
Title : The Roth Ira Made Simple
Author : Gary R. Trock
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great tables to evaluate whether Roth or Traditional is best
I bought this book to help me prepare for seminars I presented on the Roth IRA. It gave a clear understanding of the rules for Roth contributions, but its greatest strength was the tables that let one compare the future benefits of Roth/Traditional IRA based on current and future tax brackets, rates of return, as well as present age. Another feature was dealing with the future value of what Gary calls "Opportunity Costs" when considering a conversion from traditional IRAs to Roth Conversion. Opportunity costs is the future value of the money that needs to be paid to the government when the IRA is converted. Again, current and future tax brackets, age, and rates of return are clearly presented. A must for anyone who really wants to get a grasp on the numbers and not just skim along the surface.

Title : Invest in Yourself: Six Secrets to a Rich Life
Author : Marc Eisenson
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Get High Returns on Your Time, Energy, and Money!
"Our goal for Invest in Yourself is to motivate you to take charge of your life and make the most out of your time, energy, and money." That's a novel and valuable perspective that's worth five stars for this book.
Too many self-help books focus on helping you get more money or more out of your money, but ignore the costs in terms of the time, attention, effort and stress involved. Invest in Yourself looks beyond that overly-narrow focus. That's the good news about this book.
The bad news about this book is that it has taken on more than one book can hope to fully deliver on. I hope the authors come out with sequels that expand and magnify what is here.
The six secrets are:
(1) Make your own lifestyle decisions.
(2) Put your family first.
(3) Wherever you work, be in business for yourself.
(4) Make the most of the money you bring home.
(5) Turn your debts into golden investment opportunities.
(6) Map out your financial future.
The three authors have an unusual perspective. They have dropped out of the "get ahead at the office" rat race and "shop until you drop" lifestyles much more than most. As a result, they have lots of money-saving ideas based on their own life experiences. Much of what is in the book, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge would approve of. If you are like me, you will find money-saving ideas that would never have occurred to you, otherwise. My parents have always shopped are yard sales, but it had never occurred to me to use these routinely for the kind of around-the-house items that I will seldom use like unusual garden tools.
One of the strengths of the book is that it is not a "one size fits all" approach. They realize that each person will have a different set of life goals, and the advice is couched to accommodate that.
I also liked the way that the book challenged the automatic assumptions that many make: Career comes first; job comes first; exciting consumer experiences are a main reward for success; and only the best will do.
By having three authors, the perspectives and ideas were much more varied than I have seen in other, somewhat-similar self-help books. That also was a strength.
The weakest section was the last one on mapping out your financial future. Almost everyone will need more guidance than is here. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are lots of books about creating financial plans that you can use to supplement this one.
On the other hand, those who buy into the traditional American Dream and will happily pay the price for economic success will find less in this book than will those independent souls who listen to their own intuition for guidance. Despite ideas for making penny-pinching fun, it's not going to be fun for everyone. I do applaud pointing out how saving money for essentials is far more valuable than expanding income due to the income tax effects on progressive income. The advice about paying off your expensive debt is pretty standard, but I liked the way it was couched in terms of thinking of it as a high return investment.
I hope you will not only read this book, but apply its lessons. As you do, I encourage you to expand your perspective even more broadly than the book does. What other areas do you have important values in, besides time, money, and energy? How can those values be honored in your tradeoffs? The more you do this, the better life you will have . . . the richer your life will be in terms of its effect on those around you.
Enjoy, live long, and prosper!

Title : Retire Rich: The Baby Boomer's Guide to a Secure Future
Author : Bambi Holzer
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : insightful
My husband shared "Retire Rich" with me. Even though he has been in the financail services business for 20 years, I have to admit I never really understood all the concepts necessary to feel comfortable with what we have been able to save. "Retire Rich" led me through the maze of complex financial terms/concepts and explained them in words and examples that I quickly grasped. I found myself saying "I never knew that" or "I see" scores of times as I read through the book. I especially liked the style in which the book is written, it doesn't talk down or up to me. In a nutshell, "Retire Rich" answers questions that every spouse asks.

