#95 – Revised Retirement Resources

(This is a major revision of post #68, titled “Retirement Resources”, which started out with just a few useful websites on retirement subjects. It didn’t address any of the retirement-themed podcasts or books I’ve consumed over the past four years, so now I’m going to try and make a manageable list of my preferred resources and add to it as I find other gems.)

Note. I find myself putting out this kind of content less for the typical reader of this blog and more for your children and grandchildren…but I’m counting on you to pass it onto them.

Many of you have go-to sources for retirement/pre-retirement information (and if you do, I’d be interested to hear about them). For a number of subjects, “you don’t know what you don’t know,” which is why I started the blog, and why I continue to research a variety of resources even in retirement. There are hundreds of sources. I’ve listed below several of my favorites, most of them efficiently informative and entertaining (and I’ve tried to minimize references to any source trying to sell something, although most good podcasts these days have advertisements). Many tend to be financially-centric. As I add to the list, I’ll try to make it more balanced:

Books.

The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel). This easy-to-read source highlights the psychological influences on how individuals approach handling money over a lifetime- saving, spending, investing, philanthropy, and all things related. Housel is a master at illustrating points with true stories. This is so much more about psychology than about money. I would especially recommend this book for pre-retirees.

Same as Ever (Morgan Housel). If you read and like the above book, then you’ll enjoy this one as well. Again, the author will change the way you absorb information from books, television, internet, etc., although he and I part ways on his thoughts regarding evolution theory.

How Not to Die (Dr. Michael Greger). OK, I’m using a bit of dishonest bait-and-switch here. Dr. Greger’s written a number of nutrition-related books, with this one having a more eye-catching title (sort of like “click bait”). But you won’t get the full informational and entertainment benefits unless you see Dr. Greger on video. My suggestion is that you check out any of the dozens of YouTube clips on Greger’s How Not to Die book, and if the information catches your interest, go find the book.

The Great Age Reboot (Michael Roizen). This book provides easy-to-read insight into upcoming medical breakthroughs and how they may impact not only life longevity, but so many other aspects of the world. You can find more details of the book under post #64.

The Blue Zones (Dan Buettner). Actually there are a couple of Blue Zone books by Buettner- Blue Zones being geographic regions around the world where there are significantly greater percentages of the population living beyond the age of 100. Post #86 gives a brief summary of this subject (which also has a related website).

The Millionaire Next Door (Thomas Stanley). This book has a couple of editions and a related website. For me the book was very entertaining with plenty of “I didn’t know that!” moments. I first read it twenty-five years ago, and have just decided I’m going to read it again (for the third time) and write a blog post on it.

(Pause for a short break…by now you may be asking “Does he ever study sources not written by a man?”, and the answer is yes, barely. But I’m working on a better balance. In the MasterClass section below, both episodes exclusively feature women.)

Millionaire Women Next Door (Thomas Stanley). Same approach as Stanley’s first books (lots of supporting metrics, but the individual stories are the real gems). Somewhere along the line he and his wife decided there are completely different stories out there about women. They were right.

More Than Enough (Mike Piper). For a whole $5 on Amazon you can get this book. Piper highlights the trend where so many retirees go the extra mile to ensure they have enough resources to retire, then soon realize after retiring that they have way more than enough to live comfortably for their lifetime. There are so many potential considerations beyond the decision between a couple giving their resources after their lifetimes to charity and/or leaving to family members. I’d recommend this resource primarily for those already in retirement. A brief summary can be found in Post #94.

Richer, Wiser, Happier (William Green). If your first thought (like mine) is that this book describes the path from “richer” to “happier”, you’ll be way off the mark. True, it is a collection of discussions between the author and some very rich individuals, but you’ll be surprised at how the conversations go. At the same time, you’ll gain even more insight if you listen in on any of Green’s interviews with these individuals under the We Study Billionaires podcast (highlighted below). Green’s English accent lends additional joy to listening to the lengthy podcast conversations.

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (Ben Carson). All I can say is that this is an amazing and inspiring story. It’s an autobiography, but Dr. Carson does not hold back on many of his mistakes along the way.

(I am still in search of excellent books/resources on Purposeful Living, Critical Thinking, and Medicare. I know they’re out there, just haven’t found them yet. If you have any suggestions, I am glad to check them out.)

Podcasts

“Ready for Retirement“. Hosted by James Conole, founder of the Root Financial Partners company ( rootfinancialpartners.com ) in California. I’ve found his episodes to be outstanding- specific, more educational and less entertaining.

The Investors Podcast. Also known as “We Study Billionaires”. Over ten years of episodes. The best ones are interviews (lasting 60-150 minutes), but you’ll find other excellent conversations on today’s investing themes.

