Retirementology: Rethinking the American Dream in a New Economy: Rethinking the American Dream in a New Economy

by Gregory Salsbury

"A superb introduction to the necessary financial planning no American over 40 can afford to ignore." Publishers Weekly "It's time for many individual investors to make some hard choices. Baby Boomers are learning to deal with the fact that they really can't have it all--at least not all at once. Retirementology is a great guide to helping them think through their plans for living, saving, and spending." Marion Asnes, Editor in Chief, Financial Planning magazine "Retirementology applies behavioral finance to retirement planning and finds we all could be doing a lot better when it comes to making decisions about retirement. But don't despair: Not only does Dr. Salsbury crisply describe our self-destructive financial behavior, he offers much more--namely, ways we can improve financial decisions. The book is a real contribution to both behavioral finance and the field of retirement planning." David Adler, author of Snap Judgment "Retirementology is an entertaining, yet sobering, journey through the cognitive errors and social biases harming our current and future lifestyles. Dr. Salsbury's book is not just for retirees or those soon to retire--the earlier you read it, the better you can live!" John Nofsinger, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Finance, Washington State University, and author of The Psychology of Investing Looking ahead to retirement? Depending on your circumstances and your age, you may no longer have any margin for error. And your emotions and irrational behavior could be perpetuating a dangerous cycle of overspending and rising debt that may shatter whatever vision of retirement you still have. Welcome to the world of Retirementology. Retirementology bridges retirement planning with investor psychology and the market Meltdown of 2008 to produce an entirely new way of thinking about how we spend, how we save, how we borrow, and how we invest. Financial mistakes are deeply rooted in human nature, but you may be able to overcome them--if you understand the breakthrough principles of behavioral economics and apply them in your own retirement planning. Dr. Gregory Salsbury identifies some of the classic cognitive biases and behavioral mistakes most of us keep making when it comes to retirement planning. For example: Why will people drive 45 minutes to use a $2.00 coupon? Why won't people sell a poor performing stock just because they inherited it from grandma? Why do people spend differently with a credit card than they do with cash? Why do people believe that they paid no income taxes because they received a refund? You'll learn why the financial meltdown has amplified the impact of these all-too-human cognitive mistakes and discover ideas for addressing them. The bottom line for your bottom line is that retirement can no longer be ignored, viewed as a single event, relegated to a "zone," or romanticized. Instead, you must understand how every spending and financial decision you make from here on can impact the way you will spend your golden years. Retirementology attempts to help you do just that. Retirement

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Finance, Self Help, Economics, Ebooks, Money

219 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2010

Reviews

[Jo Ann Richey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book but I should have known since it was a free book from Barnes and Noble. Here is the whole of this book - Pay down or rather stay out of debt, spend less then you make, save more than you think you are going to need for retirement, and here is the last one, taxes are going to kill all of us even in retirement. Now you won't have to read this book! I should have saved myself sometime, although I guess it was a great reminder of what I already knew which is I am up a creek without a paddle. LOL

[Angela Cheney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I strongly recommend that if you are interested in reading this book, get it from the library and skim it. You'll save money (the major recommendation of the book), and you'll be much happier that you didn't waste much money on this rather lame book.

This book looked like it could be a nice, helpful guide to developing pragmatic strategies approaching retirement. . . . but haven't most of us figured out that we need to save as much as possible? Unfortunately, this book does not really offer much more than that.

Oh, wait! Yes it does! It does have some interesting behavioral finance paragraphs sprinkled here and there, and I did like his discussion of ways in which marketers work to separate us from our money. It just seems that other authors have addressed these issues much better.

But I would call 75% of this book to be silly filler. He starts each chapter with about a third of the page devoted to the definition of a word that he makes up; the first word or two seemed clever and engaging, but then this quickly became another clump of the book to just skip over to the get the book over with as soon as possible.

The worst of the book, though, is his focus on taxes. We know no one likes taxes, and that the rich really, really hate taxes! But do we really need to pay money and buy a book to read what seems like "letters to the editors" sections of newspapers ranting about economic policies?

Actually, while you're in the library, just skip this book all together and pick up something else on financial planning, and call it a day.

