How Much Money Do I Need to Retire?: Uncommon Financial Planning Wisdom for a Stress-Free Retirement

by Todd R. Tresidder

"This book is the best I've seen on how to navigate the retirement savings questions." (Forbes)
"One of the best retirement planning books of all time" (BookAuthority.Org)
"The Best Retirement Planning Books For 2020" (Benzinga.com)

Learn how retirement really works before it's too late…
Most so-called "experts" plug your numbers into a retirement formula to tell you how much money you need to retire. Unfortunately, the conventional approach is fundamentally flawed. If you fail to learn how retirement savings truly works, then you'll either underspend and be miserable or overspend and run out of money.

How Much Money Do I Need to Retire takes you beyond the scientific facade of modern retirement planning. Author and former hedge fund manager Todd R. Tresidder has helped thousands of people find financial freedom through his website and podcast. Now you too can use his advice to take the guesswork out of your retirement planning.

In this book, you'll
“I agree wholeheartedly with his various conclusions here.” (Wade Pfau, Ph.D, CFA, Professor of Retirement Income, American College)
“Top 5 Best Books About Saving For Retirement” (FunnyManFinance.Com)
“12 Books That Will Make You a Financial Expert in One Year” (ESIMoney.Com)

Read this book to know more about your retirement planning than your financial adviser. Tresidder's book contains refreshingly straightforward, easy-to-understand, and concise advice on how to retire wealthy. This missing link of personal finance books will make you sleep easier. No retirement is secure without it.

Buy the book today so you can retire with confidence!

Genres: Finance

236 pages, Paperback

Published January 2, 2020

Reviews

[Maryalene · Rating 1 out of 5]

This felt like a needlessly complicated book that provided a muddled answer to the title question.

I get the feeling that Todd Tresidder likes numbers since he spent a lot of time in the weeds discussing financial figures. He really likes talking about how market valuation can predict your investment returns. But he really does not like Monte Carlo software and would much rather you use his website's retirement calculator (and buy the course that goes along with it).

Tresidder sets up the book with a strawman and insists that conventional retirement planning demands we must know exactly when we'll die, what inflation will be and how our investments will perform. Not sure where he gets the idea that traditional retirement planning requires this precise knowledge.

The unfortunate thing is that the last two sections of the book -- regarding how to trim expenses and manage cash flow in retirement -- were interesting and compelling, but I almost didn't get to them because I was so put off by the first section. In my opinion, the book would have been vastly improved if he had led off by saying that 'how much money do I need to retire?' is the wrong question and talked about expenses and cash flow first. Then he could circle around to asset accumulation.

However, Tresidder instead seems determined to disparage financial planners in order to elevate his approach. But it gets a bit contradictory. For instance, he notes that people shouldn't be looking at historical data to estimate investment returns because no one could predict events like the dot com bubble burst or the Great Recession. But at the same time, Tresidder assures us that we can know with confidence how the markets will perform based on their valuation. How does he know this? Because of historical data.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this book. Overall, it was tough reading between the technical explanations and the sales pitches for the author's website and products. I am also pretty sure this was self-published. Professional editing probably would have helped tighten it up and catch errors.

[Jordan Chicano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contained solid ground work information without getting into in depth calculations on how one could find out how much money they need to retire.

[Zach Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

200 pages to explain 3 quick models - 1) asset-based, 2) lifestyle, 3) and cash flow. Could have been summarized in 20 pages vs 200. Author did many references to his other books or paid resources with web links - felt like an advertisement for him throughout.

[Conny Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The amount of money you can afford to spend in retirement is dependent not only on your actual investment returns but also on the order of those returns,” Todd Tresidder writes in his book, How Much Money Do I Need to Retire: Uncommon Financial Planning Wisdom for a Stress-Free Retirement.

~ What ~
This two-hundred-and–twenty-six-page paperback targets those planning or getting ready to retire from work. After an introduction, the book is divided into three sections, ending with a conclusion, bonus material, afterword, glossary, and author’s biography. With a few black and white charts and numbered lists, bolded or italicized words are included.

The writer explains in the first section the smart way of conventional retirement planning, dividing the topic into five parts that discuss retirement costs, assumptions, essential questions, accurately estimating investment returns, and figuring out your “magical” retirement number. The other two sections cover obtaining a creative lifestyle and simplistic cash-flow planning.

~ Why ~
Although this book was published in late 2019, before the coronavirus and stock market fluctuations, I like that it advocates one should be aware of what is ahead as retirement approaches. Since I retired at age fifty (yet still maintain my small business) and my husband did two years ago, we heartily agree with the book’s many concepts about not taping into principal, assume plausible outcomes, and spending less than you need. I appreciate the details explaining the Monte Carlo calculator’s limitations, expectancy models based on valuations, diversifying with passive income, and scenario analysis.

~ Why Not ~
While the book is well-written, there is plenty of the writer’s referral to his early retirement and free online downloads or other books he has written (which does factor into his personal passive income suggestions). Some may be frustrated there are no charts or forms to fill out to obtain a magic number that technically does not exist. Those who only rely on their monthly pension and social security checks after retiring may panic over the potential of their dwindling funds not lasting. Others may prefer a traditional retirement planning with someone else doing all the footwork and monitoring it for them.

~ Wish ~
While reading this book, I noticed passive real estate and business incomes were often promoted as well as insurance and annuities. Since my husband and I were fortuitous in planning our retirements by paying off all debt including our house early and always living within our means, I did not find anything new in the book, only reinforcement that we made the right choices when it came to saving for retirement.

~ Want ~
If you are young and have years or decades to plan your retirement, this is a good read to help you understand how to save and be wise in your investments, but there is no full-proof way to ensure your wealth, especially with the current status of our economy in 2020.

Thanks to the author, Book Launchers, and Bookpleasures for this complimentary book that I am under no obligation to review.

[Readersaurus]

Approachable, despite a big section in the middle that uses specific financial language and asks the reader to do some math. Matter-of-fact, useful, food for thought. Of course, the answer always is that you should have acted this in your 20s, alas.

Tresidder offers frank advice and some online tools. You need to know your expenses, how much your pension will give you, what you'll make in social security, and save enough to cover the gap. It involves guessing how long you'll live and making enough money to set some aside each paycheck. (There is good advice here for folks who are able to cover their expenses with their pay, but it does not cover anyone who makes barely enough to survive.)

Worth reading if you are beginning your retirement planning journey.

[Ken The Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading (and now comparing) this book to the literal hundreds that I have read on personal financial planning, I can enthusiastically recommend Todd Tresidder's work. This is a solid 5 stars, and one of the very few that adequately explains the value and rewards of income investing. Todd provides plenty of stats, facts and projected thinking on how to get there. This is a "top 5" of all time for me on the topic - well done!

[Tim Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spends 150 pages talking through traditional models and why his model is better, then 50 pages on his two models, which are closer to concept introductions than anything, to say spend less and make dividends/recurring income outside the traditional strategy.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good take on a complex subject. I particularly enjoyed the last two models for retirement planning. Good supporting documentation.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very informative. I definitely had to just dig in and work my way through it. I am glad I kept with it and completed the book. I learned so much.

[Kimberly Kline · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the content was solid, it took way too long to explain 3 fairly simple models. Also, how to get to the answer of the title was muddled.