{"id":928,"date":"2020-05-02T12:55:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T19:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/?p=928"},"modified":"2020-05-02T12:55:38","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T19:55:38","slug":"cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabin Fever? Curl Up with a Good Finance Book"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As the world hunkers down to weather the coronavirus, you find yourself in an alternate reality.  Just weeks ago, you were busy working, volunteering, seeing friends, traveling, going out to restaurants and shows.  Suddenly, you are confined to quarters, venturing out only for daily exercise and essential needs.  You have unaccustomed time on your hands.  You feel a certain sense of accomplishment from having binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, <\/em>but what should you do next?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You’ve …binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf<\/em>, but what should you do next?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an idea: why not read some of those personal finance and retirement planning books you\u2019ve been meaning to get to?  Sure, there are lots of helpful blogs and web sites out there, but there\u2019s something to be said for that old-fashioned literary form, the book.  A book can delve deeper and sustain a narrative in a way that the Internet, with its short attention span, simply doesn\u2019t allow.  Below are reviews of some financial planning and investment books that I found worthwhile.  Settle in with your favorite warm brew and enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Financial Planning for Retirement<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Can I Retire?<\/span> by Mike Piper.<\/a>  <\/em><\/strong>If you only have an hour or two to learn the essentials of retirement financial planning, this is the book for you.  Mike Piper, who operates the Oblivious Investor<\/em> web site, believes that the essentials of financial planning are straightforward, and aspires to convey these principles simply and concisely.  In this book, I think he succeeds.  He really does have a knack for conveying financial concepts in a clear, accessible way \u2013 albeit without a lot of history, background citations or colorful anecdotes, which some readers may miss.  In 100 pages, he provides sound advice on how much money to save and how to manage that money in retirement.  He covers the 4% Rule, and provides a friendly (but objective) treatment of annuities.  He believes in a long-term, buy-and-hold investing strategy that emphasizes index funds and ETFs \u2013 an approach that helps to keep things simple that also happens to be good advice for individual investors.  His tips on tax planning (both asset location and smart withdrawal strategies) are excellent.    One criticism \u2013 he gives fairly short shrift to social security strategies for retirees, an important topic.  (He\u2019s written a whole separate book on the subject!)  As a concise, stand-alone guide, or an easy-to-read introduction to more in-depth retirement planning books, I recommend this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Make Your Money Last<\/span>, by Jane Bryant Quinn<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.  Jane Bryant Quinn is (or was \u2013 unfortunately she retired recently) one of the country\u2019s best known and most respected personal finance writers, with regular columns over many years in Newsweek<\/em>, the Washington Post Writers\u2019 Group<\/em>, and AARP Magazine<\/em>.  This excellent book pulls together her retirement planning advice in a single volume.  It is well written, balanced and complete, and provides very good advice on a range of subjects.  She has a pleasant, readable style, and does a nice job explaining complex topics in plain English.  (Perhaps she was an English major?)  The book covers all the essential topics: budgeting\/managing expenses, social security strategies, health insurance (a big expense for retirees), pensions and annuities, withdrawal strategies, investing in retirement, and tapping your home equity (via downsizing or a reverse mortgage). She includes references to lots of excellent resources, and her \u201cspouse alerts\u201d \u2013 advice on making sure that a surviving spouse is taken care of \u2013 are a nice touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0A few nits: sometimes her thorough coverage of all the cases, bases and nuances on a topic can make you lose track of the key points.\u00a0 She can also be a bit too ecumenical when it would be helpful for her to take a sharper stand: she supports the 4% retirement withdrawal \u201crule\u201d \u2013 as well as the 3 \u00bd , 4 \u00bd, 5 \u00bd, and 6 \u00bd % rules!\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite these modest shortcomings, this is really an excellent planning guide. The book\u2019s coverage is complete enough to serve as a reference, but is also a good enough narrative just to read through.\u00a0 Reading it is like talking to a long-time, trusted family adviser; it educates, soothes and inspires confidence.\u00a0 Highly recommended!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money for Life<\/span>, by Steve Vernon<\/a>.  <\/em><\/strong>I include this book in my list because it zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees \u2013 how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income.   Working people may have planned carefully and saved diligently for many years, only to arrive at the point of retiring without having really thought much about how to draw from their savings.  (Mea culpa!<\/em>)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“this book… zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees — how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Vernon, a financial planner and writer, describes how to take stock of your retirement income needs \u2013 expenses, less any income (pensions, social security) you have coming your way.  To cover your remaining need, he clearly lays out the basic choices: systematic withdrawals (such as in the 4% withdrawal rule) vs. annuities.  (Most people of normal means will dismiss fairly quickly his third option, living off dividends, as irrelevant.)  The value of this book is its clear and unbiased description of the pros and cons of annuities and systematic withdrawals, including discussion of risk\/reward, inflation risk and longevity risk (the danger of outliving your money).  Unfortunately, there\u2019s a fair amount of unnecessary jargon \u2013 e.g., \u201cWin\/Regret Analysis,\u201d \u201cRetirement Income Generators,\u201d and \u201cFive Step Planning System\u201d — and the book becomes somewhat repetitive as it goes along.  If you hang in there, there are some good chapters at the end on tax planning, investment risks\/management, analysis of the 4% Rule (deterministic vs. historical vs. Monte Carlo), and explanations of some more complex annuity types.  This shouldn\u2019t be your main or only retirement planning book, but it\u2019s worth reading for its strong points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning<\/span>, edited by Taylor Larimore, et al.<\/a>\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>If you\u2019d like to dig a little deeper into retirement financial planning, consider this book.