How to Retire Early and Live Well

by Gillette Edmunds

Describes how a retiree can live comfortably on $500,000 or less. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580622011
• ISBN13: 9781580622011
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

This book predicted the future!

This is a remarkable book. It came out in January 2000. We would have all been better off if we followed this advice back then. I only recently bought the book. More accurately than any other investment book of the year 2000, it predicted the future. On page 212 it says, "It is insane to put all your retirement money in U.S. stocks. Why risk the chance of never being able to retire if you are wrong?" In fact, it cautions to not put more than one third of your retirement in U.S. stocks. Chapter 7 suggests that real estate will be a better asset class than stocks for the next decade. Since the day this book was published, this certainly has been true. Babyboomers need to save for retirement, it says. But they are better off saving in undervalued real estate than overvalued stocks. The returns will be higher. In chapter 9, the author states that oil and gas will be excellent investments for the next decade. So far that too is right on the money. There are a lot more excellent suggestions in this book. It cost less than one trade at my discount broker. Damn I wish I bought this book in January 2000. I'm going to buy his REIT report as soon as it comes out....

Retire Early--Yes you can!

I've read just about every book written in the last couple years about early retirement. If I could read just one book, then this would be the one. This book give comprehensive advice on both the financial and psychological (which is the more difficult one for me) aspects of early retirement. This book make me feel empowered to reach my dreams. After a quick calculation I happily found out that early retirement is an option for me right now! And the book contains some great financial tools for both current and future retirees.

Finally! Someone got it right

Just imagine: retirement advice based on the real life experience of someone who has made it work for himself over nearly 20 years. Mr. Edmunds doesn't tell you to accumulate millions before you retire. He doesn't define "diversification" in terms of products he hopes to sell you. And he won't give you answers in terms only an MBA could understand.Instead, he identifies 13 different asset classes (yes, 13!) and tells you quite simply which ones work, which ones don't, and how to create a workable portfolio to meet your needs. He uses numerous examples of people with differing needs and objectives, and shows how to apply his principals in each case. (Surely, one of them must be similar to your own...) But the world of finance is not static, so Edmunds goes a step beyond: he gives a detailed method for evaluating that new asset class you just learned about, and determining if it fits your needs. While no book has all the answers, this one comes mighty close. I recommend it without reservation whether you have retired already, plan to retire soon, or are dreaming of the far-off future. For most folks, retirement is a question of assets rather than age, and this book can bring that dream closer than you might think.

Retire Early and Survive a Market Crash

This is a good investment book and extremely cheap. The real cover is also much nicer than the one shown here. It is quite realistic. It does not advocate living below the poverty line so your can save up enough to retire early off the meager returns from treasury bonds in a meager retirement. The main focus is investing well during retirement so you can afford to live well in retirement. This in not primarily a lifestyle book but an investing book. Humility in investing is mentioned many times but not living a humble lifestyle. It says many places that if we lose all our nest egg from bad investments during retirement, it does not matter how humble a lifestyle we have, we are going back to work. The concept that we are all sold our asset allocations rather than choosing them is also a big part of this book. Since stocks and bonds generally go up and down at the same time, only a salesperson could have convinced us that buying both is diversification. I have never seen any book or heard any stockbroker or mutual fund representative ever recommend real estate as part of a retirement portfolio. Yet I know people who have made a fortune in real estate and live comfortably off real estate in retirement. This is the first book I know of that thinks outside the box of conventional retirement investment planning. It advocates choosing between stocks, bonds, real estate, international stocks, and several other asset classes. Since I have concerns that the U.S. stock market can continue as it has in recent years, I am glad to know there are other places I can make money to get me to an early retirement. There is also a chapter on surviving a market crash with your nest egg and sanity intact. This is looking like a very timely book. Good book, great price.