Book Review – Keys to a Successful Retirement – by Fritz Gilbert

Audience :

Those who are approaching retirement, or those who have already retired and want to improve their retirement

Content :

This book is easy to read, informative yet challenging. You are encouraged to think for yourself, and build your own plans for a successful retirement. Fritz writes in a clear style, it is easy to understand and follow through. There is a clear structure and it works best if you take time to think about all the questions he poses, rather than just treating it as something to read. Take time to ponder each chapter, and consider how it fits into your proposed plans.

I have been retired for about 9 years, and even as I read it, there were still some things that I hadn’t thought about, others where I said – absolutely right! Fritz includes the suggestion of a Test Retirement.  I personally took time off for a test retirement and found it invaluable in shaping the time until I retired. He also covers really understanding where your money goes, which is incredibly important.

Planning comes through all parts of the book. Fritz constantly challenges you to look ahead – what do you really want your life to look like? He intersperses these questions with some lovely thought provoking stories, and excellent examples, recognising that Retirement is a changing process. He recommends that you re-read the book 1 year in. “Most of the big ideas from this book will take a while to simmer”.

 An excellent analogy is that you consider retirement as you would baking a cake. “Just as in baking a cake, retirement takes careful planing, careful selection of what to include and what to omit, and a process to combine the elements into an end product you can enjoy for as long as it lasts”. Recipes can also be flexible. Even if you start deciding to make a vanilla cake, you still have the opportunity to change the frosting from strawberry to chocolate. It can flex, as you build each layer.

Throughout the book, you will find simple Retirement Tips, and these are also summarized toward the end of the book for easy reference.  The most important one in my view, was the very first –  Invest as much time as possible into planning for your retirement

The chapter on financial planning is very comprehensive, from working out what you spend, to what activities you want to do in retirement, and the essentials of life such as health insurance, not to mention – where are you going to live?  Are you going to calculate conservatively or more agressively. Are you being as tax-efficient as you should be?  Many sensible questions, encouraging you to think  about them in advance of your actual retirement.

Fritz highlights that there is far more to retirement than money, although money is very important. There are many other considerations, from social to spiritual and many other aspects.  He walks you through each one.

One of the key thoughts that came out for me, is that you get the opportunity to design what you want in your retirement. Take time to consider it. You are the designer. Difficult subjects that might affect your retirement are addressed, such as depression, grey divorce, losing your sense of purpose, your identity among others. He highlights that it’s OK to seek help.

Fritz has also taken the time to build a very comprehensive list of resources, from his favourite blogs, how to find a financial planner, retirement podcasts to health insurance, and many more besides.

You’ll really enjoy this book, it’s thought provoking, but yet easy to read.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the book ‘Retirement is best lived with a positive attitude of curiosity, a willingness to explore, an openness to change’ .

The book comes out on May 5th 2020. If you want to pre-order the book you can get it on Amazon (this is an affiliate link for Fritz – I don’t get anything from it!) You can find out more about the author, Fritz Gilbert, and his writing on The Retirement Manifesto.

Note – I have not been paid to do this review.