The Rule of 30
A Better Way to Save for Retirement
-
-
4.7 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Consider the age-old question of how much you should save to enjoy a comfortable retirement: Are your knees knocking? Are you nervously biting your nails?
In The Rule of 30 personal finance expert Frederick Vettese provides a surprising — and hopeful — answer. Through conversations between a young couple and their neighbor, a retired actuary, the couple and the reader discover:
• How they would have fared had they been saving over various periods in the past, and how the future investment climate will differ
• The problem with saving a constant percentage of pay
• The Rule of 30 and why it is a more rational way to save
• Whether investing in real estate is a viable alternative to investing in stocks
The Rule of 30 changes the mindset from saving the same flat percentage of pay to saving when it is most convenient to your situation. In most cases, it means less saving early on while mortgage payments are high and children are costly, and more saving later.
Saving for retirement is a high priority, but it is not the only priority in life. It is time to dispense with old myths like “just save 10% of your take-home pay.” The truth is we should save differently throughout our pre-retirement years — and The Rule of 30 is a road map for doing so.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When considering how much to save for retirement, the 10% rule of thumb is outdated, argues actuary Vettese (Retirement Income For Life) in this quirky if uneven survey. Now that defined pension plans are largely a thing of the past, he writes, people need to take on the responsibility (and risk) of planning their own retirement. To explore how to do so, Vettese presents a modern-day parable of a clueless early-30s couple and their retired-actuary neighbor, Jim, who leads them on a "financial odyssey." Vettese's lessons come as "Jim" leads the couple through financial planning topics such as identifying a realistic retirement income target, early mortgage payoffs, whether to rent or own, and tax planning: things come down to ditching a flat savings percentage in favor of saving when life is most amenable to it, averaging to about 30%. This is a good lesson in and of itself, but the wise mentor/young mentees model hamstrings the impact: not only does it feel forced, but it proves a significant distraction. And American readers will struggle to connect, as Vettese does calculations using account types and terms that will be unfamiliar and irrelevant. This feels like a missed opportunity.
More Books Like This