Why Swim with the Sharks? An Unconventional Guide to Early Retirement

by Diana Salomaa

Don’t think you can afford to retire early? Conventional wisdom assumes baby boomers will continue consuming their way through life. This requires the right mix of investments earning high returns, so... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 0973706007
• ISBN13: 9780973706000
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: FinePrintPress
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

about a good book on early retirement

If you're thinking about early retirement, this is the book to read. It is well-written, not-at-all pretentious, and quite inspiring because of its fresh approach to retirement planning. Some themes are repeated in some chapters, but this is for practical reasons in my opinion, because you can pick up this book from time to time and re-read individual chapters whenever you want. In fact, this is what I have done, and it's a good way to read, pause, think about your retirement some more, and then go back and re-read a different chapter. Having said all that, even one full reading of the book would be worth the money you pay for it, because the advice from these authors is unique, rationale and well-formulated. You or your current financial advisor may not agree with everything, but this book unquestionably offers some valid insights and approaches that will help you work out your retirement plans. Some chapters in the book have valuable forms or exercises to help guide you to setting out your own financial status and scenarios, now and for the future. In general, this book provides some down-to-earth examinations and discussions about how realistic it may be for someone to retire at age 60 or earlier, rather than waiting until age 65 when health problems are more likely to be an issue. I am 47, with relatively small investments and no company pension plan. I was expecting to work until age 65, given that I spent much of my twenties not working too hard (at least not putting savings aside), and all of my thirties and forties much more focused on raising kids than investing or saving. Now that I have read this book, I would recommend it to anyone (at any age) who is ready to do some serious thinking or re-assessment of their retirement plan. This book has inspired me to re-affirm my own commitment to retirement by 60, at the latest. It also clarified, at least in Canada, that the Canada Pension Plan is working, and will likely be there (as it should be) for me as one stable income source in retirement. Whether you use the forms in the book or not, the book is an easy read and offers a decent alternative to the "standard" advice that you may get from "professional" financial advisors. These authors may not be "financial gurus" but what they have to say was good enough for me. Read it, think about it and invest the price of the book in your own future.