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How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?
It seems so simple, doesn’t it?
Plug a few numbers into a retirement calculator and presto! You have an accurate answer for how much money you need to retire.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. The conventional approach used by experts to determine how much money you need to retire is fundamentally flawed. The worst part is you won’t even know it until it’s too late.
This book takes you behind the scientific facade of modern retirement planning to reveal:
• Why most estimates for how much you need to retire are a case of garbage-in garbage-out causing you to either overspend and run out of money or underspend so that you never get to enjoy your savings.
• The 5 critical assumptions that can destroy your financial security. Which one are you making?
• 3 models for estimating how much money you need to retire (your financial planner only knows 1 and it’s not the best).
• How to reduce the amount you need to retire by $300,000–$600,000 or more.
• How to plan for inflation, changes in Social Security, and much more so you don’t run out of money before you run out of life.
• 7 creative ways to spend less while also improving lifestyle.
• 3 strategies to maximize spending today while protecting for the future in case you live longer than expected.
• How Monte Carlo calculators cause a dangerous deception that can leave you broke.
• Explains step-by-step how to accurately calculate the amount of money you need to retire—the very first time you try, simply, and without being a math genius.
• No computer, software, or online calculators necessary—it’s that simple.
In one evening you can know more about how much money you need to retire than your financial adviser. This book is a practical, no-nonsense guide complete with a step-by-step plan that tells you how much money you need to retire with confidence.
No retirement is secure without it.
Plug a few numbers into a retirement calculator and presto! You have an accurate answer for how much money you need to retire.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. The conventional approach used by experts to determine how much money you need to retire is fundamentally flawed. The worst part is you won’t even know it until it’s too late.
This book takes you behind the scientific facade of modern retirement planning to reveal:
• Why most estimates for how much you need to retire are a case of garbage-in garbage-out causing you to either overspend and run out of money or underspend so that you never get to enjoy your savings.
• The 5 critical assumptions that can destroy your financial security. Which one are you making?
• 3 models for estimating how much money you need to retire (your financial planner only knows 1 and it’s not the best).
• How to reduce the amount you need to retire by $300,000–$600,000 or more.
• How to plan for inflation, changes in Social Security, and much more so you don’t run out of money before you run out of life.
• 7 creative ways to spend less while also improving lifestyle.
• 3 strategies to maximize spending today while protecting for the future in case you live longer than expected.
• How Monte Carlo calculators cause a dangerous deception that can leave you broke.
• Explains step-by-step how to accurately calculate the amount of money you need to retire—the very first time you try, simply, and without being a math genius.
• No computer, software, or online calculators necessary—it’s that simple.
In one evening you can know more about how much money you need to retire than your financial adviser. This book is a practical, no-nonsense guide complete with a step-by-step plan that tells you how much money you need to retire with confidence.
No retirement is secure without it.
101 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 28, 2012
336 people are currently reading
762 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 10, 2020
I have been on a run of reading investing books to help me teach my teenagers the basics as well as retirement planning books figuring I'm about 10 years away from that and looking to solidify my planning.
I have found that some books tend to harp on a single idea or not providing clear overviews of various topics and tactics.
(One in particular kept throwing the idea of buying annuities in at every turn - turned out dude sells annuities for a living. Annuities: Just say no in many cases.)
I thought the author here did a very good job of blocking everything into digestible ideas, and his breaking things into 3 planning tactics that mesh seems a very good idea to me.
If I were to bring up things in the book I didn't find that useful: While his 2nd plan tactic where you find other methods of coming up with recurring income is absolutely a good one, some of the examples really didn't seem feasible to me. BUT, that whole section's premise was to think outside the box and come up with things that will work for you - so probably can't count those particular examples as negatives in context.
The only other negative would be a section or three where he essentially said the same exact thing multiple times over sequential paragraphs - while those ideas were important, I think a little editing might have refined the delivery a little.
I think the best target person to read it would be more than 10 years out to give them time to implement that second plan type of recurring passive income before it is too late to get it rolling. In a perfect world, I think someone 20 or more years out would do well to read it, then refer back to it at intervals.
Overall: I count this among the top of the pile of books I've read on the topic in the last two year and would definitely recommend.
I have found that some books tend to harp on a single idea or not providing clear overviews of various topics and tactics.
(One in particular kept throwing the idea of buying annuities in at every turn - turned out dude sells annuities for a living. Annuities: Just say no in many cases.)
I thought the author here did a very good job of blocking everything into digestible ideas, and his breaking things into 3 planning tactics that mesh seems a very good idea to me.
