
Title : Life Begins at Fifty: A Handbook for Creative Retirement Planning
Author : Leonard J. Hansen
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : This book has much valuable information about growing older
I found this book to be very well written and full of valuable information about enjoying life well into one's mature years. I will soon be fifty and now I am thinking about how nice it will be as opposed to dreading growing old. This is a source of inspiration for me. This book helps one to understand the value of growing older and reinforces the idea that growing older is a great opportunity. This book has much to offer those in middle age as well as those in late adulthood. I would especially recommend this book to those in the baby boom generation as they approach fifty.

Title : Senior Savvy: How to Make the Most of Your Life Savings Before and After Retire
Author : Kenneth A. Stern
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : extremely helpful
The book discussed so many subjects that I have been looking for answers in. From estate planning to investment tips. I am glad I bought this book

Title : Life Begins at 50: A Handbook for Creative Retirement Planning
Author : Leonard J. Hansen
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : The most down-to-earth, practical handbook I have ever found
There are a lot of books on "retirement" out there. There are very few like this one. I was delighted with the way it laid out every aspect of these special years of one's life. Unlike so many other texts I found on the booksellers's shelves, this one--at least to me, someone who was fast approaching fifty at the time--was downright practical. I wasn't interested in all the academic mumbo jumbo a lot of the other books contained. I just wanted a down-to-earth, practical handbook that would guide me through this potential minefield of bureaucratic and oftentimes nonsense that comes with government activity. It was obvious to me at first reading, that here was a person who was writing from his own experience, combined with an authoritative background in this very specialized field. I'm sure glad I found it!
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Title : 12 Steps to a Worry-Free Retirement
Author : Daniel Kehrer
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Easy to understand.
This book lays out what you need to know about planning your retirement using easy to understand text and charts. The chapter I liked best was: Step 12 Monitor Your Retirement Plan's Pulse, I think its a good idea to read this chapter first.

Title : Rich Dad's Prophecy
Author : Sharon L. Lechter
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Beware 2016! -- Good Financial Education for New Investors
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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?

Title : The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica: A Guide to Inexpensive Living, Making Money and Finding Love in a Peaceful Tropical Paradise
Author : Christopher Howard
Rating : 1 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Great book--if you lack common sense
This book is great if are planning on traveling to Costa Rica as a tourist for a short amount of time; however, it really does not emcompass the complexity of moving or investing in a foreign country. Don't be fooled--this book lacks substinative information on starting a business in Costa Rica, other than the overarching message that "Not everything in the States will work in Costa Rica." Oh, really? My other favorite section was "How to Find a Nice Girl." After "interviewing hundreds of quality Costa Rican women" the author managed to whittle through the unrespectable, poor, uneducated women who were only after him for his money and find a nice girl. I guess the real shame is that he wasn't able to complete this process through a mail-order catalog.

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.