Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success (The Retirement Researcher Guide Series)

I bought this for my husband, who is preparing to retire. There are things in the book he hadn’t even considered, like end-of-life care. Yikes, heavy topic for 2 fit 60-something’s, but necessary information to know re: how to best manage your money until the end of life

Dr. Pfau, in my opinion, is THE preeminent researcher on retirement planning. This book, Retirement Planning Guidebook, provides an excellent overview and introduction to the retirement planning process. Dr. Pfau not only discusses the financial aspects of retirement but also the non-financial; health insurance, housing decisions, legacy and incapacity planning, all with preparing one for an active, healthy and happy retirement!

I did not need to read every chapter. However most of them were relevant. And in the end I have been able to plan on my own without the need of a finanancial advisor. It all really comes together.

It's a little dense and academic, but I learnt a few things I hadnt encountered in other books.

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.

This book has almost anything you need to know entering retirement. Spoiler alert…most books talk about planning for the event of retirement while you are earning. This book is a useful resource that helps you navigate the early years of when you’ve entered retirement, and the additional layers of planning to maximize your wealth and minimize stress.

WHAT IS NEW IN THIS BOOKThe RISA score was invented and verified by Wade and his sidekick Alex Murguia. This is a new tool you will not see elsewhere. You need to start with this tool. It will make sorting all the options much easier. Once you understand your own RISA score, you’ll quickly sort through possibilities and confidently discard the poor fits so you can focus on the options that suit you best.WHY SHOULD SOMEONE BUY THIS BOOKI spent 2 years, full-time, studying my options for withdrawals from a retirement portfolio I’d been saving for decades. The deeper I got, the more options I found to investigate. It was certainly a rabbit hole, and once I finally was satisfied that I had examined all the options, understood the pros and cons of the options I chose, I finally felt ready to put together a withdrawal plan and tweak my investment plan.If this guidebook had been available, I could have shaved 18 months off that 2 year study. Options that would never fit would have been eliminated from study if I’d had this book. I wasted a lot of time studying options that others were using, because I wanted to be sure I wasn’t overlooking something. And many things I spent time worrying and fussing over, would have been confirmed if I’d had this guidebook. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?I have an MBA and went to law school. How the heck will less educated savers navigate this? I’ve worried about that for the last 4 years. While I was worrying, Wade Pfau was building a solution.I never would have guessed that spending my savings would be harder than building my savings. All of us seem surprised by this, as we reach the peak, take a few selfies, and then ponder how to get down the mountain safely.Before you meet with a financial advisor, a financial planner, or your cousin’s brother-in-law who is an insurance agent, read this book. You’ll be more of an informed consumer, and not a “sheep being lead to slaughter” which is how we are referred to in the industry.This is aptly named as a guidebook. Most chapters have a checklist for your use. All chapters have reference books for the over-achievers among us. (I read most of those plus a pile of less helpful books.) At the end, a checklist of tasks will keep you on track. This book is your homework, for the most important test you face, retirement!WHO SHOULD BUY THIS BOOKAnyone over age 50 is a candidate for this book. A careful reading will be amply rewarded by a more secure retirement, which is worth much more than the price of the book and the value of your study time.WHO IS THE AUTHOR?Wade Pfau is well known as a financial researcher, and specializes in retirement planning. I’ve read his other books, and many of his papers. Wade is deliberate and cautious in his approach. He is among a handful of authors and researchers I follow and pay close attention to.