Retire on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future

by Fred Brock

The bestselling, hands-on retirement guide from Fred Brock, thoroughly updated and expanded for in-depth advice on housing assets, health-care options, and more

With Retire on Less Than You Think , Fred Brock challenged the conventional wisdom on the real costs of retirement― and it struck a chord with Americans. Now, as mutual-fund investments continue to be a roller coaster, Brock updates his indispensable advice on finding asset streams, working during retirement, maximizing your health insurance, and choosing a community and housing to show how to

• manage the quicksand of the housing market (your best asset)
• pay for the spiraling costs of prescription drugs
• discover new cost-cutting savings
• plan for shifts over time in your financial goals

Boasting expanded resource lists and worksheets, Retire on Less Than You Think is the best guide available for making your retirement
dreams a reality.

Genres: Finance, Money

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 14, 2003

Reviews

[Susan]

Some interesting ideas, but often it came down to sell your expensive house on the east coast and move somewhere cheaper, which we don't want to do.

[Abigail]

This book was written to reassure people who are close to retirement but feel like they don't have enough money. It also turned out to be reassuring to this under-30 worker!

The author spends a great deal of time reminding people that their expenses in retirement are what really matter, and that the idea of needing 80% of your current income to retire on is pushed by people who stand to gain by having you invest more and retire later (e.g., sellers of mutual funds). He outlines several ways to easily reduce expenses, thereby increasing the amount of money you keep. It's not rocket science: spend less, and you need less. Primarily, he says to consider moving to a less expensive area of the country to live.

But for the under-30 crowd for whom retirement is a distant dream, he offers this cheerful reassurance: Social Security is NOT in dire straits. Not only is its collapse not imminent, but even a tiny tax increase would extend its solvency beyond what can be realistically predicted. So I'm no longer fretting about whether we should privatize SS. Maybe I'm still not counting on it, but if I do get benefits, so much the better. Healthcare is likely to be my biggest concern anyway. ;)

[Linda]

If only...The book is somewhat outdated as a result of our recent economic downturn; however, the author provides a wealth of websites to check out for retirement-related topics. And I did learn some useful information re. medicare, social security etc. Brock provides the essential information, and now I need to get busy with my searches...

[tomlinton]

You probably know
more already
than he thinks you think
Nuggets
Unless
You've done no planning

[Jen Hicks]

Summary - Move somewhere cheaper. Spend less.

[Lydia Kass]

As a non fiction DIYer book on retiring, it gave a lot of solid advice such as paying down debt, possibly moving to a less expensive area, downsizing home and house items, social security, etc.