Shockingly, a majority of Americans have less than $30,000 in retirement savings. One third has saved nothing at all. Tens of millions of middle-class Americans turning 65 in the next decade are on track to be living in or near poverty after they quit working.
These are sobering figures, but the good news is that people DO have the power to plan their work life so it leads to a retirement on their own terms, meaning time for relaxation and exploration later in life. The clear answer to how this can be accomplished comes from Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist and nationally recognized expert in retirement security, a professor at The New School, a trustee to two retiree health-care trusts worth over $54 billion, and a frequent bipartisan advisor on Capitol Hill.
Now, Ghilarducci shares her profusion of sharp economic insights in HOW TO RETIRE WITH ENOUGH MONEY: And How To Know What Enough Is (Workman; January 5, 2016; $12.95). This short, readable, direct book acknowledges that while retirement planning is a scary subject, it is possible to get past fear to an actionable plan.
Cutting through the confusion, misinformation, and bad policy-making that keep people spending and saving poorly, in just 116 pages Ghilarducci provides essential advice on what people can do to plan a secure retirement, including:
•A comfortable nest egg is eight times your annual salary.
•How to make money grow, including a dozen good ideas to get current expenses under control.
•Why you should “get rid of your guy”—that financial planner whose fees suck up your valuable assets.
•How to get the very most out of Social Security—and why it’s a healthy and dependable system.
•The incalculable advantage of paying off your mortgage. It’s tempting to put money into investments instead, but getting out from under home-ownership debt is a guaranteed win.
•The dual benefit of downsizing before retiring, including ten proven strategies for cutting back on spending.
•Eat your veggies and get more exercise. Doesn’t sound like financial advice? It is: Preventing diseases like diabetes can save a person over a quarter of a million dollars.
Ghilarducci presents no gimmicks or magical thinking—just an easy-to-follow blueprint of common financial success that works for everyone, whether a person is in their mid-50s and starting to worry, or 20 years younger and planning ahead. Ghilarducci notes four key sources of power—wise workers, wise consumers, wise investors, and wise voters—and she shows readers how to become one of the powerful and plan a work life that leads to a financially-secure retirement.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Teresa Ghilarducci is an expert on retirement, pensions, and personal savings and the Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Analysis at The New School for Social Research. She has a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and taught previously at the University of Notre Dame. Her 2008 book, When I’m Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them, was recognized for containing the best economic idea of 2008 by The New York Times. Her book Labor’s Capital: The Politics and Economics of Private Pensions won The Association of American Publishers award for the best business book of 1992. She has written for and been featured in The New York Times, Money, Kiplinger’s, Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report, Parade, and more. Visit Teresa Ghilarducci on the web at: teresaghilarducci.org / Twitter: @tghilarducci