\u00a0 The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.\u00a0 The Bogleheads provide savvy, unbiased advice on all matters financial (check out their web site, the Bogleheads Forum<\/em>).\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Some long-time members banded together to write this book on retirement planning.\u00a0 It provides sound, in-depth advice consistent with the Bogleheads investing philosophy \u2013 keep it simple, keep costs low, invest using broad index funds, diversify, and stay the course. This book covers the basic retirement planning process, different types of pensions and retirement accounts, investing before and during retirement, social security claiming strategies, and withdrawal\/drawdown strategies.\u00a0 It also goes into topics often passed over in retirement planning books, including insurance\/protection against disasters, estate planning, estate and gift taxes, and dealing with a divorce or other financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0 The book does have a couple of shortcomings.\u00a0 Since it was written by multiple authors, it reads like a compendium of articles and is somewhat lacking in narrative flow and focus.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, it was written over ten years ago and apparently has not been updated.\u00a0 Readers should keep in mind that some of the information on taxes, socials security and IRAs is out of date.\u00a0 Despite these issues, most people will learn a lot from reading this book, and the advice it dispenses is generally excellent.\u00a0 Recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investing<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Investing Made Simple<\/span>, by Mike Piper<\/em><\/strong>.<\/a>  In this book, Mike Piper boils down the essential principles of investing into an easy read that you can finish in an hour or so.  He subscribes to the Boglehead philosophy of investing in low-cost index funds, which allows him (and you, if you follow his advice) to keep it simple.  He covers the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), accounts (IRAs, etc.), risk vs. return, and setting a goal using the 4% Rule.  He makes the case for index funds or ETFs over individual stocks and actively managed funds and emphasizes tuning out the noise and staying the course.  It\u2019s pretty basic, but you won\u2019t go wrong if you follow his advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing<\/span>, by John C. Bogle<\/em><\/strong>.<\/a>    This is a timeless gem by one of the giants of the investing world.  In this book, you get to read the case for low-cost index funds by the guy who invented and popularized them, democratizing the world of investing.  It\u2019s like reading Darwin on evolution, or Einstein on the Theory of Relativity.  The book has a fairly simple message: invest in low-cost index funds \u2013 \u201cbuy the market\u201d — and your results will beat the vast majority of active money managers and investors.  Perhaps unexpectedly to some, Bogle\u2019s writing is literate, readable and even witty.  The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.  His analysis of the investment world\u2019s \u201chelpers\u201d \u2013 money managers, brokers, advisers \u2013 presented in parable form, is devastating.  Their interests are not your interests, and trying to beat the market is, by and large, a fool\u2019s game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Bogle smoothly assembles facts and figures, buttressed by experts and anecdotes, to make a very convincing case that you\u2019re best off buying the market rather than trying to beat it.  Listen to him \u2013 and read this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Four Pillars of Investing<\/span>, by William Bernstein<\/em><\/strong>. <\/a> William Bernstein is an interesting character \u2013 he trained as a scientist and doctor, yet has become a well respected (if self-taught) expert on finance.  His vigorous, entertaining style makes this book quite readable despite some challenging concepts.  Bernstein organizes the world of investing into four \u201cpillars\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The theory of investing — the nature of stocks and bonds, the relationship between risk and return, stock valuation (it\u2019s not magic \u2013 it should reflect future returns!), the difficulty of doing better than \u201caverage.\u201d<\/li>
  2. The history of investing — an entertaining romp through some of financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrating that the market periodically goes \u201cbarking mad,\u201d and investors should be prepared.<\/li>
  3. The psychology of investing — explores the fascinating world of behavioral finance, illustrating that markets \u2013 or at least investors \u2013 are a lot less rational than they think.<\/li>
  4. The business of investing \u2013 in a no-holds-barred critique, Bernstein lays to rest any na\u00efve belief that financial professionals are there to help us. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    “financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrate that the market periodically goes ‘barking mad'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    This book is full of insights into investing, and is a rollicking read.  No coffee needed to stay awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stocks for the Long Run<\/span>, by Jeremy Siegel<\/em><\/strong>.<\/a>  Jeremy Siegel is a Finance Professor at the Wharton School, and a nationally recognized expert on finance and investing.  This book provides a truly long-run (since 1802!) view of the performance of stocks as an investment vs. alternatives, such as bonds and gold.  As you might guess, stocks win by a country mile.  This book also explores, objectively and thoroughly, issues of concern to individual investors \u2013 how to think about stock value, value vs. growth stocks, tax and inflation impacts, global vs. domestic markets, volatility and periodic crashes, technical analysis, and several popular stock investing strategies (e.g., the Dow\u2019s 10 highest yielding stocks).  By the end, this love letter to stocks should have you convinced that stocks really are the best long-term investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Beating the Street<\/span>, by Peter Lynch<\/em><\/strong>.<\/a>  Not everyone believes index investing is best.  After all, index investing basically guarantees you an average return, and it must be possible to do better than average, right?  Who better than Peter Lynch, one of the most successful stock pickers and money managers of recent times, to lay out the case for active money management?  Someone has to be analyzing, buying and selling stocks for indexing to work for the rest of us.  In this book (or one of his others, such as One Up on Wall Street<\/em><\/strong>), Lynch lays out his process for stock investing \u2013 analyzing a company\u2019s prospects, determining fair value (good companies can still be too expensive), when to buy and sell.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Someone has to be analyzing, buying and selling stocks for indexing to work for the rest of us.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    This is a very readable education on individual stock investing.  