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It would be great if we could all retire with a nice portfolio of savings and pension income, without having to worry about paying the bills most retired people pay.

Yet...many retirees are living out their retirement on the breadline without much hope for even going on holiday without being assisted by relatives or even handouts. Don't let yourself be one of them...it's never too late!

Title : The Retirement Sourcebook
Author : Mary Helen Shuford Smith
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : A great resource.

This book, which is aimed at the mid-life adult contemplating retirement, is comprehensive, clearly written, and wonderfully current. I purchased it for the Senior Collection our local library, and I will use it myself as I look ahead to retirement.

Mary Helen and Shuford Smith recognize that successful retirement is a process requiring much more than choosing a pleasant place to live. Lots of decisions, opportunities and challenges accompany the retirement journey, and the authors offer excellent tools for addressing them. Some of the tools are self-evaluative, while others look outward, pointing to other avenues we can explore along the way.

In fact, part of the book's success stems from the fact that it provides sound advice on a variety of topics without getting bogged down on any one subject. Instead, it offers suggestions about other resources--books, documents, organizations, web sites, etc. The web sites, especially, extend our reach in remarkable new ways.

The highlight of this book for me, however, is the way it is written. Every time I pick it up, I feel as if I'm being introduced to yet another member of a circle of wise friends. The authors draw much of their material from interviews with retired people, and nuggets from those conversations are sprinkled liberally throughout the book. These new friends are people who have done it right--or who have learned from a mistake or two-and I mean to pay attention to what they have to say.

Title : You'RE Fifty--Now What?: Investing for the Second Half of Your Life
Author : Charles R. Schwab
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : The Best Book on Financial Planning for the Over 46 Age Set

My biggest complaint about most books on financial planning is that they try to cover everyone with one approach. Mr. Schwab's book is a pleasant exception to this rule. By at least focusing on those of around middle years (46 through 56), he can be more specific and make the information more relevant to each reader. Naturally, I would like to see future books be even more focused than this one, but Mr. Schwab has certainly moved in the right direction.

I found this book to be vastly superior to 52 Weeks to Financial Fitness by Marshall Loeb, which was also written for people in this age category.

Mr. Schwab's profits as author from this book are all being donated to the Charles Schwab Corporation Foundation to provide for the needs of seniors.

The book is divided into two parts: First, planning for the rest of your life; and second, getting organized to implement that plan.

The planning section is very well done because it covers materials at a level of perspective that goes from the needs of most beginners to handling the needs of all but the most sophisticated people. Fundamentals are covered in sidebars so as not to clutter-up the main text for those who do not need the information. The subjects covered include how much money you will need in total, determining the value of what you have available, estimating the gap between your needs and resources, understanding how to think about asset allocation in your investment funds, establishing the proper cash flow to match your needs, and readjusting your investment mix over time.

Each section is clearly written and provides formats to make it easier for you to assemble and think about your information. I was particularly pleased to see Mr. Schwab challenge some conventional wisdom about financial planning. Many people use a rule of thumb that you will need 70% of your preretirement income. In practice, many people find that they spend more than that because some costs go up more rapidly than inflation, like medical care, or they take on new interests. Mr. Schwab suggests 90%. I think even that may not be conservative enough. I think a better assumption is to have the percentage grow over time, slowly. Eventually, it will probably exceed 100%.

In addition, many people will tell you to plan on spending 6% of your assets each year after you have to start drawing on them. Mr. Schwab wisely suggests that 3-4% will be more appropriate for most people. I liked that advice very much.

The advice on investing is much more conservative than you would expect from someone who heads an on-line brokerage house. But appropriately so. He suggests you stay in common stocks as long as possible, because you may well live much longer than you think. But he has all but 10% of your portfolio in either no-load index funds or conservative bond and cash positions. If you skip the idea of owning any individual stocks, the advice is quite appropriate for the average person. It also has you reducing your exposure to stocks over time, as the years appraoch when you will need the income. So even if stocks stop performing well (as some warn) in the next few years, you will be relatively safe.

Part II of the book gets you into deciding whether you need a financial advisor or not, and how to select and work with one. It also looks at the most important questions about insurance, estate planning (get thee to a lawyer), and how to handle your donations so they bring you the most satisfaction and least after-tax cost.

The book has several other nice qualities. It emphasizes the rest of your life as being the "second half" rather than the downhill slide or some other negative concept. In sports, we all know that the winners are usually those who play the second half the best. Also, at half-time, the coach often makes adjustments that lead to winning performance. It is a very nice metaphor for financial planning at this stage in life. "What do I want for the second half of my life?" is the key question posed in the beginning of the book for you to consider.

I also liked the optimism of the book. Rather than focusing on the fear that people have about outliving their money, the book emphasizes the potential for good things to happen. You may live longer, and think of all the good things that could follow. "Anything is possible" was my favorite line from the book, which followed examples of wonderful accomplishments by seniors of advanced years.

Unless you already have been through this exercise recently with a financial advisor, I suggest that you get the book and use the exercises.

Further, I suggest you take even more time to think through the possibilities that the post child-rearing and tuition years may offer you. It's almost like getting to start over again, but with much more in the way of resources and wisdom.

Look for and find the best choices!

Title : Retire Rich with a Property Pension
Author : Nick Braun
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Everything you need to know about A-Day

This was a really excellent and enjoyable read. Anyone interested in putting property into a pension from April 6 2006 should read it. All the 'A-Day' pension changes are explained very clearly with lots of examples.

Definitely the most interesting part of the book is where the author shows how someone investing inside a pension could end up with 140% more income than someone investing outside a pension.

Title : One World, Ready or Not
Author : Wil Greider
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : An Alarming But Accurate Perspective on the Global Economy

The Washington political elites repeatedly tell us how wonderful things are today; why does the American public have difficulty believing the message. Inspite of 8 years of economic growth, why is real median family income stagnant? Why is income polarization increasing across America and the entire world? Sadly, the American public is clueless to the economic forces reshaping the nation.

William Greider addresses the most important issue concerning America's economic future: the globalization of the economy and it's implications. In the new world order, capital is in limited supply but labor is in overabundance. As would be expected in a laizze faire economy, the cost of labor will remain depressed in the industrialized world.

In the developing nations across Asia and Latin America, the factory workers simply don't have the purchasing power to buy the products they are manufacturing. Since Japan has never matured into a consumer based society, developing nations especially China will add to the global oversupply of labor and production.

While few mainstream economists predicted the recent economic collapse of the 11th largest economy (ie. South Korea), William Greider's prediction of global economic chaos and collapse can no longer be ignored. "One World, Ready or Not" should be heeded by Washington policymakers mesmerized by the exuberance of the stock market.

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