SAVVY GUIDES FOR HOME AND BUSINESS：SAVING FOR RETIREMENT：SUPERCHARGE YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE！

GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RETIREMENT PLAN

In a direct and easy-to-use style, the Savvy Savings Guide series offers great financial advice for both your personal and professional life. With each new book, you'll learn how to earn more, spend less, and save for important events such as retirement and your child's college education. From paying less on your taxes to starting a small business the Savvy Savings Guide series will help you save money and succeed!

Whether you're just getting started, mid-career, or on the verge of retirement, Saving for Retirement will put you on the right track.

Here's how to:
* Build your retirement plan effectively and easily
* Retire comfortably on a shoestring
* Understand how the new tax law will help you save more for retirement
* Focus on personal retirement concerns, such as managing investments, saving money, getting out of debt, dealing with IRA rollovers, and much more
* Enjoy the retirement you deserve


The J.K. Lasser Institute is the leading publisher of money and business advice. Each year, millions of Americans trust the J.K. Lasser Institute to help them make the right financial decisions-from making more money today to saving for tomorrow.

PAUL WESTBROOK, CFP^®, is the President of Westbrook Financial Advisors in Westfield, New Jersey. He manages his own financial and retirement planning firm, where he counsels individuals and conducts seminars for corporations. Westbrook was formerly the national director of the Financial and Retirement Planning Practice for Buck Consultants, the international benefits firm. His previous books include Word Smart for Business, Math Smart for Business, and Business Companion.

Summary of New Tax Law Highlights for Retirement.

1. Chasing the Big R through Four Financial Steps.

The Four Financial Steps.

How to Use This Book.

Retirement: The Most Complex of All Financial Objectives.

The Retirement Envelope.

The History of Retirement in a Minute and a Half.

Why Are Pensions Disappearing?

A Definition of Retirement.

On to the Chase.

2. Step 1. Getting Started—Your 10-12-15 Percent Solution.

February Financial Week.

The Power of Saving Early and Often.

Honors Section.

3. Investing Is Three Parts Technical, Two Parts Psychological, One Part Faith.

Back to the Basics.

Three Parts Technical.

Two Parts Psychological.

One Part Faith.

The Ideal Portfolio Recapped.

How You Can Implement an Investment Strategy in Your 401(k)/403(b)/457 Plan.

Conclusion.

4. The Sanctity of Savings (aka IRAs, 401(k)s, Keoghs) and the Dangers of Debt.

Discipline.

Savings.

The Bottom Line.

5. Your Financial Engine: Your Career.

What Is a Career?

Financial Moves during Your Career.

Managing Your Stock Options.

What about a Buyout Offer?

A Final Word.

6. Step 2. Mid-Career—Setting Your Glide Path to Retirement.

The Example.

A Final Word.

7. Good News and Bad News for Boomers.

Headlines Don’t Help.

Some Recent History.

How to Deal with Inflation.

Estimating Retirement Expenses.

List of Expenses.

8. Social Security Insecurity.

Calculating Social Security.

Your Full Retirement Age.

How a Benefit Is Taxed.

What If You Earn Money while Collecting a Benefit?

What’s the Future?

9. Just How Long Will You Live?

How Does Life Expectancy Change over Your Lifetime?

Why Do Women Outlive Men?

What about Your Family Genes?

The IRS Tables for IRAs.

The Future.

10. Retirement on a Shoestring.

Ned and Sally.

Jerry.

Backward Planning.

The Secret.

11. Step 3. At the Cusp of Retirement—Time for the “I’m about to Retire Worksheet”.

Example.

Insurance Issues.

Other Planning Issues.

12. The Technical Side of Retiring.

Decisions and Distribution Rules for Pensions: Traditional and Cash Balance Plans.

Decisions and Distribution Rules for 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457, SEP, SIMPLE, and Keogh Plans.

Decisions and Distribution Rules for IRAs.

A Game Plan for Your Situation.

Keeping Up to Date.

13. Step 4. In Retirement—Fine-Tuning Your Investments and Expenses.

The Investment Answer.

The Expense Answer.

Summary.

14. Estate Planning, Long-Term Care, and Leaving Money.

The Basics of Estate Planning: Wills and Will Substitutes.

Rules and Taxes on Inheriting IRAs and Benefit Plans.

Income in Respect to a Decedent (IRD).

If You Remarry.

Long-Term Care Insurance.

Leaving Money.

Summary.

15. The Chase Is Over: How You Can Enjoy Retirement Once There.

Cautions in Retirement.

A Positive Attitude.

Final Bits of Life Advice.

Glossary.

Index.