You might even want to try it \u2013 with a small portion of your portfolio! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to Retire Rich<\/span>, by James O\u2019Shaughnessy<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 James O\u2019Shaughnessy is the opposite of Peter Lynch and most other active money managers; O\u2019Shaughnessy advocates a factor-based approach to investing rather than doing extensive research on the underlying business.\u00a0 Using extensive historical return data, he presents the case that constructing a stock portfolio reflecting key factors, including quality (market capitalization, dividend yield, earnings growth record) and value (price\/earnings, price\/sales) measures, can deliver higher returns than the straight S&P 500.\u00a0 While his recommended approach would be cumbersome for the individual investor to implement, it\u2019s a very readable introduction to the whole area of factor-based investing.\u00a0 Those who are intrigued can read O\u2019Shaughnessy\u2019s What Works on Wall Street<\/em><\/strong>, which is more in depth but somewhat heavier going.\u00a0 Interesting threads on the Bogleheads Forum<\/em> on factor-based and small-cap value investing, as well as blogs\/writing by Larry Swedroe and Paul Merriman, are more current, and recommend ways to layer factor-based investing onto a broad market index fund investing strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Just for Fun<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World<\/span>, by William Bernstein.<\/a>\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>This isn\u2019t going to help you with your retirement planning or investing, but it\u2019s a terrific read.\u00a0 In a sweeping economic history of the world, Bernstein shows how the world economy and civilization developed through trade.\u00a0 You\u2019ll learn how the desire to trade what a society has for exotic goods from foreign lands has been a primary driver of world history — from the ancient river valleys of Sumer and the Indus, to overland trade across central Asia, to the Indian Ocean\u2019s linkage of Asia and the Mediterranean, to Europe\u2019s lust for the products of the tiny Spice Islands of the East Indies, and much more.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “trade has been a primary driver of world history — from the ancient river valleys of Sumer and the Indus, to overland trade across central Asia … to Europe\u2019s lust for the products of the tiny Spice Islands…”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s a fascinating story, well told, with vivid characters and amazing-but-true narratives.\u00a0 Have fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s it — a small selection from the enormous literature on retirement planning and investing.  I hope you find something here that intrigues, entertains and informs you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Take a break every now and then to enjoy Spring!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    References<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Bernstein, William.  (2002).  The Four Pillars of Investing.<\/em>  New York: McGraw-Hill.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bernstein, William.  (2009, May 6).  A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World<\/em>.  London: Atlantic Books.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bogle, John C.  (2017).  The Little Book of Common Sense Investin<\/em>g.  Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Larimore, Taylor; Lindauer, Mel; Ferri, Richard; Dogu, Laura.  (2011).  The Bogleheads\u2019 Guide to Retirement Planning.  <\/em>Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lynch, Peter.  (1994).  Beating the Street.<\/em>  New York: Simon and Schuster<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    O\u2019Shaughnessy, James.  (1998).  How to Retire Rich.<\/em>  New York: Broadway Books.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Piper, Mike.  (2018).  Can I Retire?  <\/em>San Bernardino, CA: Simple Subjects, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Piper, Mike.  (2015).  Investing Made Simple<\/em>.  USA: Simple Subjects, LLC.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Quinn, Jane Bryant.  (2020, Jan).  How to Make Your Money Last<\/em>.  New York: Simon & Schuster.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Siegel, Jeremy.  (2014, January 7).  Stocks for the Long Run. <\/em> New York: McGraw-Hill.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Vernon, Steve (2012).  Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck.<\/em>  Oxnard, CA: Rest-of-Life Communications.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As the world hunkers down to weather the coronavirus, you find yourself in an alternate reality.  Just weeks ago, you were busy working, volunteering, seeing friends, traveling, going out to restaurants and shows.  Suddenly, you are confined to quarters, venturing out only for daily exercise and essential needs.  You have unaccustomed time on your hands.  You feel a certain sense of accomplishment from having binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?  “You’ve …binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?” Here\u2019s an idea: why not read some of those personal finance and retirement planning books you\u2019ve been meaning to get to?  Sure, there are lots of helpful blogs and web sites out there, but there\u2019s something to be said for that old-fashioned literary form, the book.  A book can delve deeper and sustain a narrative in a way that the Internet, with its short attention span, simply doesn\u2019t allow.  Below are reviews of some financial planning and investment books that I found worthwhile.  Settle in with your favorite warm brew and enjoy! Financial Planning for Retirement Can I Retire? by Mike Piper.  If you only have an hour or two to learn the essentials of retirement financial planning, this is the book for you.  Mike Piper, who operates the Oblivious Investor web site, believes that the essentials of financial planning are straightforward, and aspires to convey these principles simply and concisely.  In this book, I think he succeeds.  He really does have a knack for conveying financial concepts in a clear, accessible way \u2013 albeit without a lot of history, background citations or colorful anecdotes, which some readers may miss.  In 100 pages, he provides sound advice on how much money to save and how to manage that money in retirement.  He covers the 4% Rule, and provides a friendly (but objective) treatment of annuities.  He believes in a long-term, buy-and-hold investing strategy that emphasizes index funds and ETFs \u2013 an approach that helps to keep things simple that also happens to be good advice for individual investors.  His tips on tax planning (both asset location and smart withdrawal strategies) are excellent.    One criticism \u2013 he gives fairly short shrift to social security strategies for retirees, an important topic.  (He\u2019s written a whole separate book on the subject!)  As a concise, stand-alone guide, or an easy-to-read introduction to more in-depth retirement planning books, I recommend this book. How to Make Your Money Last, by Jane Bryant Quinn.  