New Rules Of Retirement: What Your Financial Advisor Isn't Telling You

by Warren Mackenzie

The financial advice industry -- including banks, mutual fund and insurance companies -- has a vested interest in our hard-earned savings. Industry advisors are constantly warning us that we may not be financially prepared for retirement. And, feeling anxious about our future, we become convinced that it’s a good idea to let them handle our money. After all, they seem to have all the answers. But retirement planning today isn’t the same as it was in the past. We’re living longer, leading more active lives, with more options about how we want to live once employment is no longer the main focus. For the 1.6 million Canadians who will be retiring in the next five years, the questions at play are more complex than “How much do I need to retire?”
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Industry veterans Warren MacKenzie and Ken Hawkins have seen firsthand the mistakes that Canadians make in their financial preparations for the future. In The New Rules for Retirement, they offer simple, unbiased advice while at the same time debunking the many myths surrounding retirement.

Visit New Rules for Retirement.ca for even more information.

Genres: Money

248 pages, Paperback

First published December 22, 2008

Reviews

[Blair Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this would be an excellent book in the right hands. I enjoyed it quite a lot, but I’m not quite ready for retirement and so some of the concerns presented herein didn’t hit me as hard as they might others. That being said, the authors present a very good and broad (but somewhat shallow) introduction to the topic of retirement – what it means, how it’s changed and may continue to do so, and how to prepare for it.

They cover a lot of material that’s not handled by most financial books, such as what one actually wants to do in retirement (including work, possibly less or in a different career), how much money one will need to do so and how to get, keep, and manage it (whereas most financially-oriented books I’ve seen content themselves with talking about how to accumulate as much money before retirement as possible). The authors introduce a number of insurance and annuity vehicles, RRSPs, TFSAs, and give general advice about how to monitor your portfolio performance (using free web tools that they own, but still…)

One of my favourite takeaways was advice to figure out how much money you’ll need for retirement and engage in the safest activities that will give it to you – more money does not necessarily mean a higher standard of living, or more happiness.

A recommended introduction to all things retirement-related, and worth a read even if you’re 20 years or more away from considering it.

Oh, and it’s Canadian. w00t.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been working in the investment and retirement industry since 1988 in marketing and education. I freelance with an insurance company conducting seminars to the members of their group retirement plans. So I enjoy reading books about retirement planning.

There are a variety of topics covered in this book including demographics, retirement lifestyles, calculating your cost of living in retirement, calculating your retirement income and determining which is the most appropriate asset allocation.

I especially liked that in the back of the book there are many online resources listed by chapter. Plus there is a bibliography in case you want to follow up on the books and articles mentioned throughout.

This is an excellent book, whether you are a newbie or a pro. As someone who has been in the industry for more than 20 years, I did enjoy it.

The authors are with Second Opinion Investor Services Inc., which according to their website, gives unbiased independent advice on the investing process. They're not influenced by incentives to sell or manage investment products because they don't sell or manage money - they charge by the hour the way accountants do. The fact that they are unbiased comes through in the book.