The Technicals
Can I Retire? – How Much Money You Need to Retire and How to Manage Your Retirement Savings, Explained in 100 pages or Less.
Author in his own words: “Mike Piper is the author of seven personal finance books as well as the popular blog, Oblivious Investor”.
Price: Check Amazon.com because Mike runs various promotions.
Pages: 99 plus additional pages for appendixes, glossary, index, etc.
What worked
As the booked claimed, it is written in plain English and lacks confusing technical jargon. The book covers a wide variety of retirement topics such as: asset allocation, purchasing annuities, tax planning, and picking the right financial professional, to name a few. Surprisingly at 99 pages it is able to provide a rather comprehensive guide to retirement planning without getting lost in redundant details.
Each chapter as has a “Simple Summary” that breaks the chapter down in 3-5 bullet points that help reinforce points made. The author also does a great job of reinforcing his points with examples that are concise and easy to follow. There are also footnotes that are easy to read and/or provide links to where additional information can be found.
This book would work as a great gift for anyone looking to dip their feet into investing or retirement planning.
Even though I read the book like a text book, highlighting and rereading key passages along the way, I was able to read the book within a day, taking about 4 to 5 hrs.
What didn’t work
There was not anything that didn’t work in this book. I was very happy with the purchase of it and will keep it for my collection.
My only note is as a reader of Mike’s blog (Oblivious Investor) for approximately a year now I did notice overlap between the different forms of media. This is mitigated by the fact the book explains away multiple key subjects in one convenient resource. It comes down to your preferred choice of media but for Mike the two do work in concert.
Final Thoughts
All and all, I really liked the book and I am planning on purchasing several additional copies of the book to pass out to family and friends as gifts. I want to do this because at a 100 pages I think there is a chance they will give it a chance and finish it. My thought is if they read the whole book they will get a great basic education and hopefully be motivated to learn more about retirement planning.
I would definitely recommend this book for anybody that wants to start the proces understanding of retirement planning related concepts. This is a great place to start for anyone that doesn’t know were to start.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I would give “Can I Retire” a 9.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Chris:
I posted actively at Mike’s blog for a good amount of time. I think of him as a friend and I certainly think he is smart. There’s a sense in which I wish him success with the book. However, there is also a serious problem that I have with it that I feel bound in conscience to mention here.
I discovered analytical errors in the Old School safe withdrawal rate studies back in the late 1990s and posted about them at a Motley Fool discussion board in May 2002. Hundreds of people (including a good number of big-name experts) have checked out my claims and they have passed every test. Unfortunately, the authors of the Old School SWR studies have not corrected the studies over the past nine years.
I have not read Mike’s book. But it would not surprise me if he cites the Old School SWR studies in them. Mike is a Buy-and-Holder and most Buy-and-Holders use these studies for retirement planning purposes. Even if he does not cite the Old School studies, I doubt that he cites the New School SWR studies, which give very different numbers. If he were to cite the New School studies, he would not be able to participate at Buy-and-Hold boards at which he participates frequently (such as the Bogleheads,org board).
All of this is strange as strange can be. I hope that there will be some responsible people in the Personal Finance Blogosphere who will be stepping forward to straighten things out in not too long a time. For now, I recommend that any of your readers who buy the book check to see whether it cites the Old School studies or not before taking its recommendations into consideration for retirement planning purposes.
The flaw in the Old School studies is that they do not contain an adjustment for the valuation level that applies on the day the retirement begins. The historical data and academic research shows that this is the most important factor in determining whether a retirement will work out or not.
Rob
A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks
Heather, thanks for the comment, I am glad you enjoy the blog. Can I ask you who emailed you one of my articles. I owe them a thank you.
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