Jane Bryant Quinn is (or was \u2013 unfortunately she retired recently) one of the country\u2019s best known and most respected personal finance writers, with regular columns over many years in Newsweek, the Washington Post Writers\u2019 Group, and AARP Magazine.  This excellent book pulls together her retirement planning advice in a single volume.  It is well written, balanced and complete, and provides very good advice on a range of subjects.  She has a pleasant, readable style, and does a nice job explaining complex topics in plain English.  (Perhaps she was an English major?)  The book covers all the essential topics: budgeting\/managing expenses, social security strategies, health insurance (a big expense for retirees), pensions and annuities, withdrawal strategies, investing in retirement, and tapping your home equity (via downsizing or a reverse mortgage). She includes references to lots of excellent resources, and her \u201cspouse alerts\u201d \u2013 advice on making sure that a surviving spouse is taken care of \u2013 are a nice touch. \u00a0A few nits: sometimes her thorough coverage of all the cases, bases and nuances on a topic can make you lose track of the key points.\u00a0 She can also be a bit too ecumenical when it would be helpful for her to take a sharper stand: she supports the 4% retirement withdrawal \u201crule\u201d \u2013 as well as the 3 \u00bd , 4 \u00bd, 5 \u00bd, and 6 \u00bd % rules!\u00a0 Despite these modest shortcomings, this is really an excellent planning guide. The book\u2019s coverage is complete enough to serve as a reference, but is also a good enough narrative just to read through.\u00a0 Reading it is like talking to a long-time, trusted family adviser; it educates, soothes and inspires confidence.\u00a0 Highly recommended! Money for Life, by Steve Vernon.  I include this book in my list because it zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees \u2013 how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income.   Working people may have planned carefully and saved diligently for many years, only to arrive at the point of retiring without having really thought much about how to draw from their savings.  (Mea culpa!)  “this book… zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees — how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income” Mr. Vernon, a financial planner and writer, describes how to take stock of your retirement income needs \u2013 expenses, less any income (pensions, social security) you have coming your way.  To cover your remaining need, he clearly lays out the basic choices: systematic withdrawals (such as in the 4% withdrawal rule) vs. annuities.  (Most people of normal means will dismiss fairly quickly his third option, living off dividends, as irrelevant.)  The value of this book is its clear and unbiased description of the pros and cons of annuities and systematic withdrawals, including discussion of risk\/reward, inflation risk and longevity risk (the danger of outliving your money).  Unfortunately, there\u2019s a fair amount of unnecessary jargon \u2013 e.g., \u201cWin\/Regret Analysis,\u201d \u201cRetirement Income Generators,\u201d and \u201cFive Step Planning System\u201d — and the book becomes somewhat repetitive as it goes along.  If you hang in there, there are some good chapters at the end on tax planning, investment risks\/management, analysis of the 4% Rule (deterministic vs. historical vs. Monte Carlo), and explanations of some more complex annuity types.  This shouldn\u2019t be your main or only retirement planning book, but it\u2019s worth reading for its strong points.  The Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning, edited by Taylor Larimore, et al.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to dig a little deeper into retirement financial planning, consider this book.\u00a0 The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.\u00a0 The Bogleheads provide savvy, unbiased advice on all matters financial (check out their web site, the Bogleheads Forum).\u00a0 “The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.” Some long-time members banded together to write this book on retirement planning.\u00a0 It provides sound, in-depth advice consistent with the Bogleheads investing philosophy \u2013 keep it simple, keep costs low, invest using broad index funds, diversify, and stay the course. This book covers the basic retirement planning process, different types of pensions and retirement accounts, investing before and during retirement, social security claiming strategies, and withdrawal\/drawdown strategies.\u00a0 It also goes into topics often passed over in retirement planning books, including insurance\/protection against disasters, estate planning, estate and gift taxes, and dealing with a divorce or other financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0 The book does have a couple of shortcomings.\u00a0 Since it was written by multiple authors, it reads like a compendium of articles and is somewhat lacking in narrative flow and focus.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, it was written over ten years ago and apparently has not been updated.\u00a0 Readers should keep in mind that some of the information on taxes, socials security and IRAs is out of date.\u00a0 Despite these issues, most people will learn a lot from reading this book, and the advice it dispenses is generally excellent.\u00a0 Recommended. Investing Investing Made Simple, by Mike Piper.  In this book, Mike Piper boils down the essential principles of investing into an easy read that you can finish in an hour or so.  He subscribes to the Boglehead philosophy of investing in low-cost index funds, which allows him (and you, if you follow his advice) to keep it simple.  He covers the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), accounts (IRAs, etc.), risk vs. return, and setting a goal using the 4% Rule.  He makes the case for index funds or ETFs over individual stocks and actively managed funds and emphasizes tuning out the noise and staying the course.  It\u2019s pretty basic, but you won\u2019t go wrong if you follow his advice. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, by John C. Bogle.    This is a timeless gem by one of the giants of the investing world.  In this book, you get to read the case for low-cost index funds by the guy who invented and popularized them, democratizing the world of investing.  It\u2019s like reading Darwin on evolution, or Einstein on the Theory of Relativity.  The book has a fairly simple message: invest in low-cost index funds \u2013 \u201cbuy the market\u201d — and your results will beat the vast majority of active money managers and investors.  Perhaps unexpectedly to some, Bogle\u2019s writing is literate, readable and even witty.  The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.  His analysis of the investment world\u2019s \u201chelpers\u201d \u2013 money managers, brokers, advisers \u2013 presented in parable form, is devastating.  Their interests are not your interests, and trying to beat the market is, by and large, a fool\u2019s game.  “The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.”  Bogle smoothly assembles facts and figures, buttressed by experts and anecdotes, to make a very convincing case that you\u2019re best off buying the market rather than trying to beat it.  Listen to him \u2013 and read this book. The Four Pillars of Investing, by William Bernstein.  William Bernstein is an interesting character \u2013 he trained as a scientist and doctor, yet has become a well respected (if self-taught) expert on finance.  