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Unveiling The Retirement Myth Paperback – October 1, 2009

4.8 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

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Here is a fresh look at lifelong retirement income planning, based on 109 years of market history. Extensive research shows that many of the fundamental concepts used in the current retirement planning practice are mostly useless. Myths and untruths about the importance of asset allocation, diversification, sustainable withdrawal rates, efficient frontier, time horizon are explained in detail. The futility of the prevailing Gaussian mindset in current investment planning is demonstrated with examples and case studies. The concept of Time Value of Fluctuations, non-Gaussian optimum asset allocation, the luck factor, reverse dollar cost averaging, warning signals of diminishing luck, various asset allocation, dedication and selection strategies are covered in detail. Finally, solutions for lifelong income, what works and what does not work are offered using numerous examples. The Zone; strategy that enables you to select and combine all income classes such as investment portfolios, life annuities, variable annuities with guaranteed withdrawal or guaranteed income in a Perfect Mix for guaranteed lifelong income.
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Jim: Thank you for forwarding your book. I downloaded it early this morning and just now, after several hours, completed the first read. I'll sum it up in one word "SUPERB"!!! In my opinion, Jim, your book should be mandatory reading for every financial advisor - regardless of the area of their present or future professional focus. Well done, and thank you!!! ...and you may quote me on the above. Ami Maislish, President, Life Guide Jim: Your book is awesome! Very well written and crisply organized. It's a great encapsulation of your ideas and concepts. I can't wait for the hardcopy version. Thank you for the huge effort! Brant O. Greene, CFP®, CRPC®, MBA, Ameriprise Financial Jim: Thank you for early access to your work. You have successfully derailed my entire day's schedule as I've been power-reading through the pdf document. I confess, I did begin to get depressed and skipped to the zone chapters to see what hope you offer. First and foremost, thank you for the research, clear communication and prolific illustrations. Too many papers and reference books fail to break out the exact thought processes and calculations behind the text. Your illustrations are uniformly easy to read and support each contention. Thank you. Second, your consideration of a wide range of strategies and mixed tools demonstrates that you are a planner yourself. You did not take the simple way out, merely critiquing stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Including analysis of various annuity structures and consideration of life and long term care insurance bring the document from the realm of the academic to the pragmatic. Very helpful. Kevin J. Reperowitz, CFP®, SAGE Financial Group, LLC. Jim has applied his exceptional analytical skills to create a ground-breaking contribution to pre- and post-retirement financial planning - a must read for all serious students of the subject. Gail Bebee, personal finance speaker and author of No Hype - The Straight Goods on Investing Your Money. Jim: I perused your book and it is wonderful. Adele Gipson, CFA, CFP, CPA, Consolidated Planning Corporation. Jim: It is interesting to see what I consider "real" planning for retirement. There is so much hype about the right amount of money to have, so much about diversified investments, etc. that I am pleased to see a realistic and pragmatic approach. I especially liked the story about the financial advisor the client a muffin and coffee, determining that he had $1 million saved and needed $100,000 per year to live on.... and the advisor basically said "I can't help you" rather than trying to get a "retirement plan" for the fellow. That is the best story. Toni Chasmar. Jim: I absolutely loved your newest book and would like to employ this rational and the Zone strategy with all my clients. Graham Cook, CFP, CIM, FMA, RDA, Composite Finance Inc. Jim: I have been reading at your website for some years now and you are my hero for telling it how it really is, unlike the rest of the financial industry. Sharon Rowan --sources as indicated

About the Author

Jim completed his B.A.Sc. (Bachelor of Applied Sciences) degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1975. Subsequently, he received his M.Eng. (Master of Engineering) degree at the same university. After spending several years in engineering and investing for his own account, he started his financial planning career in 1995. He is the author of three books; his most recent is Unveiling the Retirement Myth - Advanced Retirement Planning based on Market History. In 2001, he published the High Expectations & False Dreams - One Hundred Years of Stock Market History Applied to Retirement Planning . His first book was about Canadian dividend reinvestment plans. He contributed a chapter to Retirement Income Redesigned - Master Plans for Distribution, published in 2006. He also contributed content for Canadian Securities Institute courses on distribution planning. He has written over one hundred articles for various magazines internationally. He is quoted in the news media on retirement and financial planning issues. Jim's expertise stems from applying his engineering and technical analysis background to retirement planning. His article series in Retirement Planning won him the prestigious CFP-Board Award for 2001. He won this award a second time in 2002 on the same subject. Jim is an independent financial advisor. He gives workshops on advanced retirement planning. He is the founder of retirementoptimizer.com

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Otar & Associates
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 2009
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 525 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0968963420
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0968963425
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.77 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

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Jim C. Otar
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Jim C. Otar is a retired financial advisor and a retired engineer. He is the author of several books and over 100 articles. His engineering background helped him to discover and quantify the importance of luck on retirement income planning (a.k.a "sequence of returns"). He gave close to 700 presentations and workshops to financial professionals over the years on this topic. He won the prestigious CFP-Board Award in 2001 and 2002 for his articles. He is the founder of www.retirementoptimizer.com.

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4.8 out of 5 stars
26 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find this retirement planning book thought-provoking, with one review noting its exhaustive analysis of different income strategies. They consider it worth every penny.

6 customers mention "Retirement planning"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and valuable for retirement planning, with one customer noting it provides an exhaustive analysis of different income strategies, while another mentions it is clear enough for a financially literate layman to understand.

"...This valuable contribution to the financial planning literature addresses the rarely discussed question of how to consume your retirement funds once..." Read more

"This is the best retirement book I've ever read - - and I've read lots of them. What makes this book so good?..." Read more

"This book is an extraordinarily thorough examination of just about every approach to retirement planning and management that I have ever heard of...." Read more

"...the time value of fluctuations, and the exhaustive analysis of many different retirement income strategies in one volume...." Read more

4 customers mention "Value for money"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book worth every penny, with one mentioning there are no sales gimmicks.

"...In that light, the book is worth every penny." Read more

"...No sales gimmicks, no magic formulas, just the FACTS!..." Read more

"...Very well done and worth every minute I spent in reading it!" Read more

"This book is not cheap, but it is worth the cost. It helped me with plans for paying for my retirement...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This guide describes itself as "Advanced Retirement Planning." It's written for financial advisors, but is clear enough for a financially literate layman to understand.

    This valuable contribution to the financial planning literature addresses the rarely discussed question of how to consume your retirement funds once they have been accumulated.

    His objective is to tell financial planning professionals (and by inference, retirees) how to invest to avoid running out of money given a range of likely future scenarios. He uses the past 100 years market history as the source of his possible scenarios. He makes what he calls "aftcasts": forecasts using past history as the scenarios. It's a clever and plausible device that lets one plan how to invest and distribute one's retirement funds for scenarios ranging from retiring at the start of the Great Depression to retiring at the start of the Dot-Com boom.

    He takes about 150 pages to debunk the "myth" of retirement planning. The "myth" is that planning to withdraw retirement funds is just like planning to accumulate retirement funds. It's not.

    Chapters 39-44 get to the meat of how to plan your distributions. It's a slog to get to these chapters, but the understanding generated by reading chapters 1-38 helps make the recommendations in chapters 39-44 understandable.

    This is an excellent reference tool for anyone desiring to manage their own financial planning in retirement.
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is the best retirement book I've ever read - - and I've read lots of them. What makes this book so good? In short, because it's backed up by solid, credible data (Otar used to be an engineer, and his love for quantitative results is impressive and informatative. This is not a "touchy-feely" book on retirement . . . this is a book grounded in detailed, but highly understandable, financial data. If you're wondering exactly how much money you need to retire comfortably over several decades, this is the book for you. It's not a cheap book, but after reading it, I felt that I had just attended several in-depth sessions with an experienced financial advisor. In that light, the book is worth every penny.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2011
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Mr Otar's book is quite technical and will not appeal to " Financial Professionals" who are hooked on providing Retirement Planning using the tools that are popular today.

    He discusses the essential mathmatical formulas that apply to the planning process and explains how to use the results of those formulas to develop a realistic retirement plan for a client.

    This book is for professionals who really want to know how a good plan is prepared and are willing to give up on the idea that you can plug assumptions into the bulk of the software programs that are available today and get any reasonably accurate prediction of the plans success in providing the client with an inflation adjusted income that he or she cannot outlive.

    It is highly unlikely that most professionals are going to manually prepare a plan using the formulas presented in the book; however, there is a very inexpensive piece of software that Mr. Otar sells which gives much more realistic results than any other software that I have ever seen.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    While at first glance I must admit to being a little intimated by this book with all its math formula's! But in all honestly, it's really an easy read, the math equations aside. The author wrote the book in such a way you can skip right over all the math parts and read the conclusion at the end of each chapter to comprehend the subject.

    I have spent the last few years reading all about asset allocation, and how to build a diversified portfolio holding the entire market. This is the first book I have read on how to draw down on your nest egg, and all the *real* options available to you. No sales gimmicks, no magic formulas, just the FACTS!

    I will be referencing this for years to come, not just for my own retirement, but for helping friends and others understand their game plan for `UNVEILING THE RETIREMNT MYTH'
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2011
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book is an extraordinarily thorough examination of just about every approach to retirement planning and management that I have ever heard of. Jim Otar explains and debunks every one of these conventional wisdom approaches. He concludes with a very clear and straight forward explanation of how to proceed with fixing the problem. It's a long read, but he begins with an explanation of how those who are disinclined to read a thorough mathematical analysis can adopt a short-cut way to get what they need without having to read every word. Very well done and worth every minute I spent in reading it!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2012
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This is the most comprehensive and thought-provoking book on retirement planning that I've read so far. As an engineer, I really appreciate how Otar refuses to accept the conventional half-truths promoted by the financial services industry and instead examines all the numbers again, from the ground up. I especially appreciate his elevation of the time value of fluctuations, and the exhaustive analysis of many different retirement income strategies in one volume. This may not be as polished a presentation as some of the more popular books, but it's probably more essential. Even with backcasting based on market history being challenged in some circles, Otar's book is simply required reading for anybody who wants to build expertise in retirement planning.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2010
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    This book is not cheap, but it is worth the cost. It helped me with plans for paying for my retirement.

    Before buying it, I started to read a copy from my local library. I realized I would want this book for a lot longer than I could have it through my library. I am not sorry I bought it.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Very Useful and I haven't finished it yet