If I were to bring up things in the book I didn't find that useful: While his 2nd plan tactic where you find other methods of coming up with recurring income is absolutely a good one, some of the examples really didn't seem feasible to me. BUT, that whole section's premise was to think outside the box and come up with things that will work for you - so probably can't count those particular examples as negatives in context.
The only other negative would be a section or three where he essentially said the same exact thing multiple times over sequential paragraphs - while those ideas were important, I think a little editing might have refined the delivery a little.
I think the best target person to read it would be more than 10 years out to give them time to implement that second plan type of recurring passive income before it is too late to get it rolling. In a perfect world, I think someone 20 or more years out would do well to read it, then refer back to it at intervals.
Overall: I count this among the top of the pile of books I've read on the topic in the last two year and would definitely recommend.
December 1, 2019
Well Worth Your Time
This is a solid book and the advice is simple but powerful, I especially like the final,strategy and agree with another review that referenced the Rich Dad books/strategy. I would encourage everyone to think about or brainstorm on actions that can have a huge impact as highlighted in the book: spending less and saving/investing more.
This is a solid book and the advice is simple but powerful, I especially like the final,strategy and agree with another review that referenced the Rich Dad books/strategy. I would encourage everyone to think about or brainstorm on actions that can have a huge impact as highlighted in the book: spending less and saving/investing more.
January 23, 2021
Helpful!
The three strategies outlined in this book are presented in a way that is simple to understand, yet describes in detail the alternatives to a successful retirement. The reader is left with options that will reduce the stress in planning for the future.
The three strategies outlined in this book are presented in a way that is simple to understand, yet describes in detail the alternatives to a successful retirement. The reader is left with options that will reduce the stress in planning for the future.
December 30, 2017
A fast read. Nothing Earth shattering, but some different takes than the usual Monte Carlo modeling. I learned a fair amount and appreciated the links to his calculators which are excellent and better than most. The links don’t work from my paperwhite Kindle though, but are accessible via the author’s website. If you are thinking about, nearing or obsessing about retirement as I am these days this book is worth the time. As my friend Penny already said - you need alot. But thinking about building multiple passive income streams and thinking about new ways to plan how much to withdraw from savings based on the current economic signals was a worthy study.
March 19, 2018
Very useful points, but not the most entertaining read
It felt like the author needed to stretch it out to give you your moneys worth, so I did find it very repetitive. With that said there was plenty of great info throughout, and the concepts explained at the end were well worth the time and effort.
It felt like the author needed to stretch it out to give you your moneys worth, so I did find it very repetitive. With that said there was plenty of great info throughout, and the concepts explained at the end were well worth the time and effort.
March 20, 2020
Understanding your retirement goal
The author makes a typically complex topic simple to comprehend. Never to late to pick this up and see where you are and what you need to do to get there.
The author makes a typically complex topic simple to comprehend. Never to late to pick this up and see where you are and what you need to do to get there.
September 10, 2024
Tresidder is in some ways likeable and reasonable, and in other ways sort of a skinny-FIRE Robert Kiyosaki who is "retired" but still shills constantly in the direction of his $1,750 online course like he read The 4-hour work week.
Most of the book is criticism. On page one we get "Traditional retirement planning has failed." It all feels mostly like a sales tactic: His approach is the one that works!
He spends a lot of time criticizing Monte Carlo methods. His explanation of the approach in general is so bad it must be deliberately so. Unsavory rhetoric.
There is a reasonable argument buried in his hate for MC methods: He thinks they don't go far enough in considering more extreme possible futures, while their confidence intervals make them seem all-knowing when they're not. They generally won't model Social Security disappearing altogether, for example, but they'll still allocate 100% of probability, as if there's a 0% chance of these sorts of "extreme" futures.
So his solution is a sort of manual Monte Carlo, putting lots of weird things into (his, of course) calculators.
He also correctly, I think, focuses on the human reality of living just one life, not a probability distribution of lives, so what we really need is to eliminate extreme downside risk as much as possible.
How much of the retirement planning literature is just confusion about inflation? Possibly a lot, I think.
It turns out his solution is mostly from the skinny-FIRE school of thought: Spend less! Then there's the Robert Kiyosaki part: Cash flow! Real estate!
I object to telling people to become landlords like it's easy, good, and risk-free. The general idea of not dipping into your capital seems fine though. But now are we just back to the original methods he despises, only worse off because we're imagining the capital is safe (and even grows with inflation)? I think yes.
There are some good vibes about enjoying your life, and maybe his recommendation to consider a longevity annuity is reasonable, but for the most part this book is more an advertisement than a resource.
