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The Guru Gap
USA Today Bestseller
Learn why retirement strategies recommended by America’s famous financial gurus are often inadequate—and discover a math-based plan for wringing the most efficiency out of your retirement savings.
Gurus like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman and others have amassed followers by the millions because of their paint-by-the-numbers financial strategies that are easy to digest and implement. And while they have helped many Americans eliminate debt and take their first steps towards financial freedom, their dumbed-down financial advice is inadequate and incomplete for those looking to maximize their savings.
In fact, disciplined investors who have saved well and played by the rules risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their retirement journey by heeding this outdated, one-size-fits-all advice.
In The Guru Gap, David McKnight, bestselling author of The Power of Zero, closes the gap between what mainstream media personalities advise and the sophisticated, math-based approach your retirement plan requires. This strategy
The most cost-efficient way to ensure you never outlive your money A step-by-step plan to shield your savings from the threat of future tax increases Insight on how to shield yourself from the most insidious risks that threaten to derail your retirement plan
This book is your guide to understanding the shortfalls of guru-based retirement strategies so you can bridge the advice gap that stands between you and a sustainable financial future.
Learn why retirement strategies recommended by America’s famous financial gurus are often inadequate—and discover a math-based plan for wringing the most efficiency out of your retirement savings.
Gurus like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman and others have amassed followers by the millions because of their paint-by-the-numbers financial strategies that are easy to digest and implement. And while they have helped many Americans eliminate debt and take their first steps towards financial freedom, their dumbed-down financial advice is inadequate and incomplete for those looking to maximize their savings.
In fact, disciplined investors who have saved well and played by the rules risk losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their retirement journey by heeding this outdated, one-size-fits-all advice.
In The Guru Gap, David McKnight, bestselling author of The Power of Zero, closes the gap between what mainstream media personalities advise and the sophisticated, math-based approach your retirement plan requires. This strategy
The most cost-efficient way to ensure you never outlive your money A step-by-step plan to shield your savings from the threat of future tax increases Insight on how to shield yourself from the most insidious risks that threaten to derail your retirement plan
This book is your guide to understanding the shortfalls of guru-based retirement strategies so you can bridge the advice gap that stands between you and a sustainable financial future.
- GenresBusiness
176 pages, Hardcover
Published December 10, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 17, 2025
4"clear, cogent, concise" stars !!!
A ribbon of Excellence read for 2024
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and BenBella books for providing me with an ebook. I am providing an honest review. This will be released December 2024.
Please read my review with a grain of salt as this is geared to American Retirement planning and I am Canadian. Despite this, I gobbled this little book in one evening as some of the principles are applicable to Canadian situations despite having different retirement accounts and rules.
This will be most helpful to middle class and upper middle class American investors who take a hands on approach to their retirement planning. This is for people who know their stuff and diligently are planning for a safe and comfortable retirement.
The author goes through some of the difficulties he has with Ramsay, Orman, Fisher, Sethi etc and how he finds that although they may be helpful to those people that are seriously struggling with their finances that for the more established and level headed investors their advice is simply folksy and not based on facts and math. Personally I find these gurus to be entertaining but rigid, pompous and a bit ridiculous or in the case Orman extremely ridiculous.
The author strongly believes in greatly increased taxation in the near future as the level of American government debt is unsustainable and many programs are at risk (ie Social Security, Medicare etc)
The author advocates for Roth conversions (and a wise method for doing so), insurance products for some annuities and other strategies. I found the case studies very interesting. He backs up his strategies with clear rationales. Conversational approach to prose kept this reader engaged and interested.
A ribbon of Excellence read for 2024
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and BenBella books for providing me with an ebook. I am providing an honest review. This will be released December 2024.
Please read my review with a grain of salt as this is geared to American Retirement planning and I am Canadian. Despite this, I gobbled this little book in one evening as some of the principles are applicable to Canadian situations despite having different retirement accounts and rules.
This will be most helpful to middle class and upper middle class American investors who take a hands on approach to their retirement planning. This is for people who know their stuff and diligently are planning for a safe and comfortable retirement.
The author goes through some of the difficulties he has with Ramsay, Orman, Fisher, Sethi etc and how he finds that although they may be helpful to those people that are seriously struggling with their finances that for the more established and level headed investors their advice is simply folksy and not based on facts and math. Personally I find these gurus to be entertaining but rigid, pompous and a bit ridiculous or in the case Orman extremely ridiculous.
The author strongly believes in greatly increased taxation in the near future as the level of American government debt is unsustainable and many programs are at risk (ie Social Security, Medicare etc)
The author advocates for Roth conversions (and a wise method for doing so), insurance products for some annuities and other strategies. I found the case studies very interesting. He backs up his strategies with clear rationales. Conversational approach to prose kept this reader engaged and interested.
July 26, 2025
On the bright side, it's short. On the downside, it's short.
The premise of this book is that there's a catastrophic gap created by following the retirement advice of popular financial gurus, and if you don't invest in annuities and cash value life insurance to mitigate possible late-life crises, you'll probably just end up burning through savings faster than expected and be left to live a miserable existence with just a single car, small house, just enough food to survive, etc. It's hardly even worth living, right?
