Excerpt: 'Million Not Enough'

In A Million Is Not Enough: How to Retire with the Money You'll Need, I want to help us take the guilt out of abundance. As a necessary first step toward completion of this mission, we have to understand that Abundance Guilt doesn't only deny us the pleasure of our financial success?it is the root cause of our worries about our financial future. When we acknowledge the conflicts inherent in our successes and the childhood lessons of austerity our Depression-scarred parents taught, our strengths and weaknesses as intense strivers, we can harness them and use them to our advantage.

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A Million Is Not Enough is a book about achieving financial security in our retirement years. I believe that we should view one million dollars as the minimum requirement for any married couple wishing to achieve self-sufficiency while still being able to leave an inheritance to children or a charity. You may ask, Why one million dollars? Well, $1 million will generate $50,000 per year for twenty-five or thirty years while adjusting for inflation. If you consider retiring at sixty-five and living until you are eighty-five or ninety, $1 million, invested prudently, should be sufficient to meet a $50,000 annual need. If your spending is in excess of $50,000 per year, you will need to either cut your spending or increase your savings. And yes, those who want (or need) to spend $250,000 per year in retirement will need $5 million in today's dollars. This means that our goals, standard of living, and risk tolerance may indeed require much more than a million dollars in savings by retirement. My job in writing this book is to help you identify your goals and how to go about achieving them.

Because we Boomers will live longer and consequently will have a longer retirement period than any previous generation, we will need a bigger and better nest egg. Additionally, we aren't about to settle into a gentle good night of retirement. We will remain highly active. Most of us aren't planning the kind of full-stop retirement our parents might have enjoyed?we don't see ourselves moving into a Florida condominium to await the end of our days. Many of us will continue to work in some capacity, or volunteer, or start a new business or career. We want to travel, take classes, and live our lives to the fullest. In order to meet our needs over the estimated twenty years of retirement (again, assuming $50,000 a year for housing, travel, entertainment, and general living expenses), $1 million is the minimum needed to maintain our present lifestyle. This book is divided into three sections: The Million-Dollar Mind-Set, The Million-Dollar Groundwork, and The Million-Dollar Maneuvers.

As it would be in any campaign, understanding the rationale for the actions you are being asked to take is important, and that's what I'll cover in the first section. Once you have an understanding of what's being asked of you and why, then you enter the second, more active phase: preparing. Like anything worth doing, choosing to save at least a million dollars for retirement requires you to do some evaluating and planning of your current situation and resources. Rushing headlong into anything is unwise, and especially so when it comes to your financial future. The heart of the book, of course, is the third phase of your Million-Dollar Mission? engaging in the Million-Dollar Maneuvers that will help you reach your stated goal.

Step One: Evaluate It. Calculate your net worth and determine your monthly budget. Using the worksheets provided, you can create a picture of where you stand today.

Step Two: Save It. Find ways to allocate more money for investments. I provide you with twenty-five suggestions for cutting costs and increasing your investment budget.

Step Three: Understand It. How risk tolerance and returns needs shape portfolio choices. The goal is at least a million dollars before retirement, but depending upon your age, circumstances, and risk tolerance, your necessary return on investment will vary.