Book Tour: Retirement Quest by John Hauserman, CFP

I was asked (almost begged) to review this book and thought, "Why not?"  Here I am, thirty years old, with five and a third kiddos, in my last year of school, so now is the best time to get my act together!

About the Book

RetirementQuest: Make Better Decisions was written by a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner who has been counseling clients since 1992. Drawing from his twenty years of experience, John Hauserman has developed a unique ability to communicate complex financial subject matter in easy to understand terms. Readers are guided through the basics of financial planning, while threads of politics, history, and psychology are woven together to create a tapestry of deeper understanding into the financial planning world. Complete with hard hitting insight into the practices and sometimes abuses of the financial services industry, John has created a masterpiece designed to help those responsible-minded investors who are seeking to avoid common planning mistakes.

 

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About the Author
John Hauserman, CFP, is the chief executive officer of Retirement Journey, LLC.  He oversees the details of the RetirementQuest planning experience.  Baltimore Magazine named John a five-star wealth manager, based on nine criteria, including customer service, integrity, knowledge and expertise, communication, value for fee charged, and overall satisfaction (see more info here).  In 2011 John was named the Baltimore area regional ambassador serving on behalf of the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER Board of Standards.

My Thoughts
Wow!  There is a lot of information in this little book!  It starts off with a lot of scares (if you think that Social Security is still going to be around when you retire).  I personally have thought that the only way I am getting any help after I stop working is if my husband or I get a fantastic job that gives retirement.  The likelihood is slim, so I am pretty much counting on saving money like crazy, once we both get real jobs and can afford to put away more money.  I like the examples used to show that it doesn't have to cost a lot!  Especially the example of the young man who put $100 each into a whole life (for $100,000 benefit), term life ($1 million benefit), and a 401K.  No matter what happened, he was covered by something, but the term life can expire or premiums get huge, the whole life isn't worth nearly as much (He is fully opposed to Whole-life, as am I), and the 401K was great!  I never thought of comparing prices to see how much life insureance I should really get, but am now rethinking my amount, because I'm worth way more than the initial amount I signed up for five years ago. 
I also like the information about different investments and different investment "counselors."    I LOVE the political commentary!  It's obvious that our government doesn't know what it is doing, and is not likely to figure out the debt situation anytime soon.  On page 94, it says (in bold print):  "The reckless trend of political leadership to continually pander for votes by promising everincreasing benefits while refusing to pay for them represents the single most significant threat to our economy (and way of life) over the long term."  It also reminds us that we need to stop blaming others, and be held personally responsible for our own future!  Yes!  We need to have a "well thought out systematic approach to financial planning..."  As you can tell, I think this book is great and will be keeping it in my bookshelf!

Buy it!
You can buy your own on Amazon for only $14.99!