Title : The New Retirement: The Ultimate Guide to the Rest of Your Life
Author : Jan Cullinane
Rating : 1 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Not quite what it seems
We probably all get caught out occasionally by ordering on-line - I did with this one. It has some good general points but it is an American book and pretty meaningless in many parts. Out of 486 pages 135 are, for instance, given over to a State by State guide of where to move to. If you want to decide how to choose between living in Scottsdale, Arizona and Naples, Florida (or dozens of others) then this is the book for you. Like me, you too can find out the hard way that a much, much more useful book for the retired or retiring Brit is The Good non Retirement Guide by Rosemary Brown - or just take my word for it.

Title : Rich Dad's Prophecy
Author : Sharon L. Lechter
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Beware 2016! -- Good Financial Education for New Investors
Before commenting on the book's message and argument, let me discuss its communications style. There is a great on-going debate about whether the details that Mr. Kiyosaki presents about himself and his "Rich" and his "Poor" (and biological) Dad are literally true. I don't know, and I don't intend to try to find out. For my purposes, I treat the communications style of this book as a fable to help teach a lesson. I do evaluate the accuracy of the lesson itself in these comments.
If you've read some of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad books before, the main new information in this book is an explanation of why stock market investing with pension money is a dangerous way to grow your "wealth." In addition to being at risk from con men, thieves, incompetents, brokerage houses and market volatility, you face the ticking time bomb of a growing number of U. S. investors being legally required to liquidate their holdings beginning at age 70 1/2. As the Baby Boom generation turns 70 1/2 beginning in 2016, the selling moves from being a trickle into being a torrent that overwhelms new funds into the market at some point . . . followed by an inevitable collapse in stock values. If you want a more detailed, confirming discussion of this issue, the book, What If Boomers Can't Retire?, is a good choice. Harry S. Dent, Jr.'s demographic books also look at this issue.
If you already believe in the messages of the earlier books, you could skip this one . . . especially if you have already decided to avoid or minimize stock-market investments.
If you have read none of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, I suggest that you start with Rich Dad, Poor Dad before tackling this one. You'll understand this book better if you do.
The other problem with traditional defined contribution pension investing (usually by 401-k plans), of course, is that a pension fund contribution takes lots of cash out of your pocket (unless the employer matching is very generous -- way more than 2:1) to put some money into the retirement account. So you face the possibility of being much poorer in cash flow while you save for retirement investing and poorer when you cash out of the investment after you pay the taxes on what you take back in what could be smaller values. Imagine if you had had to start withdrawing from your pension fund in 1929. That's one nice illustration that I enjoyed in the book. Possibly, the same could occur after 2016. Who knows?
The second half of the book advises you on how to build a financial ark against hard times by relying on building cash-generating businesses and investments (such as rental properties) after you achieve your financial education (which you didn't learn in school, even if you got a business degree from most schools). You are encouraged to start small and develop various kinds of control over your emotions, advisors and actions. It's all sound advice. My only complaint is that people who are going to start making real estate investments and building cash-generating businesses need a lot more information than is here. I graded the book down one star, accordingly.
The first half of the book could have been shortened up quite a bit, but for those who are unaware of the demographic time bomb's potential effect on their investments, it may help to get the story in small doses.
The surprise for a lot of people in this book is going to be that what they hear every day from best-selling "authorities" about the "right rules" of retirement investing could easily turn out to be wrong for them.
After you absorb and begin to apply these lessons, I suggest that you think about where in your life the conventional wisdom led you down the wrong path. Where else could that be happening to you now?
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Title : How to Have a Great Retirement on a Limited Budget
Author : Diane Warner
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : lots of good info but some of it is a little bizarre
menus in food chapter would have you drinking six different kinds of fruit juice in a week. I open one or two containers at a time. The man who saves money on taxes by flying to Oregon and driving home a new car every couple of years is breaking the law. I think hiring a teenager to climb up and prune trees might leave you open to a lawsuit if he fell out of the tree onto the pruning shears.