The Number Review: Introduction
This is the first installment of a 5 part review of Lee Eisenberg’s The Number. The reviews will appear every Friday afternoon.
When I was trying to decide what personal finance book to review next, I wanted to choose something I hadn’t seen a million reviews for already, and also something I was personally interested in. When I went to Barnes and Noble to choose something (I had a store credit there I needed to use up) the selection was somewhat limited, and I was faced with a number of books and authors I had never heard of. Which was good, because I wanted to review something I hadn’t read about before, but it made choosing a semi-long process. I flipped through a few dozen books, and I kept returning to one.
That one was Lee Eisenberg’s The Number. After picking it up a few times and reading the back cover, I decided this would be the one, and brought it home.
Retirement is something I don’t think about a whole lot at this point, but it is always in the back of my mind. Although we are saving some money for retirement right now, and we have three small retirement accounts (an IRA for each of us and my spouse’s 401K), we aren’t saving near enough to retire on at any time in the future, near or far. This is a conscious choice on our part right now, because debt reduction is a much bigger priority, but the older we get the more I worry about it.
On the flip side of that, I honestly have little idea about what is a comfortable and appropriate level to save once our debt is eliminated and retirement saving becomes a much bigger priority. I’ve read a number of different short pieces online about how much you need to save for retirement, including information about the 4% rule (planning to only withdraw 4% of your retirement assets per year to live on) but I don’t really know what I should be shooting for, other than it is a large number. Enter “The Number”, which asks on the front cover “What do you need for the rest of your life, and what will it cost?”. Good question, and I have no idea.
But what sold me was a sentence on the back cover. “The Number will help you think about the kind of life you want, and the kind of help you need to achieve it.” Well, okay then. Sign me up. I’m not sure what kind of life I want, and I’d like to figure that out, and know how to prepare for it.
The prologue goes into the author’s decision to take a job in the middle of Wisconsin when he was already happily ensconced in New York City because of his fear that he wasn’t meeting the retirement number he needed to reach. I’m not sure if this is supposed to set the tone for the entire book, because I already live relatively in the middle of nowhere, so moving to save more is not the most obvious option for me. But I have an open mind still about the rest of the book. The book is divided into three sections - Chasing It, Figuring It, and Finding It. I intend on reviewing a section a week for the next three weeks and then a wrapup at the end of what I’ve learned. So join me next week for Chasing It - where hopefully I figure out what I’m trying to achieve, so I might actually be able to reach it.
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February 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Hey, sounds like an interesting book. I like that you found a book that isn’t so well known. I agree, that it gets old reading reviews on the same five investing books over and over. Also, thanks for including my post in your previous carnival. I’ve been gone for a few weeks so I didn’t get a chance to thank you earlier. Enjoying the blog — always encouraging to watch others take positive steps to a better financial future…I feel like I should say good things about your blog since you’re a 3rd degree black belt and could work me over, haha!
February 15th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I have this book although I haven’t read it yet.
Retirement planning is a big topic - your situation is complicated by all the debt repayment you do. It’s difficult for you to know how much you “need” because the amount you spend right now is probably less than it will be once you are out of debt.
Regardless, paying down debt is the same as saving so you are going in the right direction as far as saving for retirement goes.
Mike
February 16th, 2008 at 1:02 am
The Number is one of my favorite personal finance books. I like the author’s tone. I posted a multi-part review of The Number some time ago.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
@ Flexo - cool! I will have to go check it out.
February 17th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Sounds like a good premise for a book. I look forward to reading your review. I have used excel to calculate what I think My Number will be, but I’m curious to see how it compares to other people’s version and what “the experts” think it should be.