Book Review: "The Hard Times Guide To Retirement Security"

Mark Miller, my entrepreneurial friend and author of the syndicated column, "Retire Smart" has really "hit a homerun" with the sage advice offered in his new book: "The Hard Times Guide To Retirement Security", published by Bloomberg Press.

In my rola as a leading business start-up coach and adviser to 50+ Boomers, I an constantly reading...retirement blogs, magazine and newspaper articles and, of course, books., looking for the best overall retirement-related advice I can offer to our clients.

Several publishers are kind enough to send me review copies of their new titles on the subject of retirement planning, so I'm usually pretty up to date on what is being said about retirement planning from self-described "experts".

I've read five books in the last year purporting to decipher the complete retirement planning puzzle in one place, backed with reliable data and actionable "take next" steps.

Well, I've got to tell you that until I speed-read Mark's book I couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing in the other books I have read recently on retirement planning.

Although Mark specializes in financial analysis and advice for those working through pre-retirement planning, he shows with his new book that he is equally adept at explaining the powerful trends and behaviors behind the consideration of "encore careers", volunteerism, and particularly my balliwick - running a business after age 50.

Often books in this category are gorged with statistics, charts and graphs, which even in full size are hard to read and understand, let alone in the smaller paperback book size.

Mark minimizes the use of such often distracting visual tools and relies upon his strength - telling real stories about real people to ilustrate each key point, tactic or trend.

For example, in Chapter 14: "Fifty Plus Entrepreneur", Mark uses the story of my start-up client, Al Brown to illustrate his motivation to become a 50+ entrepreneur and the fits and starts he has faced in bringing his now successful business to life.

Even the organization of the book's chapters reflects a clean, minimalist style - there are just three subdivisions: Money, Work and Living.

In case you haven't deduced it already in my blog post, I am highly recommending "The Hard Times Guide To Retirement Security" to each and every Boomer friend, colleague, neighbor, relative...and even strangers I run across.

You can learn a great deal more about the book and share additional, practical tips from Mark's weekly newspaper column, by visiting: www.hardtimesretirement.com.

You can buy Mark's book at Amazon.com - When you get your copy, don't forget to turn right away to Chapter 14 and share my pearls of wisdom on starting a fun and rewarding business after 50.

Great Success To You
Jeff