BOOK REPORT

Updated 12/20/20

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Book Report on

The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+

If you enjoyed Suze Orman’s television show, you know that she is particularly adept at breaking down complex topics into small, digestible nuggets without sugar-coating anything. She wrote The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+ (published in February 2020) when she was 68 and had some personal experience with navigating life after full-time work. In 9 straightforward chapters, the author walks us through how to strategically make our money last for 25 to 30 years.

What is special about Suze Orman’s brand is that she is a big fan of self-empowerment. She repeatedly tells us that, if we want to find the best financial advisor, we should “look in the mirror–for no one will care about your money more than you do.” Because that’s true, it also means that we need to educate ourselves so that we can make the best decisions about our finances. Once we establish a good plan, her hope for us is that money management will not become “a centerpiece” of our retirement years.

A. Why buy this particular book?

If you have to choose between retirement planning guides, the best retirement guide might just be the one that you will actually read. This book was drafted with the masses in mind and is so easy to read that I’ve already read it twice.

Let’s face it, retirement planning is a little like going for an annual checkup. It is something that we don’t really look forward to, but we do it because it is better to be proactive about something as vital as our health and address any issues before they get worse. This book is perfect for someone who needs help putting that checkup on the calendar and breaking down the steps of retirement planning into understandable and manageable pieces. What’s even better is that, in this “ultimate” guide, you’ll get advice that takes you from the pre-retirement phase to your estate plan.

B. Who would you give this book to as a gift?

Although this book covers all phases of retirement, it would be particularly helpful to any 50+ person who might be anxious about the retirement planning process. The author anticipates common fears and provides specific instructions on how to come up with a plan of action depending on the scenario. I found it helpful to read the hard copy so that I could underline key sections, but a non-reader might find it easier to listen to the audiobook read by the author.

C. What topics does this book cover?

The author breaks her advice down into 3 broad categories that cover all the bases for 50+ readers: your family and your home, retirement planning, and estate planning.

1. Your Family and Your Home

The author acknowledges that her readers do not live in a financial bubble and might have adult children or elderly parents affecting their financial resources. She points out that it is our job as parents to make sure that we have enough money to support ourselves for our entire lives or risk becoming a burden on our children.

By the same token, the author cautions that adult children should try to find caregiving options for elderly parents that do not undermine their own retirement security. Finally, the author does a nice job of pushing her readers to think through exactly what aging in place might or might not do for their long-term financial, physical, and emotional security.

2. Retirement Planning

According to the author, her “best advice is to build your retirement income plan as if you will still be alive at 100.” In this book, she repeatedly highlights some key birthdays (65, 70, 70.5, and 72) that should trigger more than just balloons in our futures because, “when it comes to timing your retirement, 70 is the new 65.” To make the math work out, the author establishes a goal for many of her readers of working in some capacity, and not tapping into Social Security, until age 70.

The author identifies clear strategies to ensure that you will be able to give yourself a steady paycheck in your retirement days and address significant threats to that paycheck from insufficient savings, bear markets, and inflation. Unlike other experts, the author conservatively recommends (1) having a liquid emergency fund able to cover 32 months of living expenses, and (2) spending only 3% of your investment portfolio in the first year of retirement and then adjusting for inflation in subsequent years unless all of your living costs will be covered by guaranteed income.

In addition to relying on guaranteed income sources, the author also anticipates a role for an investment portfolio in retirement to address inflation. She points out that, “[e]ven with two severe bear markets this century, $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 was worth $30,000 in late 2019” but would have been roughly $14,000 sitting in the bank. If you’re interested, she offers fairly detailed advice on how to create a diversified portfolio and what to do with your required minimum distributions.

Because the topic is so important, the author devotes an entire chapter to the topic of “Finding the Right Financial Advisor.” She does not mince words when pointing out that great financial advisors probably don’t need to offer free-lunch seminars. Instead, we should seek out fee-only financial advisors that act as fiduciaries.

3. Estate Planning

When it comes to estate planning, the author warns that “not preparing is a tragic blind spot that will leave you and your loved ones exposed to a lot of heartache, and potentially a financial mess.” The book concludes with an explanation of why everyone needs to have four documents in their estate plan: (1) a living revocable trust; (2) a will; (3) an advance directive and durable power of attorney for health care; and (4) a financial power of attorney. The author knows that people tend to procrastinate about making these important decisions. Therefore, she encourages us to deal with all the difficult questions at one time so that we can move on to enjoy our retirement knowing that we’ve done our best for our loved ones.

D. Writing Style/Reading Strategy?

Suze Orman’s writing style is one part conversational and two parts motivational. Her primary message is anything but alarmist. Her mantra throughout this book is that, unless we have serious health issues, there is a good chance that our retirement years will last for 25 or 30 years. Not only would our good health be something to celebrate, but it is also a significant enough period of time to try to plan for. If we need to go into warrior mode to make our money last through retirement, the author gives us the strategies to arm ourselves for the battle.

The author draws bright lines for her readers and sprinkles the text with helpful do’s and don’ts. She also effectively hammers away at her main points and includes them in a checklist at the end of each chapter, so that it is completely clear what she wants you to remember. The first 100 pages of the book are extremely easy to digest, which makes it even easier for reluctant readers to read the entire book.

If, after reading The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+, you have unanswered questions, there are additional resources on her website or you can download her Women & Money Community App and either search the questions that the author has already answered or ask her a question directly. She also answers questions on her Thursday podcasts.

I hope that we can all look in the mirror soon and see someone who understands the details and nuances of retirement planning enough to ask the right questions. 🙂 If you have any other book or podcast suggestions for me, please leave a note in the comments.