Quick Book Review - How to Retire Happy

I thought it might be nice to periodically review some of the books I’m reading. I’ve mentioned before how important I think reading is when planning for retirement, especially early retirement. I keep a list of my “top ten” book recommendations. But as I continue to read, I will share my thoughts from time to time on my recently read books.

Over the weekend, I read How to Retire Happy: The 12 Most Important Decisions You Must Make Before You Retire. It is a well-written and informative book, but not quite what I expected. When I saw that there are 12 things to be done before retiring, I (mistakenly) assumed it was geared towards planning well in advance of retirement. In reality, the book seems to be speaking to folks in their 60s - maybe about to turn 62 or 65, and on the brink of taking Social Security payments. While I think it would be a valuable resource to someone in that category, younger people who are headed to earlier retirements may not find as much information geared towards them.

So, what are the 12 decisions? In a nutshell, they are:

The book does a good job of addressing both the psychological and financial implications of retirement. What makes the book a particularly good read is that the author and his wife retired several years before the book was written, and he is refreshingly truthful about many of their misconceptions and mis-steps. In fact, I suspect he wishes he had a book like this before he retired!

For me, though, much of the information isn’t relevant. For example, the chapter on health insurance talks at great length about Medicare, and only Medicare. Really important stuff, and interesting to read (I learned a lot about Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D Medicare), but since I won’t be eligible for more than 15 years, it is not really applicable to me. There is no discussion of private health insurance or HSAs, because that is not his target audience. There is good coverage of supplemental, medigap insurance, however.

The chapter on preparing for serious illness, again is quite informative and eye-opening on the costs of long-term health care. I got a pretty good “big picture” from the chapter, but glossed over many of the details because I can’t even imagine what changes will be taking place between now and when I might start to consider long-term health care insurance policies.

My favorite part of the book is the “dos and don’t” of growing older. The author’s sense of humor shines through here and I’m sure I was smiling as I read the quick lists.

So to summarize, this book is a good, well-rounded introduction to the many facets of retirement (and growing older), targeting an audience that is probably in their 60s.

Other Articles you might enjoy:

• One Year of Retirement: A Look Back
• Achieving Early Retirement Despite Big Money Mistakes
• My LifeStyle Now that I’m Retired
• 5 Easy Steps to Kick Start Your Retirement

Tags: money management, planning