Don't Retire Broke: An Indispensable Guide to Tax-Efficient Retirement Planning and Financial Freedom

by Rick Rodgers

Retirement planning was simple and predictable 40 years ago. All you needed was your company pension, personal savings, and Social Security.
Those days are long gone. Most public pensions are underfunded, and private companies can't get rid of them fast enough. Social Security's own trustees predict it will run out of money in less than 20 years. And most people haven't saved even a fraction of what they should.
Retiring comfortably today is not about saving more, it's about saving smart. In Don't Retire Broke, you will learn:
Traps to avoid before you retire.

How to maximize Social Security benefits.

What to do now if you still have a pension.

How to keep the IRS out of your IRA.

Isn't it time to make sure you don't retire broke?

Genres: Audiobook, Finance, Nonfiction, Business

256 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2017

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one took me a few days to get through. That isn't the way I like to do audiobooks, but it was the only way I could do this one. I liked the way this one started. The narrator also had a pleasant enough voice. I liked some of his explanations when it came to different types of funds, 401K, roths and social security. He also HIGHLY stressed getting a financial planner, which was probably the wisest advice I gleaned.

However, I didn't think I was a total dunce when it comes to finances, but I must be because I found so much of this was completely over my head. When I felt like I was in the weeds thankfully the next chapter would dawn a different bullet point and he always started off easy. So that is the way this one ebbed and flowed with me.....3 stars.

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

These kinds of books on financing a retirement seem to consist of three things: facts, analysis, and exhortations. I like to think of those aspects as the encyclopedia, the professor, and the coach. Each book has a different mix of these aspects, and goes into different levels of each. This one started out heavy on facts. I almost gave up. The first third or so of the book is repeating the “rules of the road” for retirement investing, albeit at a deeper level than most books. This didn’t hold my interest much. But after those initial sections, the author started adding some useful analysis to the facts. There was a bit of coaching in there as well, but not a lot. This is better aimed at the serious retirement investor. As retirement finance books go, I would say this was a step beyond the mass-market business books, and would interest someone who has spent some time understanding the rules of investments and the common suggestions, and wanted a bit of a deeper dive.

[Karla Huebner]

This was overall pretty decent, as such books go. It's usually clearly written and it covers important topics for people who are in a position to put away money for retirement. One of the things I liked about it was that it stresses something that is often neglected in books about retirement and personal financial planning: the importance of having different kinds of retirement accounts and how important it is to have not just tax-deferred (traditional IRA and the like) but "tax-free" (Roth). I put tax-free in quotes because Roth accounts aren't completely tax-free--the money put into them has already been taxed--but the significance is that once money is in them, it grows tax-free. Unlike many finance books, this one makes clear that taking money out of tax-deferred accounts has what can be serious tax consequences, which can include limiting one's Social Security and taxing it. I was already aware of this prior to reading the book, but many people aren't fully aware of how important it can be to balance tax-deferred retirement accounts with Roth. The author also goes over doing conversions from tax-deferred to Roth and explained something that I hadn't expected when doing my taxes recently, namely the Pro-Rata rule for Roth conversions. I don't claim I understand the calculations involved, but at least now I get what was TurboTax having me do.

At times I did find that while the language seemed clear, I didn't fully understand what the author was saying. However, on the whole I'd recommend this book for a thorough approach to various aspects of planning for retirement in the financial sense. It also discusses estate planning.

[Nona Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was loaded with valuable information. He discuss the "the 3 legged stool" of retirement planning. Leg one is taxed deferred savings such an IRA. Traditional retirement savings such as types of IRAs, 401K and 403B was discussed in detail. Leg two is after tax saving strategies The value of saving outside of an IRA. Leg three is tax free saving strategies such as a Roth IRA. How to develop a withdrawal rate plan during retirement to not outlive your money,
I consider this book a reference that should be studied and read multiple times.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of information. I was lost about 1/4 of the way in. I finally just had to stop reading it because it was all too much. This book definitely has A LOT to share but it was just too much for me to take in.

[Cameron Gleed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good information. A little too much information for me.

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book if you are looking to maximize your wealth throughout retirement.

[Aisha Sherlock · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was really hard to understand everything in this book plus its not applicable everywhere

[Enoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very useful. Written by a financial advisor so it was a bit of an advertisement the whole time. There are a bunch of great topics though that a reader could look into after reading this.

[Daniel Sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the kind of book to read while distracted but still a wonderful and helpful guide for retirement