South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Excellent resources for personal finance planning
Periodically, I recommend personal finance books and periodicals that I believe will help you make the right decisions in your financial life both before and after retirement.
To begin with, for a comprehensive overview of the many aspects of managing personal finances, I recommend “Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk and a Better Life” by Laurence Kotlikoff (Little Brown Spark), which will be available in January.
Kotlikoff is a professor of economics at Boston University and is recognized as one of the nation’s leading personal finance experts. His book covers a wide variety of topics, including careers, Social Security, housing, divorce, college costs, student aid and investment diversification. The book is worthwhile reading because much of his advice is unique but sound.
Here is a list of the leading titles in several topic areas:
Social Security: I recommend “Maximizing Social Security Retirement Benefits: Everything You Need to Know to Get the Most Out of Complicated New Claiming Rules” by Mary Beth Franklin. Franklin is a certified financial planner who writes regularly for Investment News. This well-written ebook is available at MaximizingSocialSecurityBenefits.com.
Annuities: My favorite author regarding annuities is Stan Haithcock, aka Stan the Annuity Man. He is an expert in the field, and I have worked with him for more than 10 years. He has written several free, easy-to-understand brochures covering all aspects of annuities, both pro and con, which are available at his website, StanTheAnnuityMan.com. Stan is interested in recommending the most cost-effective type of annuity for his clients; when a product has high commissions, he points this out in his brochures. I have never received a complaint from readers about his services, and I always refer readers with an interest in annuities to Stan.
Retirement plans: Ed Slott (IRAhelp. com) has expertise in all phases of retirement plans in general and IRAs in particular. Whenever readers have complex issues, Ed Slott and his staff always respond quickly and accurately to any reader inquiries. They regularly update their “Retirement Decisions Guide.” I recommend that if you want up-to-date information about the latest regulations, you should obtain this guide. Regulations in this area are complex, and without reliable information you can make mistakes that cost you thousands of dollars. In addition, the company has many welltrained “fee-only” financial planners. If you need the services of competent financial planners, you can request recommendations in your geographical area.
Medicare: Your decisions regarding Medicare are extremely important. You can easily be penalized if you don’t sign up for certain parts of Medicare in a timely manner. The decisions you make regarding which parts of Medicare you sign up for are complex; the wrong decisions can be very costly. I have found that “Get What’s Yours for Health Care: How to Get the Best Care at the Right Price” by Philip Moeller (Simon & Schuster) is excellent.
His book includes many sources of information that will make it much easier for you to make the right cost-effective decisions.
Retirement: I highly recommend “How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide” by Jane Bryant Quinn (Simon and Schuster). Quinn covers all aspects of retirement in a comprehensive manner. Her book is easy to read, and includes the sources she has used in the book, many of which I regularly use myself. She covers health insurance, Social Security, pension issues, retirement plans, income investing, real estate issues (including reverse mortgages) and life insurance in depth. I found her advice in all these areas to be sound and easy to read.
As for other resources, I recommend reading the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Investment News. These periodicals have helped me stay up-to-date with the latest financial information.