Two professional financial planners address the needs of people nearing and entering retirement.
In this debut personal finance book, DiSalvo and Madarasz discuss common financial planning concerns, from portfolio rebalancing to asset distribution, while maintaining a focus on readers’ needs for retirement. The book is aimed at imminent retirees, as opposed to those with decades of saving and investing ahead of them, and it targets its advice accordingly. The authors explain principles of long-term investing and Social Security payments in clear language that’s easy to understand, while also making a compelling case for relying on expert financial assistance. The book does an excellent job of explaining its key concepts, such as the distinction between risk and volatility, and it also ably addresses the psychological challenges of responsible investing; for instance, DiSalvo and Madarasz note that readers must prepare for “the first time in their lives that their investments and their income are tightly intertwined.” They skillfully delineate the difference between targeting a retirement date and planning for the duration of one’s retirement, as well. The book distinguishes itself from others of its type in how it teaches readers how to meet immediate and future financial needs without chiding them for missing out on decades of potential gains. Those who have a solid knowledge of financial planning will find little new information here, but for novices, the book will provide an informative and readable introduction to the fundamentals, as well as supportive guidance on making basic value judgments that underlie the process. The book also includes several worksheets and links to further resources on the authors’ website.
An informative, well-reasoned guide to making smart retirement decisions.Pub Date: April 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5445-0317-2
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: PERSONAL FINANCE | BUSINESS | SELF-HELP
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A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
Categories: BUSINESS | LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION | PSYCHOLOGY
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A hip-hop star who went on his first international tour wearing an ankle monitor explains how to succeed.
“The words you are about to read can help you,” writes Gucci. “That’s because there is truth in them. These are words of wisdom, like the Bible and its proverbs.” Unquestionably, Gucci likes to aim high, as many of his proverbs attest: “Stop Underestimating Yourself”; “Whatever You’re Thinking, Think Bigger”; “Nobody Cares. Work Harder”; “When They Sleep, I’m Grinding”; “Do More, Get More.” And never forget, “Women Are Brilliant.” Gucci not only shares his recipes for success. As in a cookbook that shows pictures of the end result, the author includes dozens of dazzling photos of himself and his beautiful wife, among them a series on his surprise wedding proposal at an Atlanta Hawks game. After the success of his bestselling debut, The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, Gucci has realized there is money to be made in the book business. In addition to the Bible, he has his eye on Malcolm Gladwell and his reported $5 million advances. While he is “cool with Malcolm Gladwell being more celebrated than me as an author…the difference between Malcolm Gladwell and me is that I’m going to make more money because I’m going to make so many books for my following….You can enjoy this book or not, but I’m going to make my fifty-second book, my hundred and eighth book.” Many readers will hope that one of them will be a diet book, as the 100-plus pounds Gucci has lost and kept off are a frequent topic—alas, he doesn’t reveal his weight loss secrets here. Until the next book, try to live the Gucci Mane way. “Avoid lazy and miserable people,” and “Find something to be excited about every day.”
Gucci demonstrates all the bravado and ferocious self-confidence that he counsels—and the photos are a nice bonus.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982146-78-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2020
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