IT'S ALL ABOUT THE INCOME

Financial planner Lynch provides a plan for people contemplating retirement in this financial how-to book.

“Your gut tells you that you have enough money to retire, but your head is not quite sure,” the author writes, and his book aims to help readers make up their minds. He begins with the story of a fictional potential retiree named Maria who had a sizable savings account that generated enough interest to supplement her Social Security income. But with the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, she lost most of that supplemental income. Lynch uses this example to examine earlier financial truisms that no longer work in today’s market: “It’s time for a new formula and a new definition of safety,” he says. The book aims to help readers find ways to generate wealth that aren’t subject to economic swings that are out of readers’ control. Using real-life examples, Lynch analyzes how much each family needs in various “buckets” to generate income, outlining three basic parts to any retirement plan: principal, which is a “U.S. government-denominated asset that will never decline in nominal value”; reliable income; and growth that outpaces inflation. Over the course of the book, Lynch explains these three aspects of generating retirement income in simple, clear terms, and with each example, he includes easy-to-understand charts and illustrations to clarify his points. Those who are familiar with retirement literature are likely to find it rather generic, though, with few new insights. That said, many readers will appreciate the takeaway that not considering inflation when planning for retirement can be a costly oversight: “Inflation: The carbon monoxide of retirement—the slow, silent killer that turns a dollar into fifty cents.”

A straightforward, if rather basic, understanding of income considerations in one’s later years.