Retirement GPS

by Aaron Katsman

Boy, it's been a while. Even so, the holidays have got me tied up, so, I'll just post a short version of a review that I've also put up on Amazon. Enjoy!

I was happy to accept a gratis copy of this book from the author, as I had just finished reading and reviewing You Can Retire Earlier Than You Think and I was interested in finding more information about retirement investing with a mind toward retiring, either early or comfortably or both. I thought the GPS of the title would sort of provide some guidance for determining one’s financial position (right?) as it pertains to retiring. What Mr. Katsman has actually written, however, is more of a generic global investing guide that does not necessarily limit itself to retirement investing. There is no guidance for deciding anything about your ability to retire, but there is still a lot of valuable information in this book.

Mr. Katsman is an American who lives abroad and primarily (only?) invests overseas. The GPS of his book stands for “Global Portfolio System” and is mainly concerned with getting average investors to diversify internationally and consider a number of “normal” investments (mutual funds, bonds, etc.) in countries other than the United States. The author considers this to be a great retirement investing strategy, but I felt it wasn't a retirement strategy so much as an international investing strategy. retiring. The strategies and suggestions are interesting and sound and certainly worth considering from an investment standpoint, but they could be for retirement investing, income investing, growth investing, or just portfolio building outside of retirement funds. I would even argue, that for people who are still investing but have already retired, they might want to avoid some of Mr. Katsman’s strategies, as they involve different sorts of risks such as exchange rate risk, geopolitical instability, and factors that elderly investors are probably better off avoiding entirely. (I certainly can't picture someone like my 74 year old retired parents trying to buy Argentinean bonds or Chinese renminbi mutual funds or the like. 

To his credit, Mr. Katsman applies his vast overseas investing experience and shares a lot of the nuts and bolts of such investing in this book. The overall tone of the book is friendly and chatty, which is good for the most part, but some of his personal anecdotes need considerable stretching to tie into his discussion of investments. This book is still very readable and comprehensible. I learned a lot about a wide range of subjects, from the Chinese stock market, to the intricacies of European bonds, to exchange rates, and of course, the economic strengths and weaknesses of a large number of overseas economies. The world is a big place, however, so anyone who agrees with Mr. Katsman better be prepared to do a lot of their own research beyond this book, not only on the instruments they plan to purchase, but also the nature of the markets and country where those instruments are being sold. (I haven’t got the stomach for it, myself.)

All in all, this is a well-written, detailed, well-informed book on international investing. The global portfolio system is a neatly developed concept and strategy that is useful for retirement and long term investing, with possible applications to short term investing and out-and-out speculation. Mr. Katsman’s strategy alone rates four dollar signs, and with the lucid execution of this book to explain it, I think the overall package rates four dollar signs as well.

You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think

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.