Smartest 401(k) Book You'll Ever Read: Maximize Your Retirement Savings...the Smart Way!

[To those convinced that 401Ks are a rip-off, look at your returns in conventional stock, ETF, mutual fund investments over the last 2-3 years, or even 10 years. I would maintain that I lost far less in my 401K during the downturn of 2008 (the last year of the Bush administration) than in my Schwab account or Roth. AARP is one of the few retirement guides that makes note of the abuses by those who encourage you to "rollover" and who stand to profit big by you're doing so. For now, I'm hanging tight with my variable annuity.]Even though I thought I had become somewhat of an amateur expert on the stock market, I confess that I didn't know the difference between a 401K and a 403K, wasn't sure if the retirement fund I'd amassed was good only until I died, had little to no notion of the tax consequences of activating an annuity of some sort. It seemed a lot easier to save for retirement than to confront that stage of life and to begin spending down the money I had so cleverly managed to collect (like everybody else, losing a lot of it in 2008 but, thankfully, not 50%).If you're in a similar state, or even if you're younger and smarter than I am, this could still be a handy, timely little book. It has reader-friendly prose, the chapters are concise and clear, and the price (especially Amazon's currently displayed price, representing a 70% reduction from list) is not the least of its charms. Were the price higher, I might withhold a star, but at its present single-digit figure the book exemplifies the cost-cutting approach that it espouses. Still, the reader should be forewarned that much of the book is devoted to common financial definitions--T-Bills (of varying duration), CDs, stocks--with the long-term effects of "slightly" smaller or greater interest rates producing eye-opening results. Still, "Bogleheads" are likely to find the information in this book repetitious and all too familiar.The author does make some judgements and criticisms of retirement plans (or scams) that he finds non-profitable, ill-advised, or highly questionable. Why that should provoke charges from some reviewers that he's too "political" or (horrors!) even "liberal," I have no idea. Apparently these critics know things about the author that are not apparent from reading the book, which strikes me as mainstream, practical, commonsensical wisdom applicable to all genders, religions, classes, ethnicities, and even political parties. If the author has "opinions," so much the better I say.More than likely, it's the finance industry that would rather have you disregard the advice of this book, by now becoming causing savvy investors to forego the pricey services of financial planners. The author simply encourages readers to follow the example of John Bogle at Vanguard funds, who eschews expensive, actively-managed funds in favor of index funds. If, as the author's figures show, even the legendary Bill Miller cannot match the benchmarks, the average investor is wasting his time and money paying other people to lose it for him. Now is the time to follow the statistics and cold truth rather than gut-feelings that tell everyone they can, or somehow deserve to, "beat the markets." It simply makes more sense to pay expense ratios of .3% to passively-managed funds 3% of many actively managed funds: more than likely, you, not your financial planner, will be the winner after 40 years. (It's amazing how Cramer manages to crow away an hour each night without either: 1. talking about options, puts, derivatives, etc.; or 2. warning against the high sales and expense fees of many brokers and mutual funds. Rather than education, he entertains, merely feeding into the public's naivete about their ability to somehow defeat the system, which is an "efficient" market where all known information and variables are in place well before the news gets to the individual investor.As I said, the book has some style, and the author indeed does have a "voice." If you find something to disagree with, do so. But chances are that instead you'll find this a retirement book that holds your interest better than many of the other top sellers, managing to be provocative, engaging, and extremely informative at the same time--but a whole lot calmer than some of the shows on CNBC. (If that's what it takes to get young people to save for retirement, good; but I can think of many more productive uses of time than swearing allegiance to either the over-the-top manic eruptions of Cramer or the glib, reassuring proclamations of Kudlow that capitalism and the American way are beyond reproach, and failure.)Warren Buffett may think much the same as the aforementioned pair, but he too can be wrong, or at least misleading, concerning the modern individual investor's degree of power. The difference is that, right or wrong, he doesn't feel compelled to expend hours covering his back, and he quickly admits his mistakes. Within the game called capitalism, he plays it the old-fashioned way and makes it sound feasible and simple. And he remains always a gentleman, a nice guy, and a cherry Coke fan.

Highly recommended especially for those with little background on 401K plans who are trying to understand how they work and how they should be established and managed for long-term success.

I have been financially advising investors for 30 yrs. Consistently, at least 90% of the time, the worst performing investment people own are their 401-K's and IRA plans!! This book does an outstanding job at exposing 401-K plans as having high costs and poor performance, which our firm agrees with. I do not agree however, that Index Funds, ETF's or passive managed funds are the best investment solution or options just because they are inexpensive to own. That by its self does not increase your odds at making more $ on your 401-K. I do agree that the majority of actively managed funds can and do have terrible performance records.However, I have found the top 5-10% of these actively managed funds are very well managed. They offer low fees and they have outperformed his recommendations 98% of the time. I own a RIA firm, and this book recommends to work with RIA's not Broker's or Insurance agents. He is right on with that advice! There are good actively managed funds out their! You just need an honest RIA Fiduciary to help you find them. [...]

Dan Solin's book, "The Smartest 401(k) Book You'll Ever Read", is a winner. His thesis is that investing should be simple, and he walks this talk by writing about investing in such a manner as to make it simple, fun, and easy to understand for the reader.He offers far more than another book about how Wall Street and the insurance industry are ripping us off in our 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts. Though Mr. Solin does explain how our hard earned money is siphoned off by the "experts" that provide these plans, he also explains practical easy steps we can take to minimize the impact. These steps include:* Using an IRA with better options.* Rolling the 401(K) to the IRA when you leave an employer.* Picking the "least bad" funds within a poor retirement plan.* Choosing assets that fit with the rest of our nest egg.* Joining the investment committee of our employer's plan.Albert Einstein once said "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Dan Solin gets it and explains it with brilliant simplicity!If you want financial independence years earlier, "The Smartest 401(k) Book You'll Ever Read" is for you. It will give you sound and simple advice that's equally simple to implement.For those who make their fortunes from providing these outrageously expensive plans, you'll hate this book. Read it anyway.

Dan Solon has written a whole series of financial books, all of which I think are very good and easy to understand. However, if you only read one and have a 401k or 403b this is the one to read. It opened my eyes to the costs and fees associated with what most Americans think is the best deal around, and gives you good advice and real action items that you can use to maximize your savings and retirement investing. He is direct, and has no one else’s interest at stake other than the reader.

Excellent overview for beginners on what to consider -and NOT consider-for investment Helpful are that the chapters are just two or three pages long, with a one or two sentence summary at the end of each chapter. Thus, the point is made succinctly and then on to the next chapter.

ANOTHER GOOD BOOK BY DANIEL R. SOLIN.