"Concise, clear and crammed with common sense. With practical worksheets, helpful sidebars and hit-home examples. Keeps the process of retirement planning rational and unemotional. With every paragraph working overtime for you, this book is the best investment you'll make -- before retirement."
-- Robert Kotler, MD, FACS, Author and UCLA Instructor

Retirement Readiness has received an Honorable Mention in the How-To Category for the 2008 New England Book Festival Awards!

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The Money/Finance Shelf

Midwest Book Review's web site
RETIREMENT READINESS:
Mike Bonacorsi
Peter E. Randall Publisher
PO Box 4726, Portsmouth, NH 03802-4726
ISBN: 978-1-931807-71-5, $14.95

To be free of work, to spend one's life doing what they want. "Retirement Readiness: Creating Your Vision, Knowing Your Position, & Preparing for Your Future" is a guide to planning for one's retirement so one can spend it how they dreamed themselves spending it. One spends up to four decades of one's life preparing for it, and Mike Bonacorsi has advice to make sure it is not floundered. "Retirement Readiness" is highly recommended for anyone who wants to make sure their future stays as planned.

Kirkus Discoveries Review

Financial planner Bonacorsi squares expectations with resources to help readers shape a sensible retirement plan. The author tenders an interactive course in individualized retirement planning by presenting concerns that must be addressed, then giving readers worksheets to fill in with honest answers. He cautions that this will not result in a detailed plan. Instead it is intended to be a critical step toward retirement understanding.

In a voice that is comfortable, encouraging and direct, Bonacorsi approaches retirement the way a coach would approach a coming contest-this is what is going to be thrown at you and these are the tools you need to respond.

There is much to be considered and only by taking in the factors in manageable doses will readers be able to design a plan that reflects reality. Certainly, putting dreams out on the table is a good place to start. Then comes the nit and grit of financial considerations-somehow those goals will have to be underwritten. Even before then, "first you need to see how your income and savings stack up against your bills."

This is bedrock stuff, and Bonacorsi makes it as black and white as possible, while fielding little nuances like inflation and tax rates. The worksheets alert readers to financial surprises and help locate bumps, mostly healthcare, in the road ahead. Particularly valuable is the author's overview of Medicare, which will make a few eyes bulge. Thought it was free, did you, after paying for it all those years? "Estimates are that a retiree will need $250,000 and up to pay Medicare premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and uncovered drug costs." Don't despair, there are alternatives.

Bonacorsi closes this slim, digestible -- if modestly rattling, though it's better to know where you stand -- volume with some preliminary guidance on how to go about planning your estate.

A praiseworthy primer, Bonacorsi meshes personal and financial gears to get retirement wheels rolling.

Readers' Comments

Mike Bonacorsi CFP® wrote this interactive title as a precursor to, and tool for, successful retirement planning. With close to twenty years of retirement and investment planning, Bonacorsi has seen clients who have already made the leap into retirement without any real direction or thought. They want a lifestyle that does not match up with their finances, or they make decisions based on what may or may not be working for someone else. This readable guide uses anecdotes, and end of chapter questions, to jumpstart the process of retirement visioning and create focus for the dreams and goals of the retirement years.

"A book . . . for everyone who is contemplating retirement in the coming years. The earlier the better! It is an easy read for those who find planning for life and finances a challenge. He brings the subject down to basics in a form understandable to all of us baby-boomers and beyond."

"Retirement Readiness is a must read‚ whether you're retiring this year or years from now. In his direct, down to earth style, Mike has written an easy to understand guide that cuts through the maze of retirement information and puts you in control of your future. Buy it, read it, work it and you'll be prepared to really enjoy life after your 9 to 5."