Most of the book is criticism. On page one we get "Traditional retirement planning has failed." It all feels mostly like a sales tactic: His approach is the one that works!
He spends a lot of time criticizing Monte Carlo methods. His explanation of the approach in general is so bad it must be deliberately so. Unsavory rhetoric.
There is a reasonable argument buried in his hate for MC methods: He thinks they don't go far enough in considering more extreme possible futures, while their confidence intervals make them seem all-knowing when they're not. They generally won't model Social Security disappearing altogether, for example, but they'll still allocate 100% of probability, as if there's a 0% chance of these sorts of "extreme" futures.
So his solution is a sort of manual Monte Carlo, putting lots of weird things into (his, of course) calculators.
He also correctly, I think, focuses on the human reality of living just one life, not a probability distribution of lives, so what we really need is to eliminate extreme downside risk as much as possible.
How much of the retirement planning literature is just confusion about inflation? Possibly a lot, I think.
It turns out his solution is mostly from the skinny-FIRE school of thought: Spend less! Then there's the Robert Kiyosaki part: Cash flow! Real estate!
I object to telling people to become landlords like it's easy, good, and risk-free. The general idea of not dipping into your capital seems fine though. But now are we just back to the original methods he despises, only worse off because we're imagining the capital is safe (and even grows with inflation)? I think yes.
There are some good vibes about enjoying your life, and maybe his recommendation to consider a longevity annuity is reasonable, but for the most part this book is more an advertisement than a resource.
June 29, 2020
Continuing Education
This book is part of the process of continuing education required in personal financial matters. The information makes sense, is well laid out, and is enlightening as to what we can and can not control in our financial futures. There is a bit of “math” involved but it’s well explained and simplified. This is not a book to begin your investment and financial knowledge with. The terms used and concepts used are built on a basic understating of personal financial knowledge. You could start with this book but for it to be effective you would need to use other references to fully grasp the information. Like all good sources of information, this one leads you to other things and stimulates your brain to look deeper. It also involves the reader in that there is some work to be done to see where you are at personally with your financial goals.
The premise is simple, spend less on “stuff”, control your monthly costs to ensure it is less than what your investments produce, and you will be eternally wealthy. No quick fixes and no fast easy money ideas, just some good ideas, methods, and basic calculators to make sense of it all. A solid method backed by financial science.
This book is part of the process of continuing education required in personal financial matters. The information makes sense, is well laid out, and is enlightening as to what we can and can not control in our financial futures. There is a bit of “math” involved but it’s well explained and simplified. This is not a book to begin your investment and financial knowledge with. The terms used and concepts used are built on a basic understating of personal financial knowledge. You could start with this book but for it to be effective you would need to use other references to fully grasp the information. Like all good sources of information, this one leads you to other things and stimulates your brain to look deeper. It also involves the reader in that there is some work to be done to see where you are at personally with your financial goals.
The premise is simple, spend less on “stuff”, control your monthly costs to ensure it is less than what your investments produce, and you will be eternally wealthy. No quick fixes and no fast easy money ideas, just some good ideas, methods, and basic calculators to make sense of it all. A solid method backed by financial science.
May 25, 2021
Amazing Value Here...
If you want the ultimate guide to plan for retirement, this is it.
There's plenty information here intelligently structured to help you see how you want to approach retirement planning.
The only issue that another reviewer has mentioned as well is the irony in proposing that the reader could also start a business and manage rental properties. Someone who wants to retire will probably want to kick back and relax, concentrating on their passions. Real estate and businesses require full-time commitment.
Instead, keep the dividend-stock approach in mind. It requires some work to educate yourself indeed. But after investing im stocks that you plan on keeping for decades, maintenance will not be comparable with running your own business, be it real estate or other.
If you want the ultimate guide to plan for retirement, this is it.
There's plenty information here intelligently structured to help you see how you want to approach retirement planning.
The only issue that another reviewer has mentioned as well is the irony in proposing that the reader could also start a business and manage rental properties. Someone who wants to retire will probably want to kick back and relax, concentrating on their passions. Real estate and businesses require full-time commitment.
Instead, keep the dividend-stock approach in mind. It requires some work to educate yourself indeed. But after investing im stocks that you plan on keeping for decades, maintenance will not be comparable with running your own business, be it real estate or other.
