Retirement used to be much simpler. A person would spend their entire career with ONE company and then upon retirement they would receive a pension which was a guaranteed paycheck every month for the rest of their life. Most Americans have no chance at getting that deal anymore.
The burdens, challenges, and risks of today's world are far greater. The stock market has seen negative returns for an entire decade. Health care costs are up but benefits are down. Life expectancy has dramatically increased but pensions are all but extinct! We are in a time when people need guaranteed income more than ever, yet fewer people have it than ever before.
Paychecks and Playchecks: Retirement Solutions For Life is a guide for retirement that is BUILT for markets like these. It's a roadmap for surviving, and thriving, in difficult economic times. This book is not an Op-Ed on how "Average Joe" can invest to generate huge returns. It is a mathematical and scientifically proven guide on how to create a solid retirement with as much upside potential and downside protection as possible. Its purpose is to help you make absolutely sure that you have guaranteed lifetime income to keep you and your family protected in any market.
By using simple financial products properly, having a plan for long term care, and utilizing cutting edge estate planning ideas, Paychecks and Playchecks will show you how to retire with enough guaranteed lifetime income to cover your basic expenses and optimize the rest of your portfolio to make sure you receive your "playchecks." It's not rocket science - it's financial sense. Despite what most experts say, "Happily ever after" still exists and it starts with Paychecks and Playchecks: Retirement Solutions For Life.
This author is a well-respected financial guru based on the opinions of the many financial planners that I know. And this book is all about how annuities are your best bet in retirement. But he does go over some other facets of retirement and gives an easy to understand primer about how they work. I'm talking life insurance, long term care and estate planning. Easy to read and opens your mind to looking at the whole picture. My only complaint is that the information is now a little dated.
This book promotes the use of insurance products as the principle means to attaining secure income through retirement years and for delivering estate assets to your heirs, tax free. It is very well written, and provides cogent reasons for the uses of the products discussed in each section. Other vehicles for attaining income (Mutual Funds, ETFs, ...) are ignored, though the author addresses this criticism at the tail end of the book.
The largest criticism I have of the book is the use of fear (perhaps the all-time favorite device of many for manipulation) to deliver it's arguments. Early in the book the author raises the specter of inflation as one of the forces to be managed in one's plans. Certainly this is true. The numbers provided, however, don't really convey a good argument. Using the current (for this book, 2012) price of coffee as an indicator of food inflation, and the current price of oil ($100/barrel) as the cost of energy inflation, the author makes the argument for addressing inflation in a strong way. Of course, the price of oil is not $100/barrel, and essential food costs (ignoring a strong trend to dine out) have remained relatively low and constant as percentages of personal income. These arguments do not ring particularly true, and weaken one's belief in the material that follows.
I do think this book is worth considering for anyone who is in the throes of managing retirement issues, but it definitely feels very one-sided.
Paychecks and playchecks makes understanding life insurance options simpler!
Often insurance agents represent a partial portfolio of options. This book explains the bulk of them (up to the year it was written - 2012) in a straightforward way, which seems to be very difficult in real life! As I am currently researching my LTC options, this book was a handy guide.
I asked a Financial Advisor who has been in the business about 15 years what the first book a new FA should read and he gave me this. A little dated now, but Hegna presents a great strategy for retirement. I would recommend this book to someone in their 40s today, but I don’t know how long a this can remain relevant.
Very simple terms communicating a complicated subject. It’s hard to argue with the idea of an insurance company taking all the risk. Hans Scheil, Author, Complete Cardinal Guide
Great read. Good book for all levels of investors regardless of knowledge and experience. Challenges many conventional teachings with math and science to back it up
If you have no plan, this is an easy to understand starter guide. If you have a plan, this may make you aware of options you haven’t considered yet. Your estate is probably larger than you think it is, and the govt is literally counting ($) on your ignorance/inaction.
This is a must read as you plan and prepare for retirement. It offers compelling prospective scenarios that should be put to the test. Don’t go the retirement road alone let these possibilities be your guide.
As an insurance agent this book is a must. Clear and concise! Tom Hegna presents a compelling plan on retirement options. I have read it twice and listen to it often.
Author makes a solid case for why annuities are a must-have in retirement to make sure you don't outlive your money in a changing landscape ie fewer and fewer people have access to pensions.
Some really great stuff here, but the answer to everything is insurance, whether it be annuities, critical care, long term care, whole life insurance (which in their opinion is ALWAYS better than term) etc.
There are some really good concepts here, but it is a book you'll have to dig through the life insurance rah,rah and rhetoric to get to. I gave it 4 stars because I found some gems in there that I'm going to use in my business right away, and so it was worth the time commitment for me to read it. I also got it on audio book so that I can go over it again while driving in a couple of months.
Disappointing... because the author certainly seems likely to be highly informed, *HOWEVER* he passively wanders around declaring his uncertainties & doubts.
I want to reach through the book to grab & shake him & say; "Write about what you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN ABOUT... if you are not sure, GO DO YOUR RESEARCH... don't waste us readers' attention with your 'aw shucks' wondering & wandering!
Book makes a lot of good points, and gives reasons why annuity's should be in a retiree's portfolio. It was a very quick read, and well written. I would like to see more case design work, and examples of different annuities, and their usage, hopefully, in his next book.