Retirement Plan Books

J. K. Lasser’s Your Winning Retirement Plan

This book was rated as one of the two best retirement planning books in Business Week, February 12, 2001 and the most practical of the two. See quotes below:

"J. K. Lasser’s Your Winning Retirement Plan . . . springs from earlier, self-published guides that author Henry K. Hebeler sold via his Web site, www.analyzenow.com. . . This retired top officer of Boeing Co. came to the topic as a smart guy who wanted to approach the retirement problem in a sounder fashion than those offered by Wall Street’s "experts." . . . however, this one is more practical than theoretical. Talking turkey to his fellow retirees, he notes that nothing in the work world prepared him for "the barrage of baloney I was hearing from hawkers of financial material." Hebeler cuts through all that with straightforward discussion of such realities as what happens to your next egg when you start taking money out, and effect he calls "reverse dollar cost averaging." The unhappy upshot is a lower-than-expected investment return, something few financial pros will pencil out for you. With Hebeler, you get an aerospace engineer’s precision and respect for the downside risk."

We should add that the book was written by Hebeler, even though it bears the name of J. K. Lasser, a famous professor of taxation who produced an annual tax guide. Lasser died many years ago. His imprint was bought by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., an international publisher which now has several books under the J. K. Lasser heading including annual updates to the popular tax guide. Wiley asked Hebeler to author the book after seeing his material referenced in numerous national publications.

This book is unique. You will not find material in any other book like this. It has almost 100 figures illustrating both pre and post-retirement situations to give the reader a broad perspective of retirement planning. Hebeler, who for six years was the Boeing Company top planner and forecaster, said, "Annually I presented the plans for the future to the board of directors. They demanded perspective. If I presented something equivalent to that of the typical retirement plan, I would be out of a job because the typical retirement plan has no perspective."

Not only does the book show perspective, it offers a forecasting technology that is new to the financial business but is old-hat in the aerospace industry and in other applications. This technology looks at market fluctuations as an airplane autopilot looks at gusty air or a modern automobile’s computers look at a bumpy road. They all make the ride smoother.

To Order: We suggest that you order from book-selling Web sites such as www.amazon.com or your local book store.

Errata and updates of the J.K. Lasser book 9-06-2007

Getting Started In A Financially Secure Retirement

This book is less technical than the J. K. Lasser book above and adds subjects that are important to those planning for (or in) retirement including inescapable economic trends that are sure to affect the long-term future of all of us.

It is no ordinary book on retirement planning and investing.  It helps you understand the drivers and myths that influence both professionals and do-it-yourselfers.  After warning you about things the financial industry wants you to ignore, it helps you understand the mysteries of social security, pensions, investments,returns, reserves, replacement budgeting, rebalancing a portfolio, life expectancy, your home as an investment, debt effects, and a way to smooth year-to-year spending.

Along the way, there is lots of information about simplifying investing, allocating, diversifying, laddering, budgeting, saving money, annuities, gifting, helping your survivors, and determining if you or your professional are doing as well as the financial markets.  If you can’t do it yourself, there is some very practical advice about selecting a professional.

To order:  We suggest that you order from book-selling Web sites such as www.amazon.com or your local book store.

Errata and updates for Getting Started In a Financially Secure Retirement 9-06-2007