His vigorous, entertaining style makes this book quite readable despite some challenging concepts.  Bernstein organizes the world of investing into four \u201cpillars\u201d: The theory of investing — the nature of stocks and bonds, the relationship between risk and return, stock valuation (it\u2019s not magic \u2013 it should reflect future returns!), the difficulty of doing better than \u201caverage.\u201d The history of investing — an entertaining romp through some of financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrating that the market periodically goes \u201cbarking mad,\u201d and investors should be prepared. The psychology of investing — explores the fascinating world of behavioral finance, illustrating that markets \u2013 or at least investors \u2013 are a lot less rational than they think. The business of investing \u2013 in a no-holds-barred critique, Bernstein lays to rest any na\u00efve belief that financial professionals are there to help us.  “financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrate that the market periodically goes ‘barking mad’” This book is full of insights into investing, and is a rollicking read.  No coffee needed to stay awake. Stocks for the Long Run, by Jeremy Siegel.  Jeremy Siegel is a Finance Professor at the Wharton School, and a nationally recognized expert on finance and investing.  This book provides a truly long-run (since 1802!) view of the performance of stocks as an investment vs. alternatives, such as bonds and gold.  As you might guess, stocks win by a country mile.  This book also explores, objectively and thoroughly, issues of concern to individual investors \u2013 how to think about stock value, value vs. growth stocks, tax and inflation impacts, global vs. domestic markets, volatility and periodic crashes, technical analysis, and several popular stock investing strategies (e.g., the Dow\u2019s 10 highest yielding stocks).  By the end, this love letter to stocks should have you convinced that stocks really are the best long-term investment.  Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch.  Not everyone believes index investing is best.  After all, index investing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,82,89,84,88,86,87,23,81,71,85],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retirement-planning","tag-bogleheads-2","tag-books-to-read-during-the-pandemic","tag-investment-books","tag-jane-bryant-quinn","tag-jeremy-siegel","tag-mike-piper","tag-peter-lynch-2","tag-retirement-finance","tag-retirement-planning-books","tag-retirement-planning-2","tag-william-bernstein"],"yoast_head":"\nCabin Fever? Curl Up with a Good Finance Book - Retirement Hangout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cabin Fever? Curl Up with a Good Finance Book - Retirement Hangout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the world hunkers down to weather the coronavirus, you find yourself in an alternate reality.  Just weeks ago, you were busy working, volunteering, seeing friends, traveling, going out to restaurants and shows.  Suddenly, you are confined to quarters, venturing out only for daily exercise and essential needs.  You have unaccustomed time on your hands.  You feel a certain sense of accomplishment from having binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?  “You’ve …binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?” Here\u2019s an idea: why not read some of those personal finance and retirement planning books you\u2019ve been meaning to get to?  Sure, there are lots of helpful blogs and web sites out there, but there\u2019s something to be said for that old-fashioned literary form, the book.  A book can delve deeper and sustain a narrative in a way that the Internet, with its short attention span, simply doesn\u2019t allow.  Below are reviews of some financial planning and investment books that I found worthwhile.  Settle in with your favorite warm brew and enjoy! Financial Planning for Retirement Can I Retire? by Mike Piper.  If you only have an hour or two to learn the essentials of retirement financial planning, this is the book for you.  Mike Piper, who operates the Oblivious Investor web site, believes that the essentials of financial planning are straightforward, and aspires to convey these principles simply and concisely.  In this book, I think he succeeds.  He really does have a knack for conveying financial concepts in a clear, accessible way \u2013 albeit without a lot of history, background citations or colorful anecdotes, which some readers may miss.  In 100 pages, he provides sound advice on how much money to save and how to manage that money in retirement.  He covers the 4% Rule, and provides a friendly (but objective) treatment of annuities.  He believes in a long-term, buy-and-hold investing strategy that emphasizes index funds and ETFs \u2013 an approach that helps to keep things simple that also happens to be good advice for individual investors.  His tips on tax planning (both asset location and smart withdrawal strategies) are excellent.    One criticism \u2013 he gives fairly short shrift to social security strategies for retirees, an important topic.  (He\u2019s written a whole separate book on the subject!)  As a concise, stand-alone guide, or an easy-to-read introduction to more in-depth retirement planning books, I recommend this book. How to Make Your Money Last, by Jane Bryant Quinn.  Jane Bryant Quinn is (or was \u2013 unfortunately she retired recently) one of the country\u2019s best known and most respected personal finance writers, with regular columns over many years in Newsweek, the Washington Post Writers\u2019 Group, and AARP Magazine.  This excellent book pulls together her retirement planning advice in a single volume.  It is well written, balanced and complete, and provides very good advice on a range of subjects.  She has a pleasant, readable style, and does a nice job explaining complex topics in plain English.  (Perhaps she was an English major?)  The book covers all the essential topics: budgeting\/managing expenses, social security strategies, health insurance (a big expense for retirees), pensions and annuities, withdrawal strategies, investing in retirement, and tapping your home equity (via downsizing or a reverse mortgage). She includes references to lots of excellent resources, and her \u201cspouse alerts\u201d \u2013 advice on making sure that a surviving spouse is taken care of \u2013 are a nice touch. \u00a0A few nits: sometimes her thorough coverage of all the cases, bases and nuances on a topic can make you lose track of the key points.\u00a0 She can also be a bit too ecumenical when it would be helpful for her to take a sharper stand: she supports the 4% retirement withdrawal \u201crule\u201d \u2013 as well as the 3 \u00bd , 4 \u00bd, 5 \u00bd, and 6 \u00bd % rules!\u00a0 Despite these modest shortcomings, this is really an excellent planning guide. The book\u2019s coverage is complete enough to serve as a reference, but is also a good enough narrative just to read through.\u00a0 Reading it is like talking to a long-time, trusted family adviser; it educates, soothes and inspires confidence.\u00a0 Highly recommended! Money for Life, by Steve Vernon.  I include this book in my list because it zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees \u2013 how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income.   