Book Reviews

"The Retirement Savings Time Bomb..How to Defuse it"- by Ed Slott

We think that if we put our money away in IRA’s, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and other retirement plans that it will be there for us when we and our families need it. Right? Wrong. The IRS is waiting to grab up to 90 percent of it. How you distribute, rollover, withdraw, and secure your IRA (and your inherited nest egg) is critical in preventing it from being gobbled up by taxes and penalties.

In The Retirement Savings Time Bomb…and How to Defuse It, “America’s IRA expert” and renowned tax advisor Ed Slott will show you how to avoid losing up to 90 percent in taxes and how to preserve your hard-earned saving for generations to come. For years, the tax code has seemed impenetrable to the everyday working American. But by implementing his simple 5-step Action Plan, readers will be well on their way to protecting themselves, their families, and their investments from the government. The Retirement Savings Time Bomb… and How to Defuse It is the perfect guide to transform the country’s tax uneducated into the tax savvy.

"The Road to Wealth" - by Suze Orman

Suze Orman’s #1 bestsellers The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom and The Courage to Be Rich changed the way we think about our money, helping us overcome our emotional roadblocks to financial freedom. Now, Suze delivers a fully accessible and authoritative resource, loaded with information critical to every stage of our financial lives. The Road to Wealth provides us with practical answers to all the questions we might — or should– have about our financial futures. Sound, straight forward, fiercely honest and easy-to-understand, Suze’s advice gives us the knowledge and power to :

  • Create a strong, debt-free foundation
  • Amass assets and protect them through economic downturns
  • Buy a home and provide for loved ones
  • Invest with confidence and navigate the market in good time and bad
  • Secure reliable income for our later years

Suze Orman urges us to browse through the table of contents and index, then consult the pages that speak directly to our lives right now. In times like these, it’s important to know there is a guide we can truly trust.

"WOMEN & MONEY Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny" - by Suze Orman

Bestselling author (2005’s The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke, etc.) and host of her own CNBC show, Orman encourages women to “give to yourself as much as you give of yourself” in her ninth financial advice book, sure to resonate with legions of readers who will appreciate her straightforward advice and supportive tone. Aiming squarely for a female audience, Orman guides readers through the very basics of finances. She explores why women have dysfunctional relationships with money and notes the ways they undervalue themselves or “treat themselves as a commodity whose price is set by others,” while also sharing the story of her own evolving relationship with her finances. Though her explanation of the “8 qualities of a wealthy woman” (harmony, balance, courage, etc.) is more inspirational than practical, she also presents a concrete five-month “save yourself plan” for financial repair, starting with setting aside checking and savings accounts, fixing one’s credit rating, saving for retirement, setting up a will and purchasing home insurance. This encouraging guide will not intimidate women who are foundering financially.

"Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune" - Ed Slott

In Parlay Your IRA, Ed Slott shows you how to make the most out of your retirement plan. Slott’s three-step strategy cuts through the tax laws and provides simple, easy-to-follow instructions for managing your IRA and other retirement income. Learn what you can do to parlay it into a fortune during your lifetime, and what you must do now to ensure that your beneficiaries will have all the options available to capitalize on the opportunity you’ve created for them to keep your money growing.

Packed with strategies, tips, answers to frequently asked questions Parlay Your IRA into a Family Fortune offers real solutions to making the most of your retirement money.

Learn how to:

  • Achieve unlimited tax-free income when you retire.
  • Pass more assets on to loved ones and other beneficiaries
  • Keep retirement assets in the family for decades, even generations, and pay minimal or no taxes
  • Protect your retirement account from creditors, divorce, bankruptcy, lawsuits, or other problems that could expose it to loss
  • Use a Roth IRA to build a tax-free fortune
  • And much, much more

The Medicaid Planning Handbook by Alexander Bove

A family coping with the serious illness of one of its members can be emotionally devastated. Not the least of their concerns is the crippling financial burden that accompanies a long-term health problem. Attorney Bove shows how to plan for the economic side of catastrophic illness. Bove walks us through the Medicaid morass, packing a small book with facts, definitions, and case studies that illustrate how to protect family assets when a loved one is entering a nursing home. He explains the laws governing Medicaid and Medicare and distinguishes revocable and irrevocable trusts as well as the role they play in preserving financial stability. He also discusses long-term care insurance, durable powers of attorney, and arranging for the guardianship of incompetent persons. Bove’s book lacks the sample forms and model trusts included in Armond D. Budish’s Avoiding the Medicaid Trap ( LJ 7/89), but is nonetheless a concise presentation of valuable information. Highly recommended for public libraries.

Tax-Free Retirement by Patrick Kelly

Tax Free Retirement will show you how to avoid 9 common Financial Landmines, teach you how to generate tax-free retirement income, explain how to muultiply your IRA two or three fold for future generations and help you leave a lasting legacy beyond your wildest imagination.

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