November 17, 2021
I'm far from financially illiterate, so wasn't expecting anything mind blowing out of this book - but one point driven home that I underestimate quite a bit was inflation. At inflation of 6%, prices double every 12 years. When I'm looking at a 50/60+ year timeline for my retirement funds to last, it becomes extremely important to not think about my portfolio in a linear way but truly internalize that my portfolio returns need to beat the inflation rate if I want to maintain a stable asset base. Driving that fact home made the book a worthwhile read, and the author's approach was realistic and applicable to many of the more typical people in consideration of retirement planning. Not laced with heavy sales or magical hopeful solutions, solid overall quick read
January 23, 2021
Excellent
An excellent overview of the retirement planning process. He is especially useful in providing alternative models for early retirement.The overall concept that you should focus on passive income and not just accumulation of assets is useful for those who are thinking about retiring early. I love how it ends, intended or not, with a nod to Thoreau. Retirement planning is not about making money, it's about spending it so you can live your dreams.
An excellent overview of the retirement planning process. He is especially useful in providing alternative models for early retirement.The overall concept that you should focus on passive income and not just accumulation of assets is useful for those who are thinking about retiring early. I love how it ends, intended or not, with a nod to Thoreau. Retirement planning is not about making money, it's about spending it so you can live your dreams.
Read
October 20, 2024Not going to rate this book, because I felt it really wasn't applicable to my situation. To try to calculate an actual number is a waste of time at present. I believe in striking a balance between enjoying life NOW (guaranteed) versus saving for life later (not guaranteed). We save as much as we can for later without making painful sacrifices that feel like deprivation of any enjoyment of life today. It's a tricky balance, but in the end it's really the only number and calculation I need.
February 18, 2020
The author definitely presents some out of the box concepts that will make you rethink retirement. While trying to predict exactly how much money you will need to retire produces some anxious thought with most of us, the author does a great job of demystifying this whether you have 15 years left or 30 years as your goal for retirement.
February 29, 2020
This book provides additional tools to add to your retirement planning toolbox to help you better predict your fund target.while I don't think the concepts are new, he applies the concepts in ways that may not be common practice. These methods help provide additional context to both your retirement strategy and goals.
December 20, 2020
This is one of the best retirement planning books I've read and I've read quite a few. It captures exactly my big beef with financial planners referring to their Monte Carlo simulator average success rate, which has a use but is also TOTALLY MISLEADING (especially when the client or even the consultant doesn't understand the math behind it.). Highly recommend.
August 6, 2023
Changed My Thinking
I really enjoyed this book. The third model gave me a new way of answering the question of when enough is enough. Enough is enough when your assets provide enough cash flow to cover your expenses. Invest in assets that produce cash flow, until your income from investments cover your current expenses. It’s so simple.
I really enjoyed this book. The third model gave me a new way of answering the question of when enough is enough. Enough is enough when your assets provide enough cash flow to cover your expenses. Invest in assets that produce cash flow, until your income from investments cover your current expenses. It’s so simple.
November 6, 2025
TLDR: Don't start retirement in a year where p/e >18.5 or there is a high risk the 4% rule will fail according to Monte Carlo simulations across decades of retirement start dates. Build a cash volatility shield of 5-7 years to protect against sequence of return risk to weather out any dips in early retirement.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2023
a lot of great points
However, like most money management books, the points could have been understood in 50 pages or less. Some great ways to think about retirement planning and showing readers to own their way of planning, and not he scared of it.
However, like most money management books, the points could have been understood in 50 pages or less. Some great ways to think about retirement planning and showing readers to own their way of planning, and not he scared of it.
July 6, 2024
I thought some concepts in this book were useful, particularly for individuals that don't have much in the way of knowledge about retirement planning. Having said that, I think there is a decent amount of content in this book that could have been cut out.
April 17, 2019
Great read
Well rounded approach to retirement that covers all the basic in a straight forward manner. Refreshing given the field flooded with so many how to guides.
Well rounded approach to retirement that covers all the basic in a straight forward manner. Refreshing given the field flooded with so many how to guides.
January 29, 2021
How Much Money Do I Need to Retire? by Todd Tresidder offers simple but practical advice.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
March 6, 2021
Helpful
Definitely different from other financial books on retirement. Fairly easy to understand. I mostly enjoyed it although I'm not certain I'll follow it to the letter
Definitely different from other financial books on retirement. Fairly easy to understand. I mostly enjoyed it although I'm not certain I'll follow it to the letter
July 9, 2024
A decent overview on considerations with respect to retirement savings, however I found the tone of the writing to be self-aggrandizing. There are other pieces of literature on net worth accumulation and retirement savings strategies that I have read that I found more useful.
The organization of the book could be improved, I think. I found it confusing to jump around to general discussions on retirement calculations, then” the traditional model framework” and “cash-flow based model”. The overall flow was hard to follow at times.
