The book covers every topic you could want to read about retirement. The author has a checklist of twenty decisions that he feels needs to be made to retire successfully. They range from when to take social security to paying for medical costs in retirement to how to invest your portfolio.
One area of the book I liked was the section on portfolio withdrawal strategies. There are a lot of factors that determine a safe withdrawal rate. One of those is how the portfolio is invested. I liked the comparison charts that demonstrated how long different asset allocations would last under withdrawal strategies of varying percentages. No one wants to run out of money during retirement.
There is plenty of information in this book on how to build a portfolio. I liked how the author demonstrated the performance of various asset allocations over time. He included a range of portfolios from conservative to aggressive and tracked how they performed. This kind of visual chart can give a clearer picture to an investor in my opinion.
Other topics covered in detail include when to take social security, what to do with your pension, and whether to purchase long-term care insurance. You can maximize your payouts by taking social security payments at the right time. At the very least these topics will give you a chance to consider all your future needs and options.
This is a fairly thick book with a lot of information. It is broken into sections allowing a reader to find a specific topic easily. You can jump to a section you want or read the whole book straight through.
I would have liked to see a section on spending during retirement. Budgeting and spending wisely is important at any time, but perhaps even more so in retirement. Plus, the question of whether you will pick up extra income through work could have been discussed.
Otherwise I found 20 Retirement Decisions You Need to Make Right Now to be a very thorough retirement book. Planning for retirement is difficult and I believe it pays to read a variety of books on the subject. This book is one that could serve as a frequent reference for future consultation.
I borrowed this book from my local library.
This book is available at Amazon.com:
20 Retirement Decisions You Need to Make Right Now
