Hello All,

Greetings from California! I am writing you today from my uncles gorgeous three level house in San Anselmo. While not as exciting as my wife’s description of the military market in Kabul, today’s posting is a on a more fundamental topic – saving for retirement. For a lot of people, saving for retirement is about as fun as watching paint dry, but a new book by Mark Bruno, Save Now or Die Trying, breathes some life into an otherwise dry topic.

Unlike a great deal of the books that manage to cross our desks, Bruno does a good job with both the content and the delivery of his material. The main topic of Save Now or Die Trying is that people who are in their 20s and 30s should be aggressively saving for their retirement using 401k and IRA plans. This is not earth shattering advice, but Bruno does a compelling job illustrating why you should be saving aggressively and thoroughly discusses the ins and outs of 401ks, IRA and the types of investments that you should consider for these accounts.

In short Bruno’s book provides a better discussion of retirement vehicles and their role in building wealth than most new personal finance books available today. If you’re seriously interested in building wealth using either of these two mechanisms, you might consider picking up a copy.

While I’m happy to recommend the book, there are some important things you should keep in mind about Save Now or Die Trying. First, Bruno is in his early thirties. While this means he’s more in touch with his target audience, he doesn’t speak with the voice of experience that older authors can offer. For example, Bruno seems to know more about saving based on the results of statistical models, rather than from having carved out a fortune himself. While I’m certainly not an expert, I tend to put extra weight on the advice of people who can demonstrate their own ability to attain wealth. This aside, Bruno’s motivation of the problems of saving and his thorough discussion make the book better than most available on the topic.

Best,

James

MANAGE YOUR MONEY TOGETHER

Here are some simple guidelines for DINKS to build wealth:

1) Collaborate: Meet regularly to talk about money, set goals together, track and monitor them.

2) Understand and respect your partner. Take time to understand your partners values about money.

3) Watch the numbers. Get a budget, monitor your spending and track your net worth.

4) Max your retirement. Maximize contributions to your tax deferred retirement accounts.

5) Invest in stock. Stocks perform better than bonds or cash.

6) Avoid high interest debt. Credit cards and title loans are financial cancer.

7) Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

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