Working people may have planned carefully and saved diligently for many years, only to arrive at the point of retiring without having really thought much about how to draw from their savings.  (Mea culpa!)  “this book… zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees — how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income” Mr. Vernon, a financial planner and writer, describes how to take stock of your retirement income needs \u2013 expenses, less any income (pensions, social security) you have coming your way.  To cover your remaining need, he clearly lays out the basic choices: systematic withdrawals (such as in the 4% withdrawal rule) vs. annuities.  (Most people of normal means will dismiss fairly quickly his third option, living off dividends, as irrelevant.)  The value of this book is its clear and unbiased description of the pros and cons of annuities and systematic withdrawals, including discussion of risk\/reward, inflation risk and longevity risk (the danger of outliving your money).  Unfortunately, there\u2019s a fair amount of unnecessary jargon \u2013 e.g., \u201cWin\/Regret Analysis,\u201d \u201cRetirement Income Generators,\u201d and \u201cFive Step Planning System\u201d — and the book becomes somewhat repetitive as it goes along.  If you hang in there, there are some good chapters at the end on tax planning, investment risks\/management, analysis of the 4% Rule (deterministic vs. historical vs. Monte Carlo), and explanations of some more complex annuity types.  This shouldn\u2019t be your main or only retirement planning book, but it\u2019s worth reading for its strong points.  The Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning, edited by Taylor Larimore, et al.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to dig a little deeper into retirement financial planning, consider this book.\u00a0 The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.\u00a0 The Bogleheads provide savvy, unbiased advice on all matters financial (check out their web site, the Bogleheads Forum).\u00a0 “The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.” Some long-time members banded together to write this book on retirement planning.\u00a0 It provides sound, in-depth advice consistent with the Bogleheads investing philosophy \u2013 keep it simple, keep costs low, invest using broad index funds, diversify, and stay the course. This book covers the basic retirement planning process, different types of pensions and retirement accounts, investing before and during retirement, social security claiming strategies, and withdrawal\/drawdown strategies.\u00a0 It also goes into topics often passed over in retirement planning books, including insurance\/protection against disasters, estate planning, estate and gift taxes, and dealing with a divorce or other financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0 The book does have a couple of shortcomings.\u00a0 Since it was written by multiple authors, it reads like a compendium of articles and is somewhat lacking in narrative flow and focus.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, it was written over ten years ago and apparently has not been updated.\u00a0 Readers should keep in mind that some of the information on taxes, socials security and IRAs is out of date.\u00a0 Despite these issues, most people will learn a lot from reading this book, and the advice it dispenses is generally excellent.\u00a0 Recommended. Investing Investing Made Simple, by Mike Piper.  In this book, Mike Piper boils down the essential principles of investing into an easy read that you can finish in an hour or so.  He subscribes to the Boglehead philosophy of investing in low-cost index funds, which allows him (and you, if you follow his advice) to keep it simple.  He covers the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), accounts (IRAs, etc.), risk vs. return, and setting a goal using the 4% Rule.  He makes the case for index funds or ETFs over individual stocks and actively managed funds and emphasizes tuning out the noise and staying the course.  It\u2019s pretty basic, but you won\u2019t go wrong if you follow his advice. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, by John C. Bogle.    This is a timeless gem by one of the giants of the investing world.  In this book, you get to read the case for low-cost index funds by the guy who invented and popularized them, democratizing the world of investing.  It\u2019s like reading Darwin on evolution, or Einstein on the Theory of Relativity.  The book has a fairly simple message: invest in low-cost index funds \u2013 \u201cbuy the market\u201d — and your results will beat the vast majority of active money managers and investors.  Perhaps unexpectedly to some, Bogle\u2019s writing is literate, readable and even witty.  The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.  His analysis of the investment world\u2019s \u201chelpers\u201d \u2013 money managers, brokers, advisers \u2013 presented in parable form, is devastating.  Their interests are not your interests, and trying to beat the market is, by and large, a fool\u2019s game.  “The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.”  Bogle smoothly assembles facts and figures, buttressed by experts and anecdotes, to make a very convincing case that you\u2019re best off buying the market rather than trying to beat it.  Listen to him \u2013 and read this book. The Four Pillars of Investing, by William Bernstein.  William Bernstein is an interesting character \u2013 he trained as a scientist and doctor, yet has become a well respected (if self-taught) expert on finance.  His vigorous, entertaining style makes this book quite readable despite some challenging concepts.  Bernstein organizes the world of investing into four \u201cpillars\u201d: The theory of investing — the nature of stocks and bonds, the relationship between risk and return, stock valuation (it\u2019s not magic \u2013 it should reflect future returns!), the difficulty of doing better than \u201caverage.\u201d The history of investing — an entertaining romp through some of financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrating that the market periodically goes \u201cbarking mad,\u201d and investors should be prepared. The psychology of investing — explores the fascinating world of behavioral finance, illustrating that markets \u2013 or at least investors \u2013 are a lot less rational than they think. The business of investing \u2013 in a no-holds-barred critique, Bernstein lays to rest any na\u00efve belief that financial professionals are there to help us.  “financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrate that the market periodically goes ‘barking mad'” This book is full of insights into investing, and is a rollicking read.  No coffee needed to stay awake. Stocks for the Long Run, by Jeremy Siegel.  Jeremy Siegel is a Finance Professor at the Wharton School, and a nationally recognized expert on finance and investing.  This book provides a truly long-run (since 1802!) view of the performance of stocks as an investment vs. alternatives, such as bonds and gold.  As you might guess, stocks win by a country mile.  