“Sound Retirement Planning”. Hosted by Jason Parker, and like most other podcasts, has an associated investment company and website with retirement planning tools- some free, some not. Also like other related podcasts, brings on excellent subject matter guests. This podcast was the subject of my first endorsement back in February 2021 (Post #8).

“Bigger Pockets Money“. An entertaining and informative venue focused on younger generations’ obsession with the Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE) movement, hosted by Mindy Jensen and Scott Trench. They mix up stories on interesting family FIRE efforts and related subject matter experts. As is often the case, it’s one of the plug-ins to a much larger business ( BiggerPockets.com ) that has multiple investment tools and programs.

“Afford Anything“. Hosted by Paula Pant (finally, I woman-based reference). I used to listen to Paula regularly, but for no good reason, it dropped off my radar until just recently. There’s plenty of excellent financial and FIRE content, but my favorite aspect of the podcast is Paula’s emphasis on applying critical thinking to other components of life.

“Retirement Wisdom“. If I had a vision for turning my blog into a money-making endeavor, I would use this business as the model. It could have gone under the website section below, or anywhere else in this post. In fact, if you want a thorough look at their website offerings, check out my post #88. They take a “full spectrum” view of retirement, including mentoring services (and an offer to be trained and join their team if you’re so inclined).

There are so many excellent retirement-themed podcasts, many which have fallen off my radar screen, which I’ll need to dig up and add to this list.

(Note. Many of the sources below, including the government websites, have podcast libraries and daily/weekly electronic newsletters worth checking out. When I find some that stand out, I will highlight them.)

Websites

TransAmerica Center for Retirement Studies. This website has a ton of information on pre-retirement/ retirement subjects via tools, articles, research papers, podcasts, etc. A good percentage of the information is common sense, but each person’s common sense “threshold” is different (mine’s pretty low on the full spectrum). I promise you’ll find some things in there you don’t already know. For example, I did not know that 11% of retirees are taking care of grandkids. And remember, your kids are right in the middle of their pre-retirement life cycle. https://www.transamericacenter.org/

Mr. Money Mustache website. If you really want to look through an entertaining online Financially Independent/Retire Early (FIRE) resource, and what to do with all that free time, start with a few minutes on the below website. There are dozens of excellent FIRE-based websites, but Mr. Money Mustache is generally credited with being the leader within this movement: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/

Note. To learn more about the FIRE movement, check out this blog’s Post #45.

I shouldn’t have been surprised to see how much pre-retirement information was on the IRS and Social Security government websites. If there’s one thing I’m going to do in the near term, it’s tell my kids to look at both websites, and consider starting their https://www.ssa.gov account now so they’ll have an idea what their options will be as they approach their 60s (assuming no law changes).

I found the https://www.gobankingrates.com/ website to be full of interesting information for those on both sides of the retirement threshold. For some good entertainment, check out their article below:

https://www.gobankingrates.com/retirement/planning/brilliant-retirement-ideas/

(Note. This post is not intended to be an endorsement of any products offered on either the government or non-government sources listed above. The post simply highlights these entities as examples of interesting sources of retirement and pre-retirement information)

(University of) Michigan Retirement and Disability Research Center (MRDRC). This is one of two federally-funded websites dedicated to retirement research. There’s an amazing amount of research data (and associated reports) here, much of it used to help shape public policy. The problem is that the published data must fit the government’s agenda- it’s by no means the only federally-funded institute with that issue. More so than any other resource listed here, this is where you need to apply that all-important critical thinking to get to ground truth.

Of course each major/minor investment firm website has retirement information links. Some of our military-associated sources (like USAA or NFCU) could learn a few things from their non-military-related counterparts. And there are dozens of other websites who’s sole purpose is to inform on retirement planning, whether it be financial independence/early retirement (FIRE) or “traditional” retirement. I will add those I get a chance to review when they stand out.

MasterClass Online Classes

You may have heard of this streaming service. We’ve subscribed for the last two years. It’s a collection of celebrity-led classes on dozens of subjects, with most classes lasting one-to-three hours each. They are educational, entertaining, and inspirational. If you’re a “foodie” (I am not, but my wife is), this will hit your sweet spot. There are hundreds of classes included, and they are constantly adding new subjects. I gave our subscription to my wife and son as a Christmas gift two years ago and it’s been a big hit. The full annual price is $180, but they often have sales throughout the year (as I type this, the Summer Special is about $75/year). As examples, I’d like to highlight two of their classes:

• Brain Health
• Impactful Giving by Melinda French Gates

OK, this is just a small sample of high-quality retirement-based resources out there. Will edit the list occasionally as I come across other sources, especially those which are efficiently informative and entertaining.