The Number was recommended to me by an attorney friend of mine (former rugby player, with impeccable judgment). The sub-title of the book is "A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life".
The title refers to what "NUMBER" you need (the lump sum amount of money) to live the type of life you want to live, as you pass middle age and head off to a retired or slowed down lifestyle. So it's a financial planning book - sort of. Because it also spends lots of time talking about "Life Planning". How do you REALLY want to live the rest of your life? So it's also a self-help book - sort of.
This is a quick and interesting read. The author, Lee Eisenberg is glib and can be humorous. It starts off with some personal anecdotes by the author, who was in his mid-fifties when he wrote The Number. He goes on about our expanded life expectancies, some of life's uncertainties, the pending social security and medicare problems, stuff like that. He interviews quite a number of financial planners, shows some model situations (a family named "Case") and offers some sensible ideas, which you've probably already heard if you've studied up on the subject.
But Eisenberg seems most interested in "life planning", as in what are your priorities, what values are important to you, what is your Bliss, who is your Guru? He interviews some financial planners who've morphed into "Life Planners" (some of them oddballs) and attends one of their conferences. New Age psycho-babble pops up (Eisenberg capitalizes things like "The Rest of Your Life") but it's all fun and (dare I say) a bit aging yuppish.
I would never have read this book if it hadn't been recommended to me, and I'm glad it was. However if you are just looking for financial planning advice there are better books out there, starting with one Eisenberg mentions, "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need" by Andrew Tobias. Or you can call me, since giving financial advice is what I do for a living.
tom, i didn't realize you were in the financial planning biz. i thought you did insurance. i shall keep this in mind should i ever get any money!!!
Posted by: thea mcginnis | Tuesday, December 19, 2006 at 09:28 AM