by Wes Moss
I've read a lot of financial, business and economics books
over the years. As I've gotten closer and closer to retirement age, I've paid
more and more attention to portfolio protecting strategies as well as books and
advice related directly to the actual retirement process. Now in my early 50’s,
I’m looking realistically at the prospect of early retirement, possibly in as
few as two or three years, so naturally, I've been studying up on the brass
tacks of preparing and executing a retirement strategy. For that reason, I
didn't think I would find much useful information in Wes Moss’s book that I
hadn't already taken into account in my own planning and actions.
I was right, but I was wrong.
Mr. Moss is a syndicated talk show host and certified
financial planner of some standing and recognition. He took it upon himself to
conduct a survey of retirees in an effort to quantify happiness and determine
exactly what makes retirees happy. Of course, he suspected that the amount of
retirement assets would play into it, but to his credit, he let the data
dictate the answer. What he found was not only illuminating, it is incredibly
instructive.
This book is his attempt to relay the findings of a survey
he conducted in an effort to identify and quantify the elements of a “happy”
retirement. He succeeded in filtering those elements down into five simple
“secrets” to achieve a happy, fulfilling retirement. The good news is, some of
the secrets are not so secret and in fact, I have already taken some of them
into consideration and acted on them. Things like, developing multiple streams
of income, driving a sensible and affordable car, staying healthy and active,
and pursuing a motivational interest. For me, this is common sense, but I think
it will be a revelation for a lot of folks in my age bracket. So I was right in
that, some of this book was (for me) preaching to the choir. And you might
think that makes it not terribly useful, but I found it vaguely uplifting to
have my ideas vindicated by a disinterested third party (so to speak). I was
wrong, though, because Mr. Moss has allowed his clients (the survey takers) to
also provide better perspective and concrete facts in support of what makes a
retiree happy (or unhappy).
What I was wrong about was, Mr. Moss’s clients (the survey
takers) provide different perspectives and concrete experiences to back Mr.
Moss’s ideas, and that’s where what makes this book different makes it better.
There are no investment strategies, per se, in this book. Mr. Moss is more
along the lines of offering advice like: pay the mortgage off fast, become
active in your community, and pay for the big stuff (house repairs and
remodels, once-in-a-lifetime vacations, etc.) before you retire and while you
have an income, to avoid unforeseen circumstances derailing your entire
retirement. How you go about doing that is up to you. It’s a defensive
strategy, but one that has proven effective for a remarkable number of happy
retirees. Again, I’m already on board (just purchased a grand piano for my
second career as a jazz pianist, thank you very much), and I’m looking forward
to having a happy retirement because of it.
This is not a mainstream book about retirement. For
portfolio building and tax avoidance strategies, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
But for a sensible approach to enjoying your life in retirement, I don’t think
a better book has been written. It’s different and better, and that’s what
makes this book worth every bit of five dollar marks.
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