Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I thought this was a fair book, but there was not much new information that I wouldn't learn from a financial planner in an hour. The discussion on safe rates of withdrawal, and the buckets of income were helpful. The discussion on the different types of financial instruments was helpful and easy for a layperson to follow as well. What I found to be a letdown are the real life examples that Mr. Moss uses that out of completely out of touch with average Americans. The first example of soon to be happy retirees is a couple that make $150,000 to $175,000 each. This example is the first one and is given a few pages into the book. Another example provided shows the husband making over $220,000. People making these types of income will easily be able to retire comfortably provided they use common sense in investing, and live beneath their means. The average household income in the United States is somewhere in the low fifty thousand dollar range. I really did not see a purpose for displaying how these couples will be able to retire comfortably- of course they will, unless they are complete idiots in which case they probably wouldn’t be making multiple six figure incomes! The book also gives many examples of what happy retirees do versus unhappy retirees. Much of this is using correlation to imply causation. Unhappy retirees drive BMWs, while happy retirees drive a Lexus says the book, implying that an unhappy BMW driving retiree can swap vehicles and be in retirement bliss. Happy retirees have a home worth $300,000, while unhappy ones have ones worth $273,000 – with no mention of different regions of the country having vastly different prices for the same house. Happy retirees eat at Olive Garden – yes, this is really a statement in the book! Unhappy retirees read and go fishing. Well damn, my house is only worth around $250,000, I like to fish, and I am not a fan of crappy chain restaurants – misery here I come! And, if you are a single guy or gal with no kids and making less than six figures and doesn’t eat steak, well, you might as well go jump off a bridge when you reach your golden years.