[Chris Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was assigned for a Financial Planning class. Some of the advice was useful, particularly the behavioral finance terms which explain some of our bad habits with money. Unfortunately, the book was too general to be useful and doesn't provide much extra if you already know the basics. The author also spends too much time complaining about rising taxes and even gives a distorted view of how taxes work. There are much better resources if you're just beginning to think about retirement.

[Olga Hernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. I was hoping for a pragmatic discussion of revised retirement strategies based on our current economy. About 5% of the book met the expectation in a very vague (seek a financial advisor) sense. The other 95% was a rant. And although I agree wholeheartedly with said rant, I find it less than practical.

[Seanna caison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focused heavily on the economic downturn in 2008. I did learn some new concepts, and there was plenty to consider, but I wouldn't call it a road map as far as preparing for retirement.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't buy this book unless you have no previous exposure to solid financial writing. Even then, go find one of those other books. This one is outdated and shallow and filled with cringe-inducing made up words that are meant to be humorous. I skimmed through it (since I got it for free from B&N), hoping to find a real nugget of something. Nope. Moving on.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much on explaining why your thinking is all wrong and out of date. Much of it was an explanation as to why you will run out of money before you die. Not much on how to avoid on going broke.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave it two stars because I don't like non-fiction authors who make up words to get their point across. He does have a glossary for those words; but using those words would only hamper your communication with financial planners and family members who have not read the book.

He introduces some information from the new area of study known as behavioral finance to tell us why we are often our own worst enemy. Procrastination is the most common problem. Start saving early and save as much as you can for we will need a lot more money than we think we will. Taxes and healthcare costs will become bigger parts of your retirement, big enough to cause number numbness.

If you have not read any books about saving for retirement, this may be a good place to start. If you have read others, this is not the place to find suggestions for how to get that 5% return on bonds and 12% return on equities in order to withdraw 4% of your portfolio which is a template so many planners used for calculations.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written just after the onset of the Great Recession. As such, it has a lot of wake-up calls for people who were hoping they could flip real estate and ride the bubble to riches. For someone who has paid attention and given it some thought, much of what this book contains falls under the heading of "DUH!"

The most effective parts of this book deal with the emotional issues which hold up back or get in the way of effective planning for retirement. In reading those parts, I definitely experienced more "AHA!" than "DUH!" As such, it is worth reading.

I've definitely found myself a victim of finertia (the book is filled with amusing terms; someone who is left in a completely indecisive state about investments due to mass quantities of, sometimes conflicting, information) and am acquainted with multiple golden cowboys (people who are convinced society will fail so they're stocking up on weapons, ammo and precious metals).

[Anne Ku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read book using ideas from the economics and psychology of decision making, e.g. the famous Kahnemann and Tversky's heuristics and biases of decision making. These destructive financial behaviors are procrastination, overconfidence, layering, mental accounting, myopic loss aversion, herding, house money effect, attachment bias, familiarity bias, and number numbness. Author Gregory Salsbury introduces his own vocabulary for new age retirement thinking. The old American Dream is over. The concept of retirement is not what we grew up with.

[Michael Berges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs to be updated, written in 2009 so refers to the "crash" a lot. Well, we are 6 years past that so while most the thoughts about retirement are still relevant, those who stayed invested have recovered. This book makes it sound like 101% of everybody lost out in 2008 and that simple isn't the case. Some of the made up terms are just filler and corny to drive a larger point. Although "golden cowboy" is awesome.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a mixture of a lot of helpful information and no information at all. Weird. I learned a lot, but still feel overwhelmed at the idea of saving for retirement. He addressed that in his book, though, and the only way to go is to at least get started. :)

[Benjamin Sobieck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly groundbreaking, but if you're in your 20s this is must-read material. Older readers won't find much they don't already know (or SHOULD know).

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The general advice in this book is sound, but the author hammers his point home over and over.

[Paulette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay but not great. Wish there was a magic pill or number

[Erin Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book to make you think about what you need to do and plan for in the future

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

had to make some copies of a few pages - that means important info!
(oh, maybe I should've asked first?)

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good information here, but the cutesy vocabulary leading off each chapter was too much for me.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Illuminates a lot of the problems. Wish it had more in the way of solutions.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great thoughts and tips on retirement in a new day and age...