Locator: 49534RETIREMENT.
Tag: Cascades Mt Shasta
Today's book: as a result of a sidebar e-mail discussion with a reader, ordered from Amazon two days ago and arrived yesterday --
Complete Retirement Guidebook: How To Plan It, Live It, and Enjoy It -- The Wall Street Journal, Glenn Ruffenach & Kelly Greene, c. 2007.
Paging through the book suggests to me there's a lot of goofiness in the advice. I'll comment on it as I go along. Maybe.
Hey, by the way, before I go on, a reminder. I've said this before on the blog -- I hate the word "retirement." No one should retire. One should stay active until no longer able. I prefer substituting the word "retirement" with "financial independence," which is pretty much defined as "cash on hand" + "mailbox money" - "necessary expenses."
Chapter 1: how do I want to spend my time once I'm financially independent? One needs to think about this well before one is financially independent. One should think about this during high school, late teen years, if not earlier.
Chapter 2: to work or not to work? Goofy. Once one is financially independent, one needs to do whatever one wants. Everyone has a different definition of "work."
Chapter 3: volunteering when one is financially independent? Goofy. Once one is financially independent, one needs to do whatever one wants.
Chapter 4: relocation? Really, really goofy. Once one is financially independent, one needs to do whatever one wants. Of course, I'm going to move where I want to move. I'm going to live where I want to live. If I can't exactly live where I want to live, I'm going to live how I want to live, which is much, much, much more important than where I live. This is a no-brainer. If you need someone to answer that question for you -- where to live when you are financially independent, wow!
Chapter 5: fitness and health. No opinion yet. Have to read the chapter. I'm sure RFK, Jr, will be eager to read this chapter. But again, one should be thinking about fitness and health from middle school on. This hardly needs to be in a book on being financially independent.
Chapter 6: before you open that next egg. Okay, finally some financial advice.
Chatper 7: budgeting for "financial independence." Should be a good chapter but the book was originally published in 2007 and a lot has changed.
Chapter 8: assets and buckets. Okay, hopefully this is good.
Chapter 9: pension, 401(k)s and IRAs. This one is important. Needs to be read / considered before one gets one's first paycheck.
Chapter 10: social security and Medicare. This should be a completely separate book.
Chapter 11: long term care strategies. This should be good. Hopefully.
Success stories: a balance of engagement and freedom. A must-read for curmudgeons like me.
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What To Do Before One Is Financially Independent
Visit the Cascade Mountain Range. Mt Shasta in the background.
Granddaughter Olivia to the viewer's left, in the white jacket.