This book also explores, objectively and thoroughly, issues of concern to individual investors \u2013 how to think about stock value, value vs. growth stocks, tax and inflation impacts, global vs. domestic markets, volatility and periodic crashes, technical analysis, and several popular stock investing strategies (e.g., the Dow\u2019s 10 highest yielding stocks).  By the end, this love letter to stocks should have you convinced that stocks really are the best long-term investment.  Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch.  Not everyone believes index investing is best.  After all, index investing...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Retirement Hangout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-02T19:55:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/P4300035-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hangout Host\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hangout Host\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/retirementhangout.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/02\\\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/retirementhangout.com\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/02\\\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hangout Host\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/retirementhangout.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8c4ae01981f8f32c14283392437fea2a\"},\"headline\":\"Cabin Fever? 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Curl Up with a Good Finance Book - Retirement Hangout","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cabin Fever? Curl Up with a Good Finance Book - Retirement Hangout","og_description":"As the world hunkers down to weather the coronavirus, you find yourself in an alternate reality.  Just weeks ago, you were busy working, volunteering, seeing friends, traveling, going out to restaurants and shows.  Suddenly, you are confined to quarters, venturing out only for daily exercise and essential needs.  You have unaccustomed time on your hands.  You feel a certain sense of accomplishment from having binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?  “You’ve …binge-watched all twelve seasons of Red Dwarf, but what should you do next?” Here\u2019s an idea: why not read some of those personal finance and retirement planning books you\u2019ve been meaning to get to?  Sure, there are lots of helpful blogs and web sites out there, but there\u2019s something to be said for that old-fashioned literary form, the book.  A book can delve deeper and sustain a narrative in a way that the Internet, with its short attention span, simply doesn\u2019t allow.  Below are reviews of some financial planning and investment books that I found worthwhile.  Settle in with your favorite warm brew and enjoy! Financial Planning for Retirement Can I Retire? by Mike Piper.  If you only have an hour or two to learn the essentials of retirement financial planning, this is the book for you.  Mike Piper, who operates the Oblivious Investor web site, believes that the essentials of financial planning are straightforward, and aspires to convey these principles simply and concisely.  In this book, I think he succeeds.  He really does have a knack for conveying financial concepts in a clear, accessible way \u2013 albeit without a lot of history, background citations or colorful anecdotes, which some readers may miss.  In 100 pages, he provides sound advice on how much money to save and how to manage that money in retirement.  He covers the 4% Rule, and provides a friendly (but objective) treatment of annuities.  He believes in a long-term, buy-and-hold investing strategy that emphasizes index funds and ETFs \u2013 an approach that helps to keep things simple that also happens to be good advice for individual investors.  His tips on tax planning (both asset location and smart withdrawal strategies) are excellent.    One criticism \u2013 he gives fairly short shrift to social security strategies for retirees, an important topic.  (He\u2019s written a whole separate book on the subject!)  As a concise, stand-alone guide, or an easy-to-read introduction to more in-depth retirement planning books, I recommend this book. How to Make Your Money Last, by Jane Bryant Quinn.  Jane Bryant Quinn is (or was \u2013 unfortunately she retired recently) one of the country\u2019s best known and most respected personal finance writers, with regular columns over many years in Newsweek, the Washington Post Writers\u2019 Group, and AARP Magazine.  This excellent book pulls together her retirement planning advice in a single volume.  It is well written, balanced and complete, and provides very good advice on a range of subjects.  She has a pleasant, readable style, and does a nice job explaining complex topics in plain English.  (Perhaps she was an English major?)  The book covers all the essential topics: budgeting\/managing expenses, social security strategies, health insurance (a big expense for retirees), pensions and annuities, withdrawal strategies, investing in retirement, and tapping your home equity (via downsizing or a reverse mortgage). She includes references to lots of excellent resources, and her \u201cspouse alerts\u201d \u2013 advice on making sure that a surviving spouse is taken care of \u2013 are a nice touch. \u00a0A few nits: sometimes her thorough coverage of all the cases, bases and nuances on a topic can make you lose track of the key points.\u00a0 She can also be a bit too ecumenical when it would be helpful for her to take a sharper stand: she supports the 4% retirement withdrawal \u201crule\u201d \u2013 as well as the 3 \u00bd , 4 \u00bd, 5 \u00bd, and 6 \u00bd % rules!\u00a0 Despite these modest shortcomings, this is really an excellent planning guide. The book\u2019s coverage is complete enough to serve as a reference, but is also a good enough narrative just to read through.\u00a0 Reading it is like talking to a long-time, trusted family adviser; it educates, soothes and inspires confidence.\u00a0 Highly recommended! Money for Life, by Steve Vernon.  I include this book in my list because it zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees \u2013 how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income.   Working people may have planned carefully and saved diligently for many years, only to arrive at the point of retiring without having really thought much about how to draw from their savings.  (Mea culpa!)  “this book… zeroes in on a key challenge for retirees — how to convert a stash of savings into a steady retirement income” Mr. Vernon, a financial planner and writer, describes how to take stock of your retirement income needs \u2013 expenses, less any income (pensions, social security) you have coming your way.  To cover your remaining need, he clearly lays out the basic choices: systematic withdrawals (such as in the 4% withdrawal rule) vs. annuities.  (Most people of normal means will dismiss fairly quickly his third option, living off dividends, as irrelevant.)  The value of this book is its clear and unbiased description of the pros and cons of annuities and systematic withdrawals, including discussion of risk\/reward, inflation risk and longevity risk (the danger of outliving your money).  Unfortunately, there\u2019s a fair amount of unnecessary jargon \u2013 e.g., \u201cWin\/Regret Analysis,\u201d \u201cRetirement Income Generators,\u201d and \u201cFive Step Planning System\u201d — and the book becomes somewhat repetitive as it goes along.  