THE NO-REGRETS RETIREMENT ROADMAP

A brief guide to planning and experiencing retirement.

As financial adviser Delauney points out at the beginning of this short work on post-employment finance, most people tend to look forward to retirement as a paradisical relief from the drudgery of a job: no more bosses telling you what to do, no more endless hours sunk into company projects, and so on. But he wants to stress that even the most enjoyable activities require planning and that readers looking at retirement should consider their overall vision, their values, and a flat assessment of their net worth and how long it will last: “Individuals or couples who enter retirement without a base plan for how to allocate their time and cash flow,” he writes, “often discover how quickly their long-term savings can be depleted.” Using the story of John and Mary, a fictional couple, Delauney illustrates all the typical questions and problems of retirement financing, using tables and particularly flow charts. He “decodes” Social Security, parses out the details of taxes, and demystifies Medicare, 401(k)s, IRAs, and a variety of investment accounts and their attendant risk factors. Despite this book’s brevity, he dispenses a wide range of practical advice, such as reminding his readers to shred old financial documents, regularly change their passwords, and annually review their credit reports. Delauney also manages to imbue his book with a broader philosophical outlook that makes it feel winningly wide-ranging: “Life is about making choices,” he reminds readers. “Sometimes we don’t get to choose our circumstances or the outcomes, but we never lose the ability to choose our mindset.” His extensive professional experience comes through in every authoritative and reassuring section.

A handy and informative personal-finance handbook.