies people need for retirement amid the current economic difficulties. As a longtime business journalist and a reader of retirement advice, I found considerable new information, especially on longevity, career choices and the ins and outs of social security.

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-22
Summary: "On Obtaining Retirement Security"

The book is dog-eared with yellow and green highlight markings on just about every other page. There are lengthy passages that I have underlined in ink, and my scribbling appears adjacent to page columns where reminder notations are marked boldly with! or ? Within the book there are post-it notes from my wife that say gWhy havenft we done this?h and gWe need to think about this Y now! About a dozen paper clips identify pages of special importance.

Although we have had the book for only a few weeks, it looks like an old and ragged pass-it-along book read by dozens of people before us. Books like you might find at a garage sale. But thatfs not the case. Only my wife and I have read the book. We have devoured every page of the bookfs contents as if we were cramming for a college final exam on economics. And, thankfully, we are better off for it.

The book I refer to is The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work and Living, written by Mark Miller.

This past April I attended a conference where Mr. Miller was a featured speaker. His presentation really hit home. I pigeon-holed him afterwards during a break to ask a few questions about my personal finances and retirement options. He was very generous with his time and said hefd send a copy of his book for me to review. I took him up on the offer.

I am 62 and semi-retired; my wife is 63 and also semi-retired. While we have done some planning with regard to our retirement, wefve clearly not done enough. Mr. Millerfs book, tough, pointed us in the right direction and impelled us to think and act. It was a clarion call to action, for sure.

Owing to the retirement planning advice Mr. Miller discusses in his book, some of the issues we confront as soon-to-be full-time retirees we have already taken action on.

These actions include:
Outliving our assets YY God willing, of course, we hope to live another 25 years. We took some steps with our financial advisor to calculate our needs well beyond the next 25 years.

Housing YY The book has actually helped us decide on what to do about the second home we own in New York.

Healthcare YY The rising cost of healthcare is an issue every American family grapples with. We now have a strategy in place with regard to should a catastrophic illness befall either me or my wife.

Work YY We both have pledged to each other, two more years and out. But what helped us reach this decision was factoring in 1. determining if we will outlive our assets; 2. resolving the housing issue; and 3. addressing future healthcare costs. The book really helped us connect the dots.

Timely, targeted and thoughtful, The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security: Practical Strategies for Money, Work, and Living is an awesome primer for Boomers and Seniors whether they are facing hard times or not.

I am grateful for having met Mr. Miller, and for his efforts in writing a guide that I believe is worthy of consideration by any one that needs and or wants eretirement security.