The guru gap is based on a handful of potential risks that the author believes gurus often overlook. McKnight (and at least one other notable person) claim U.S. tax rates are likely to double in the near future due to various factors. That might happen, or maybe it happens to a lesser degree, or maybe it doesn't at all. Who knows? Another potential risk is that the stock market could take a hit for several years during retirement, leading to decreased returns versus expected returns and consequently less money for retirement overall; however, expected returns already account for that variable since they are an average based historical data that includes years of market downturns. Stock investments obviously do not guarantee the same percent return every year, and everyone, including the author, knows that.
For a book that incessantly talks about a science-backed, mathematically-proven, sure-fire way to get your retirement on track, there's not very much science or math to be found anywhere. Statistics and references are scarce. There are two brief examples of fictional retirement scenarios (that McKnight hilariously calls "case studies"), a middle-aged couple 20 years away from retirement, and an older couple 5 years from retirement. The math provided in the examples is very light. A little more of a deep dive would have gone a long way to reinforcing why the author's approach to retirement might be better.
There isn't a great amount of specific detail to the risk-mitigating solutions proposed. The advice here is a rather vague, one-size-fits-all method that the author thinks is the best way to ensure a successful retirement (ironically, exactly like the advice of the financial gurus that the book spends the majority of its rather brief length complaining about).
It would be much better if it were focused solely on mitigating risks/crises that could arise in retirement rather than trying to serve as a "gotcha" to financial gurus. McKnight claims at one point that the vague advice from gurus is due to their desire to reach and sell their services to as many people as possible, and that he's totally not motivated by that, except the book is so light on the details that it ends by plugging every one of his previous books as a way for you to fill in the gaps!
"After reading all my books, don't forget to check out my podcast, YouTube channel, and personal website with professionals standing by to help you meet your retirement goals!" -David "not a guru" McKnight
The author might even be right about his retirement strategies, but this book certainly doesn't make the case that it claims to.
The premise of this book is that there's a catastrophic gap created by following the retirement advice of popular financial gurus, and if you don't invest in annuities and cash value life insurance to mitigate possible late-life crises, you'll probably just end up burning through savings faster than expected and be left to live a miserable existence with just a single car, small house, just enough food to survive, etc. It's hardly even worth living, right?
The guru gap is based on a handful of potential risks that the author believes gurus often overlook. McKnight (and at least one other notable person) claim U.S. tax rates are likely to double in the near future due to various factors. That might happen, or maybe it happens to a lesser degree, or maybe it doesn't at all. Who knows? Another potential risk is that the stock market could take a hit for several years during retirement, leading to decreased returns versus expected returns and consequently less money for retirement overall; however, expected returns already account for that variable since they are an average based historical data that includes years of market downturns. Stock investments obviously do not guarantee the same percent return every year, and everyone, including the author, knows that.
For a book that incessantly talks about a science-backed, mathematically-proven, sure-fire way to get your retirement on track, there's not very much science or math to be found anywhere. Statistics and references are scarce. There are two brief examples of fictional retirement scenarios (that McKnight hilariously calls "case studies"), a middle-aged couple 20 years away from retirement, and an older couple 5 years from retirement. The math provided in the examples is very light. A little more of a deep dive would have gone a long way to reinforcing why the author's approach to retirement might be better.
There isn't a great amount of specific detail to the risk-mitigating solutions proposed. The advice here is a rather vague, one-size-fits-all method that the author thinks is the best way to ensure a successful retirement (ironically, exactly like the advice of the financial gurus that the book spends the majority of its rather brief length complaining about).
It would be much better if it were focused solely on mitigating risks/crises that could arise in retirement rather than trying to serve as a "gotcha" to financial gurus. McKnight claims at one point that the vague advice from gurus is due to their desire to reach and sell their services to as many people as possible, and that he's totally not motivated by that, except the book is so light on the details that it ends by plugging every one of his previous books as a way for you to fill in the gaps!
"After reading all my books, don't forget to check out my podcast, YouTube channel, and personal website with professionals standing by to help you meet your retirement goals!" -David "not a guru" McKnight
The author might even be right about his retirement strategies, but this book certainly doesn't make the case that it claims to.
January 19, 2025
This book was fantastic! An excellent countervoice to much of the mumbo jumbo that passes for “advice” in the mainstream media talking heads.
As a CFP practitioner myself, there were a couple of items that I would have amended, changed, or argued a different way. However, the vast majority of this book was spot on.
This book is very easily read, written in accessible language for the non-professional, but reasonably financially literate reader. I’m usually a slow reader, and I knocked this out in 4 days.
As a CFP practitioner myself, there were a couple of items that I would have amended, changed, or argued a different way. However, the vast majority of this book was spot on.
This book is very easily read, written in accessible language for the non-professional, but reasonably financially literate reader. I’m usually a slow reader, and I knocked this out in 4 days.
April 7, 2025
Version: Kindle ebook
3.5 stars, rounded down
I learned at least one new thing from this book, and for someone who reads every retirement article she comes across - that's a big deal.
3.5 stars, rounded down
I learned at least one new thing from this book, and for someone who reads every retirement article she comes across - that's a big deal.
November 6, 2025
Not much new content beyond his other books, just reiterating his points.
June 1, 2026
Not fair and balanced. Dangerous advice. If you buy the IUL, you will learn the hard way.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews