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Retire Early Book Shelf - <br>Books We Didn't Like

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Retire Early Book Shelf -
Books We Didn't Like


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This article was updated on September 25, 1999.

We didn't like the selections reviewed below. Some appear to be what the Motley Fool investment site would call "Words from the Wise." Others actually have so much misinformation in them that they're actually dangerous.


Don't Die Broke: How to Turn Your Retirement Savings into Lasting Income.

by Margaret A. Malaspina
Bloomberg Press, 1st Edition 1999, 284 pp.

Click here to order Don't Die Broke. Today!

This work by former Fidelity Investments public relations executive Margaret Malaspina is very well written, flawlessly produced, impressively bound (I reviewed the hardcover version), and printed on high-grade paper. Unfortunately, that just about exhausts the list of good things I can say about this book. Most of the book appears to be designed to scare the reader into the arms of a financial advisor. While I have no problem with Ms. Malaspina's long list of things that can go wrong with your retirement finances, she's remarkably short on detailed solutions -- other than to hire a professional.

One interesting part of the book, beginning on page 206, theorized that retirees fall into three categories: 1) income delegators, 2) income worriers, and 3) income managers. Income delegators want nothing to do with high finance and are willing to turn everything over to others -- no matter what the cost. Income worriers are panicked at the thought of market volatility and tend to put everything into bonds or (gasp!) annuities. Income managers are "both interested in and confident about taking on the challenge of" managing their own finances. I believe most successful early retirees are among this last group.

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