My take on the tone of the writing was anti-establishment with respect to standard retirement practices and tools, which I found to be cynical. The discussion on Monte Carlo was non-constructive, I thought. I agree with the author’s assertion that assumptions to any simulation or tool are of upmost importance, however my interpretation was that the discussion took more of an anti-Monte Carlo approach, which just seemed drawn out and unnecessary to me. For example, one of the major criticisms of Monte Carlo is that it doesn’t consider market valuation at the time of retirement. Why can’t market valuation be another assumption or input that is fed into the Monte Carlo? Overall, I thought the Monte Carlo discussion was belabored and the section could’ve been improved by simply explaining the ideas behind uncertainty and randomness at a high level and how the Monte Carlo process helps provide some heading check or aperture relative to potential outcomes.
I found the citations of research and discussion on the main findings of the research to be the most beneficial, especially the cited research by Wade Pfau with respect to save withdrawal rates and considerations of returns for international equity vs. US equity allocations.
I also found the emphasis on market sequencing and market valuation at the time of retirement to be beneficial and interesting. It was interesting and noteworthy to understand the importance of these two aspects with respect to retirement considerations, and more generally net wealth considerations as a whole.
My favorite part of the book was the couple of page that emphasized the two main (most impactful) parameters that influence lifetime net worth and retirement nest egg implications. And those two items are basically savings rate and market returns applied to savings. These points lead me to recall and suggest “The Simple Path To Wealth” by JR Collins.
The organization of the book could be improved, I think. I found it confusing to jump around to general discussions on retirement calculations, then” the traditional model framework” and “cash-flow based model”. The overall flow was hard to follow at times.
My take on the tone of the writing was anti-establishment with respect to standard retirement practices and tools, which I found to be cynical. The discussion on Monte Carlo was non-constructive, I thought. I agree with the author’s assertion that assumptions to any simulation or tool are of upmost importance, however my interpretation was that the discussion took more of an anti-Monte Carlo approach, which just seemed drawn out and unnecessary to me. For example, one of the major criticisms of Monte Carlo is that it doesn’t consider market valuation at the time of retirement. Why can’t market valuation be another assumption or input that is fed into the Monte Carlo? Overall, I thought the Monte Carlo discussion was belabored and the section could’ve been improved by simply explaining the ideas behind uncertainty and randomness at a high level and how the Monte Carlo process helps provide some heading check or aperture relative to potential outcomes.
I found the citations of research and discussion on the main findings of the research to be the most beneficial, especially the cited research by Wade Pfau with respect to save withdrawal rates and considerations of returns for international equity vs. US equity allocations.
I also found the emphasis on market sequencing and market valuation at the time of retirement to be beneficial and interesting. It was interesting and noteworthy to understand the importance of these two aspects with respect to retirement considerations, and more generally net wealth considerations as a whole.
My favorite part of the book was the couple of page that emphasized the two main (most impactful) parameters that influence lifetime net worth and retirement nest egg implications. And those two items are basically savings rate and market returns applied to savings. These points lead me to recall and suggest “The Simple Path To Wealth” by JR Collins.
May 25, 2015
In his book Tresidder argues that the conventional approach to retirement planning is flawed and reveals a much more stable formula for calculating the amount you need to save for retirement. The goal of the book is to teach you ways to spend less while improving your life, how to reduce the amount you need to retire, 3 models for estimating your retirement needs, and how to not run out of money.
For your convenience, we had Todd Tresidder on our podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on How Much Money Do I Need To Retire. With Todd’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of building a financially secure retirement. If you would like to get a more in-depth look from the author himself check out episode XXX on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
For your convenience, we had Todd Tresidder on our podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on How Much Money Do I Need To Retire. With Todd’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of building a financially secure retirement. If you would like to get a more in-depth look from the author himself check out episode XXX on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
April 25, 2013
A bit too much jargon and math that went over my head. A second read through of the meaty chapters might help. Overall, a really insightful book on retirement, and how much money you need to retire.
February 24, 2014
To be fair, he prefaced the text by saying it wasn't for novices. The entire middle section went over my head. But I'll have to go back and read it again once I'm more knowledgeable in the area as it seems like there's some great information in there.
January 18, 2022
Cash Flow vs Asset Accumulation
I really enjoyed the breakdown of the nuances regarding assumptions in traditional calculations. I also appreciate his caveats where everything has its place so long as you understand the risks with each.
I really enjoyed the breakdown of the nuances regarding assumptions in traditional calculations. I also appreciate his caveats where everything has its place so long as you understand the risks with each.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews