The Procrastinator's Guide to Financial Security: How Anyone Over 40 Can Still Build a Strong Portfolio--and Retire Comfortably

By David F. Teitelbaum

For everyone who put off saving, forgot to invest, or just can't believe they've hit middle age with no money in the bank, this book promotes a happy message: there's still time to take control of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814406211
• ISBN13: 9780814406212
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Stop procrastinating with your finances

This is an excellent book to have a good understanding of all aspects of your personal finances. David Teitelbaum presents all financial planning issues with an easy-reading style that is both clear and educational. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in having a well-rounded knowledge of personal finances. Every chapter of the book presents a number of useful web addresses on related subjects that are excellent for further reading and a more in-depth understanding of certain issues. It is never too late to get this book. Stop procrastinating with your personal finances!

Not Just for Baby Boomers

I highly recommend this wonderful book to anyone who wants to learn how to take control of their financial future. The financial truths in this book apply to Generation X and Boomers alike. Mr. Teitelbaum makes the complex seem simple and takes the mystery out of investing. He has written this book for people who are not financial experts, so you can feel confident that his book can and will help you learn how to handle your finances. Mr. Teitelbaum explains the world of personal investing in a smooth, easy-reading style. So, whether you are a beginning investor or somewhat experienced, this book can serve as an invaluable resource. Mr. Teitelbaum champions the get quick slowly approach to investing based in common sense and long-term planning. If you are interested in building wealth but are prone to a get-rich-quick approach, then this book is the tonic you need. Mr. Teitelbaum addresses all of the building blocks to wealth creation including: sensible budeting, ridding yourself of expensive debt, developing a savings plan and developing a solid long-term investment plan. Also, he provides valuable insight into the usual suspects (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance and annuites) and explains how they fit within a broader investment philosophy. Mr. Teitelbaum gives broad coverage to so many areas of personal finance that his book will also serve as a great reference guide. He also, shows you where to find out more information about a particular financial topic. I consider this book a great achievement, and it will undoubtedly help many people. I highly recommend this book. I give it 5 stars!!!

Knowledge Is Power

The author makes a very good point in this book--that most of us are not taught in school this basic life skill of budgeting and investing our money. He makes another good point that the quality of each person's life in retirement will depend to a great extent to how well he/she has planned and invested, because no longer do most of us work for paternal companies that take care of us. Even the federal government's retirement plans are not what they once were. We're expected to make more and more choices for ourselves, and most of us are oblivious about what we'll have in retirement. We also don't want to think about long-term care, but we can see how important it is as we look around and see our parents needing care and are suddenly surprised to see that Medicare/Medicaid doesn't go far. I, for one, never was exposed to any of the basics, and I admit have no head for it. My eyes glaze over at the mention of dollars and cents. But this book is so easy to follow and so logical that I feel like the author is personally holding me by the hand and starting me out with Step One. There are background chapters about, for example, how Social Security got started; how it used to work; how it works now; and what we can and can't expect it to do for us in retirement. There is an excellent index that enables the reader to search for specific topics. There are easy-to-follow headings on things like What Drives Up the Market, Paying for Long-Term Care, and Buying Mutual Funds At Banks. The author even includes website information, which makes the book all the more useful. In short, this is a basic handbook--not just for baby boomers, but for younger people starting out. I've given two copies to recent college graduates entering the workforce because I don't want them to be as oblivious as I was for so many years. I want to thank the author for opening my eyes before it was too late!

Not Just for Baby Boomers

Though this book is aimed at baby boomers, I, who have been collecting Social Security for several years, found the book illuminating and educational. Like most Americans, I grew up disinterested in what I perceived to be too difficult in learning more about savings and investing - both how to do it and why they are both so important. I'd certainly be more comfortable in retirement now had I had this knowledge years ago! In addition, numbers have always baffled me. David Teitelbaum's book provided an easy gateway to learning about financing retirement, getting out of debt, how to start investing, and how the markets work. His writing is warm, friendly, and easy to follow, and you certainly feel that he cares about you as well as what he is writing about. I particularly found the chapter on Family, with its discussions on life insurance, long-term care planning, and wealth transfer, both useful and helpful. Because of what I have learned from his book, I am encouraging my adult children and grandchildren to read it and be more prepared than I was.

Not just for Procrastinators

I do not consider myself a financial planning procrastinator, yet I found this book to be one of the best guides to financial planing I have read. The writing style is simple, concise and to the point. I never had a sense (as I do with so many financial planing books I have seen) that the writer was trying to sell me anything. Mr. Teitelbaum seems to genuinely care about this subject matter and the people he may impact. This is a book to read thoroughly, but also a book to consult for years to come as you plot your financial future.