Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement

Good read, very good knowledge

Excellent book. I've never seen so much detailed retirement planning information crammed into a single book before. Not only that, but much of it is genuinely original and extremely well researched. It goes against conventional wisdom in a number of key areas, such as use of annuities and or buffer assets to cover essential spending, producing a funded-ratio for a retirement plan, front-loading certain taxes to make you money last longer, etc. Whilst a lot of it is US focused, much of it can be used no matter what country you live in. Even the tax chapter may have parallels to how income is taxed in your country

I've read 2 other books by this author which were excellent. Because this book included a summary of those books, I hesitated buying this one but I am delighted with this purchase. This is a must read for persons considering planning their financial aspects of retirement in my opinion.

This book has become the center for my retirement planning and prep. I can't find the words to speak highly enough of it. I am excited about how much I've learned and to put that learning into action. My wife and I have a nest egg saved big enough we will retire comfortably. We're 55 and want to retire by 60. Since my dad was a stock broker in the 80s and 90s, we comfortable doing our own investing largely with etfs. This book opened my eyes to tons more tools to add to our investing knowledge. The book starts by describing retirement, financial goals and risks very well. Goals are lifestyle, longevity, legacy and liquidity. Risks are more numerous but also well explained. It guides you through how to align future expenses and income sources - then comparing them different ways to gauge readiness. This includes budgeting explained well enough that it isn't daunting. It also has a chapter defining 4 different styles of people and how they view risks. Instead of giving one size fits all advice, it lays out solutions to fit those different styles or preferences. It highlights how some different tools can be used in all styles but just to different degrees. My bias was toward investing. I learned in this book about new tools I will probably blend into my stragety -- bond ladders, annuities, and life insurance. I have always been biased against annuities, but this book gives really strong arguments how an annuity will probably fit for a small portion of my retirement -- with benefits so huge it vastly outweighs the costs that most people shy away from. I happened to take a 3 day class on retirement planning -- a real class, not sales for an advisor. It touched on most of the things I've read in this book but to a much simpler degree. Not nearly enough to be actionable. So again, this book is the core of my planning. I highly recommend this book and have bought one of Pfau's other books to dive deeper into one topic. Not that this book isn't adequate, because it is. I just enjoy going deeper. This book is not entirely easy to read. Pfau writes well, it's just a very thorough book on some topics that are not simple. Just put the book down, digest, and reread a little if you need. He does an outstanding job with this book.

Dr. Pfau's book is a great resource for retirement planning DIYers (including advice on when not to DIY). He discusses in depth every relevant topic. I've read hundreds of personal finance books, and it's not often I learn something totally new about retirement preparation, but this book introduced me to several new things about annuities, withdrawals from retirement accounts, and Medicare. It really is a guidebook, including action plans at the end of every chapter. The writing style might not be to everyone's taste, as Dr. Pfau packs a lot of information into a relatively little space, but I kind of enjoyed that about it. This is my new favorite, and I'll be referring to it throughout my upcoming retirement.