The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning

I had high hopes for this book but was ultimately disappointed. I think there are two reason for this.First, I think it tries to cover a little to much, including topics that I don't necessarily think should be part of the retirement planning (ie general investing stuff). I was looking for a more narrowly targeted book. So would this be a good overview/introduction book? Well, no; and this brings me to my second issue.The book is straddling the line between beginner and expert on knowledge of the topics covered. This is to say it covers a lot of topics, and does give you the basic concepts you need to consider in each of the topics(this is the beginner part), but since the topics are limited in scope, they tend to throw the concepts and terms at you without giving you the foundation for understanding the terms. So If you an expert, you say to yourself, yep, I know that already, and if you are a beginner, you are saying ok I got my marching orders, but I don't understand exactly what it means, or how to implement them.To summarize, if you are well versed in the topic you will not be picking up much new information, but if you are a beginner you will probably get confused, or will not know how to implement the plans provided.Now, the book is written by new authors for each topic, so the review I just provided does not apply for each topic, but the overall feeling I got when reading the book was that this book will help you to understand what topics you will need to investigate further (because you didn't understand fully what the writer was talking about), or you will decide okay, I am think I understand this topic quite well because I really didn't get anything new here. That is where I found I was, getting confirmation that I am at a point that I am ready to start drawing up and implementing my retirement plan. I'm not sure that reading the whole book was work that confirmation.Here is a list of some of the books I have read in preparing for retirement, and a one-liner, and ranking for each. I will order them in the order I would read them:1.  The AARP Retirement Survival Guide: How to Make Smart Financial Decisions in Good Times and Bad  (Julie Jason)Rank: 5/5Summary:Real good overview and introduction to the many considerations for retirement.2.  Buckets of Money: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety  (Raymond Lucia)Rank: 4/5Summary: Interesting concept on planning for retirement. Although I'm not sure I will use the plan Raymond lays out here, I think the general concept is a real good idea on how to think about tapping your assets as you plan for retirement.3.  Annuities For Dummies  (Kerry Pechter)Rank: 4.5/5Summary: Great details on the highly complex subject of annuities, a critical tool for your retirement planning to alleviate longevity and market risk.If you read the books above, I don't think there is a need for reading the books listed below since either they don't have the depth, or have already been covered in sufficient detail in the books above. The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning g (Various Aurthors)Rank: 3.5/5Summary: I think this book tries to cover a little to much, and as a result has topics that I don't think are appropriate for the retirement planning. Since the book attempts to cover so many topics, it really doesn't give real good details on any one topic. I think of this book, more as an executive summary for the various topics it covers. Can I Retire? How Much Money You Need to Retire and How to Manage Your Retirement Savings, Explained in 100 Pages or Less  (Mike Piper)Rank: 2.5/5Summary: What do you expect for 100 pages? Although the author does seem to stay on-topic in this book, its just to broad to really give you any actionable information. Perhaps a decent book if you are just wading into the whole concept of retirement and don't want to put alot of thought into details(IE the big picture). This book does not answer the question it poses in the title.Hope this helpsJames

I was so impressed with "The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing" that I picked up this next book in the Bogleheads series. If you loved the first book, this one won't disappoint!"The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning" stays true to the investing principles pioneered by Vanguard-founder Jack Bogle. However, unlike the first book, this book is focused on the various aspects of retirement planning. There is a lot more to retirement planning than 401(k)s and IRAs. Important topics such as how much money to take out every year to make your money outlast your retirement, how to factor in inflation, when should annuities be considered, what kinds of insurance you should have, and how to plan your estate are answered in this book.Young people shouldn't brush off this book. In fact, younger readers would be much better prepared than their peers if they are proactive in reading this book. Chapters such as the one on early retirement are targeted towards them, so this book is a wealth of knowledge for all ages.One of my favorite lines from the authors is: "Choosing the right mix of assets at the beginning of your career is not as important as getting started on retirement early and establishing good financial habits. At the beginning, it is the amount that you put into a plan that counts, rather than the return of the investment in that plan." A good way to live by this statement is to pay yourself first after every pay period and using your designated retirement accounts specifically for their intended purpose (short of a real emergency). If anything, advice like this is more useful for the younger audience than the ones closer to retirement.After you read this book, Appendix II has plenty of good reading for novice investors, intermediate investors, and advanced investors. Regardless of which category you fall under, you will be better prepared for retirement after reading this book.

One chapter of The Bogleheads' Guide to Retirement Planning quotes Donald Rumsfeld: "There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we do not know." That's how I felt while reading this book. Due to its truly comprehensive nature, I learned all about the stuff I knew I needed to learn, but also about all kinds of stuff I hadn't even considered learning about.From investment strategies to withdrawal strategies to estate planning (and more), this book really covers everything in exactly enough detail to give you the information you need to know, without providing so much detail that it becomes cumbersome. And there are so many golden nuggets, that I would encourage everybody to read it cover to cover and not just as a reference. There were many times that I thought a subject didn't apply to me and almost skipped the section, then decided to read it anyway and was very glad I did. Goes back to those unknown unknowns.In addition, for a book written by many different people who I presume are not authors by trade, this book is exceptionally readable and feels like it was written with a single voice.I think this book will be best received by those who are already bought into the Boglehead investment philosophy, but even skeptics could learn a lot as most of the book is not about how to build the ideal portfolio, but rather the myriad other items one must consider in planning for and then executing retirement.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR EVERY INVESTOR YOUNG OR IN LATE 50+, AS THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN BY BOGLEHEADS . WHO ARE boglehead,s?/ go to boglehead.org . ,it is full of information about INDEXING ,low cost index fund investing for long term and for your retirement ,they are all 60+ followers of principals of JOHN C. BOGLE. dr anil gupta md (usa) cardiologist /BOGLEHEAD . only my regret is that I came to know about simple principal of low cost indexing too late in my life ,but I am teaching to my kid and spouse about INDEXING .I opened demat 3 in one a/c for both ,now they themselves invest regularly in low cost stock index funds ,70% large cap ,20% mid cap and 10% small cap value and BALANCED FUNDS ,AND INFLATION PROTECTED BONDS . AND TAX FREE MUNCIPAL BONDS ,WITH 10% IN REIT ETF.

The Bogleheads community is perhaps the best help that I found for a small investor like myself. I cannot express my gratitude with a small words. The topics of the book are very useful if you are thinking about retirement. Good to see all that written Perhaps very much focusing on USA, with their local tricks of the trade. I recommend it anyway.

American information relating to investment accounts and tax. Probably wouldn't have bothered if I'd known that