If you hang in there, there are some good chapters at the end on tax planning, investment risks\/management, analysis of the 4% Rule (deterministic vs. historical vs. Monte Carlo), and explanations of some more complex annuity types.  This shouldn\u2019t be your main or only retirement planning book, but it\u2019s worth reading for its strong points.  The Bogleheads Guide to Retirement Planning, edited by Taylor Larimore, et al.\u00a0 If you\u2019d like to dig a little deeper into retirement financial planning, consider this book.\u00a0 The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.\u00a0 The Bogleheads provide savvy, unbiased advice on all matters financial (check out their web site, the Bogleheads Forum).\u00a0 “The Bogleheads are devotees of the philosophy of the late Jack Bogle, who revolutionized personal investing by making low-cost index funds available to the average investor.” Some long-time members banded together to write this book on retirement planning.\u00a0 It provides sound, in-depth advice consistent with the Bogleheads investing philosophy \u2013 keep it simple, keep costs low, invest using broad index funds, diversify, and stay the course. This book covers the basic retirement planning process, different types of pensions and retirement accounts, investing before and during retirement, social security claiming strategies, and withdrawal\/drawdown strategies.\u00a0 It also goes into topics often passed over in retirement planning books, including insurance\/protection against disasters, estate planning, estate and gift taxes, and dealing with a divorce or other financial disaster.\u00a0\u00a0 The book does have a couple of shortcomings.\u00a0 Since it was written by multiple authors, it reads like a compendium of articles and is somewhat lacking in narrative flow and focus.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, it was written over ten years ago and apparently has not been updated.\u00a0 Readers should keep in mind that some of the information on taxes, socials security and IRAs is out of date.\u00a0 Despite these issues, most people will learn a lot from reading this book, and the advice it dispenses is generally excellent.\u00a0 Recommended. Investing Investing Made Simple, by Mike Piper.  In this book, Mike Piper boils down the essential principles of investing into an easy read that you can finish in an hour or so.  He subscribes to the Boglehead philosophy of investing in low-cost index funds, which allows him (and you, if you follow his advice) to keep it simple.  He covers the different types of investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds), accounts (IRAs, etc.), risk vs. return, and setting a goal using the 4% Rule.  He makes the case for index funds or ETFs over individual stocks and actively managed funds and emphasizes tuning out the noise and staying the course.  It\u2019s pretty basic, but you won\u2019t go wrong if you follow his advice. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, by John C. Bogle.    This is a timeless gem by one of the giants of the investing world.  In this book, you get to read the case for low-cost index funds by the guy who invented and popularized them, democratizing the world of investing.  It\u2019s like reading Darwin on evolution, or Einstein on the Theory of Relativity.  The book has a fairly simple message: invest in low-cost index funds \u2013 \u201cbuy the market\u201d — and your results will beat the vast majority of active money managers and investors.  Perhaps unexpectedly to some, Bogle\u2019s writing is literate, readable and even witty.  The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.  His analysis of the investment world\u2019s \u201chelpers\u201d \u2013 money managers, brokers, advisers \u2013 presented in parable form, is devastating.  Their interests are not your interests, and trying to beat the market is, by and large, a fool\u2019s game.  “The book is sprinkled with quotations from not only the likes of Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, but also Sophocles and Tom Paine.”  Bogle smoothly assembles facts and figures, buttressed by experts and anecdotes, to make a very convincing case that you\u2019re best off buying the market rather than trying to beat it.  Listen to him \u2013 and read this book. The Four Pillars of Investing, by William Bernstein.  William Bernstein is an interesting character \u2013 he trained as a scientist and doctor, yet has become a well respected (if self-taught) expert on finance.  His vigorous, entertaining style makes this book quite readable despite some challenging concepts.  Bernstein organizes the world of investing into four \u201cpillars\u201d: The theory of investing — the nature of stocks and bonds, the relationship between risk and return, stock valuation (it\u2019s not magic \u2013 it should reflect future returns!), the difficulty of doing better than \u201caverage.\u201d The history of investing — an entertaining romp through some of financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrating that the market periodically goes \u201cbarking mad,\u201d and investors should be prepared. The psychology of investing — explores the fascinating world of behavioral finance, illustrating that markets \u2013 or at least investors \u2013 are a lot less rational than they think. The business of investing \u2013 in a no-holds-barred critique, Bernstein lays to rest any na\u00efve belief that financial professionals are there to help us.  “financial history\u2019s extreme events, from the South Sea bubble to the Crash of 1929 to the tech bubble \u2013 illustrate that the market periodically goes ‘barking mad'” This book is full of insights into investing, and is a rollicking read.  No coffee needed to stay awake. Stocks for the Long Run, by Jeremy Siegel.  Jeremy Siegel is a Finance Professor at the Wharton School, and a nationally recognized expert on finance and investing.  This book provides a truly long-run (since 1802!) view of the performance of stocks as an investment vs. alternatives, such as bonds and gold.  As you might guess, stocks win by a country mile.  This book also explores, objectively and thoroughly, issues of concern to individual investors \u2013 how to think about stock value, value vs. growth stocks, tax and inflation impacts, global vs. domestic markets, volatility and periodic crashes, technical analysis, and several popular stock investing strategies (e.g., the Dow\u2019s 10 highest yielding stocks).  By the end, this love letter to stocks should have you convinced that stocks really are the best long-term investment.  Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch.  Not everyone believes index investing is best.  After all, index investing...","og_url":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/","og_site_name":"Retirement Hangout","article_published_time":"2020-05-02T19:55:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/P4300035-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hangout Host","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hangout Host","Est. reading time":"14 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/index.php\/2020\/05\/02\/cabin-fever-curl-up-with-a-good-finance-book\/"},"author":{"name":"Hangout Host","@id":"https:\/\/retirementhangout.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8c4ae01981f8f32c14283392437fea2a"},"headline":"Cabin Fever? 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