A reasonable, coherent explanation of annuities that occasionally reads more like a sales brochure than a personal finance...
A finance professional’s guide to annuities as a tool for managing income in retirement.
In this debut business book, Haithcock combines clearly written, easy-to-follow advice on purchasing annuities as an investment tool with a pitch for his services as an annuity broker. He explains the purpose of an annuity—using the acronym PILL: Principal protection, Income for life, Legacy, Long-term care/confinement care—and introduces readers to the different products available and the potential advantages and disadvantages of each. Sentences—e.g., “Annuities are in essence contractual guarantees. That is how they should be considered—and in a perfect world, sold”—make the book seem like it’s aimed at an audience just above novice. Haithcock is also straightforward in explaining to readers what annuities are not well-suited for: “No annuity product on the planet will combat hyperinflation. It’s really just that simple, so do not believe any hyperinflation annuity hype or projected number scenarios.” While the book’s factual information is reasonable and delivered in an evenhanded tone, readers may begin to tire of the numerous references to the business and services Haithcock offers, most of which are accompanied in the text by trademark or copyright symbols. The body of the text contains about 30 references to “The AnnuityMan Steakhouse,” Haithcock’s term for his company’s offerings—“Because you should buy an annuity for the steak, not the sizzle”—and the phrase “Stan the Annuity Man” appears even more frequently. Some of Haithcock’s references to himself seem to be tongue-in-cheek, such as the inclusion of his birth on a timeline of events in annuity history. At other times, the salesmanship is simply over-the-top: “Annuity Realityville is a place I never leave. I love living there. It is a place where we only consider the contractual guarantees, and we fully explain and understand the good and the bad of every strategy before we make any decisions.” Readers who approach the book with a degree of skepticism are most likely to find it effective.
A reasonable, coherent explanation of annuities that occasionally reads more like a sales brochure than a personal finance guide.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-0615895512
Page Count: 140
Publisher: AnnuityMan Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
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