The Wall Street Journal. Complete Retirement Guidebook: How to Plan It, Live It and Enjoy It

by Glenn Ruffenach, Kelly Greene

As you think about retirement, you’ve got facts to face, planning to do, decisions to make and numbers to crunch. With the experts at The Wall Street Journal to guide you, you’ll learn how to tailor a financial plan for the lifestyle you want.

• Answers your biggest question—How big does my nest egg need to be?—by linking it to your particular hopes for how you want to spend your days in retirement
• Shows how to translate your dreams and interests into daily activities, whether traveling, opening a business, volunteering or going back to school
• Provides a timeline for decisions to make and steps to take ten years, five years and one year before you retire
• Offers tips on investing wisely and working with the right financial adviser
• Tells you how to maximize your benefits from Social Security and Medicare
• Guides you through the intricacies of 401(k)s, IRAs, annuities and other financial tools and resources

Today, the average person can expect to spend two decades in retirement—why leave it to chance? For all of its changes and challenges, a well-planned retirement could very well be the best part of your life.

Genres: Nonfiction

295 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm plowing through a variety of retirement books to help my mother-in-law get settled. Each one has something to offer, but this is one of the best. It spends the first section really hammering on the reader - what are you going to do in retirement? For me, that's easy, but I realize my husband is going to have to find some hobbies. He gets restless with one spare hour, not to mention two to three decades. (And I can't slip him that much benadryl just to keep him out of my hair.)

The book also gets into the nitty gritty of how to withdraw money and different tax scenarios for doing it. The book was published in 2007 and I wondered what they might think of parts of the book now. Still, the big takeaway is to find a professional to help.

[Chris Tilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the break I picked up and read several books on retirement. I'm still quite a few years away from that date (fortunately) but try whenever possible to pick up bits and pieces of information to incorporate into my "retirement strategy" as that date gets closer. I felt this was one of the better books on the topic in terms of its breadth, covering issues like health, estate planning, investments, lifestyle planning, etc. It doesn't go into any significant depth on any one topic but provides a number of additional resources around each area of focus. If someone is in the beginning stages of retirement planning, it's a good overview.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the only book I found that discussed keeping a cash bucket of 3-5 years of income to buffer the ups and downs of the stock market, thus eliminating the need to withdraw from your investments when the market is down. It also includes other less-commonly discussed topics, such as pensions and annuities as part of your asset allocation, and how to navigate social security and medicare. I've read that other reviewers dislike the 'lack of financial expertise' of the authors, but it's telling that other financial experts never discuss the need for a cash buffer.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retirement is of course a varied and huge subject, but Glenn Ruffennach, a disciplined West Point grad, and his very capable assistant- Kelly Greene, touch all bases in this very helpful and thorough book. Here are some of the subjects addressed: "How do I want to spend my retirement"?
"To work, or not to work?", "Relocation", Fitness and Health", "Budgeting", Estate Planning", "Social Security and Medicare", "Long Term Care Planning", and the very powerful-"Assets and Buckets". If yo are planning your retirement, then I highly recommend this book to you as a very valuable planning guide.

[Eric Eugenio · Rating 4 out of 5]

GOOD GUIDEBOOK

This Book listed many good ideas for those getting ready to retire. From a brand name you can trust. Recommendec.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers much more than the predictable "how much should I be saving for retirement?" and "traditional vs. Roth IRA" stuff. They review health/fitness for seniors, the part-time job market, factors in choosing an assisted living facility, estate planning details, etc. etc.

ultimately the level of detail is overwhelming, but when I'm a bit closer to retirement (currently approx. 20 years off) I could see buying a book like this and using it as a planning workbook. They are serious about some of the daunting challenges, but encouraging at the same time. I came away with a feeling of "man, I have some work to do -- maybe if I tell the kids that college is for losers, and put their tuition money in my 403b account instead......" whereas a lot of "retirement calculator" sorts of articles leave me feeling more like "forget it -- i'll be grading exams till they bury me. Retirement is impossible".

[Heidi Thorsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm favorably impressed with this retirement guidebook. I learned several useful facts and strategies, which is uncommon since I'm a CPA and already know everything included in most basic retirement guidebooks. Yet this is not a technical read. Well, yes and no-- the main part of the book is a surprisingly easy read given the dull nature of the subject matter. But there are sidebars and parts of sections that are somewhat technical. There is a lot of math involved in deciding your optimum retirement plan, after all.



It's geared toward people retiring after age 60, but there's a lot of useful advice even if you plan on retiring early. And if you're close to retirement, it does have some decent advice about non-financial planning for handling the adjustment between work and retirement.



I recommend it for anyone, but I think it will be most relevant if you're age 45+.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was well written and comprehensive. It suggests very relevant questions to get you to think about your desired retirement and even supplies suggestions appropriate for general plans. It did focus a bit more on the older crowd, or at least the crowd that has retirement in the near future. Thus, this was a quick read for me, but did provide food for thought when we get into our 30’s and 40’s. It did contain some useful information on IRA options, which is why I borrowed it from the library!

[Karen Schnakenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading a few of these kinds of books and find this to be one of the better ones in terms of objectivity and clear advice. It provides a really good overview and I would say would be a really good starting point, with individual situations requiring more indepth research on particular interests and needs. Also, the copy I had from my library was copyright is 2007, so some some sections are out of date. There does seem to be a 2012 updated version available, but even that likely needs to be supplemented with changes that have occurred since then

[DJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book on how to plan ahead for the retirement years. So many of us in our youth waste very good opportunities to start a savings plan that can really benefit us down the road. (MILLIONS of benefit, literally) Such a good book, I highly recommend it.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was full of information in an engaging and clearly organized book. The biggest drawback was the publication date....so much has happened in the economic world since. But for stock information, a really good resource.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information for everyone; especially helpful for high-income, no-pension middle-aged people.

[Gordon Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some useful information, some not-so-useful (such as a chapter on keeping healthy and physically fit, which belongs in another book). Many "case studies" interspersed don't help much.