What are the secrets to a healthy, happy, and wealthy retirement?
To answer that question, longtime Morningstar columnist and podcaster Christine Benz asked 20 retirement thought leaders to go deep on a single lesson that they believe contributes to success in retirement. These lessons range from nitty gritty financial matters to quality-of-life considerations that help pre-retirees and retirees maximize their time on earth allocations. On the financial side of the ledger, the book delves into knowing your retirement income style (Wade Pfau), understanding how your spending might change in retirement (David Blanchett), and organizing your portfolio to support in-retirement cash flows (William Bernstein). Other interviews probe softer but no less important considerations, such as how to spend in order to optimize happiness (Ramit Sethi), the value of burnishing relationships later in life (Laura Carstensen), and living life so that you have no regrets in the end (Jordan Grumet). These lessons help soon-to-retire and already-retired individuals and their advisors tackle retirement with confidence, wisdom, and a specific plan for maximizing their financial and human capital.Your complete guide to Social Security retirement and medical benefits
Determining whether to file early for retirement benefits or wait until age 70 can be complicated. Claiming retirement benefits early can lower your benefits, but it affects dependents and survivors benefits differently. Learn this and more with Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions--completely updated for 2025.
Social Security benefits. Figure out how to get retirement, disability, dependents, and survivors benefits, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Decide whether it's best to claim benefits early, at full retirement age, or not until you turn 70--and how to time your claims so you and your spouse get the best benefits.
Medicare & Medicaid. Learn how to qualify for and enroll in both programs, including Medicare Part D drug coverage.
Medigap insurance & Medicare Advantage plans. Compare Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans, and choose what's best for you.
Government pensions & veterans benefits. Discover when and how to claim the benefits you have earned.
What's New in 2025?
Whether you're looking for yourself or helping a parent, you'll find valuable information here to help get the benefits you've earned.
Everything you need to get organized
Do your loved ones know where to find your life insurance policies, online banking passwords, real estate deeds, or even your will?
If you're like a lot of people, you keep important information--from the whereabouts of family heirlooms to online passwords to automatic bill-pay details--in your head or stashed in the odd desk drawer. Unfortunately, this disorganization will likely cause hassles for those who someday take care of you or your estate.
Get It Together provides an easy, straightforward method to help you and others keep track of:
Get the Social Security benefits you've earned
In the newly updated Social Security For Dummies, you'll find all the basics on Social Security, plus the latest updates and changes, so that you can make the most of your benefits. With clear jargon-free language and instructions, you'll figure out when to start taking your benefits, based on your unique situation and goals. This bestseller simplifies the complex Social Security system, a cornerstone of many people's retirement budgets. Social Security For Dummies will arm you with the knowledge you need to maximize your financial well-being.
Whether you're gearing up for retirement, already in the Social Security groove, or helping a loved one navigate the benefits maze, this book is your golden ticket to financial peace of mind.
Proactively plan for a successful financial future after leaving the workforce
Are you ready for retirement? Retirement Planning For Dummies is your comprehensive guide to shoring up your finances as you prepare to leave the workforce. Learn to manage and optimize your 401(k), balance retirement savings with other financial needs, and set up pensions and insurance. Plus, get the latest updates on all things retirement, including the SECURE Act and new withdrawal rules. Written by an expert investment writer, this beginner-friendly guide is full of financial wisdom that will smooth the road as you embark on your retirement planning journey.
This book is for anyone looking for the best ways to save and plan for retirement, whether you just joined the workforce or are contemplating retirement in the near future.
Rethink Your Retirement Planning!
So few of us are well-versed in personal finance or the services (and costs) associated with financial advisors. When it comes to managing our money, we're limited not only by our knowledge but also by our own minds. Emotions, blind spots, and biases can all cause poor decision-making.
While most retirement planning books ignore this truth-Holistic Retirement Planning shows us why it's best to address the heart and mind before considering personal finance. Such matters, including goals, values, and purpose, should be the focal point of any retirement plan.
After a challenging divorce, author Dr. Ron Missun took his decades-long experience in statistical analysis and applied it to a reworking of his goals, purpose, and retirement plan. The end result is this book, in which you'll learn to:
* Examine values and goals.
* Create a retirement budget.
* Efficiently withdraw from assets.
Wherever you are in your journey, it's imperative to consider investing now. Holistic Retirement Planning shows you how to start-and succeed-with your heart and mind in alignment.
Imagine you are on a rollercoaster. The slight nervousness when you are in line waiting to board. The feeling of anticipation as you clank, clank, clank your way up to the top of the first peak, and then the rush of adrenaline as you accelerate through a feeling of freefall down the rails, followed by a jarring hard left turn followed by a jarring hard right turn. All this to stimulate your sense of danger and to create a true thrill ride. The enjoyment of a rollercoaster can only be achieved when you know and trust that you are safe throughout the entire experience. If there was ever any doubt that you were safe, you wouldn't even think about riding.
Retirement for many Americans can be like a rollercoaster. We experience the ups and the downs, the jarring turns, and the panic-inducing plummets. However, we have no guarantees and no trust that we are going to be taken care of, so it creates fear and not enjoyment. Is that how we want our retirement to go? Does this sound like a fun ride?
Fortunately, you have a choice how you want to experience retirement. For most of us, we don't want it to feel like a rollercoaster, and for good reason! For those who want to feel some of the ups and not the downs, there is a solution, and that solution is a Fixed Indexed Annuity.
7 Benefits of FIAs for Retirement is a holistic and easy to understand retirement readiness book. It is written to benefit both consumers and professionals. This start to finish retirement education is concise and effective and is a must read for every American.
Investor Advisor Representative (CRD #7201706) CEP, RICP, WMCP & National Social Security Advisor Certificate Holder, Sean A. Ruggiero's focus is on helping consumers, agents and agencies with holistic retirement readiness through the use of evolving FIAs, education, training and software. Sean's expertise includes retirement income planning, wealth management, SaaS, insurance, credit, automotive, mortgage and finance verticals. Voted by Life Health Pro as one of Top 20 Most Creative People in Insurance for 2015. DIA award winner in 2016 Barcelona. Listed Top 100 InsurTech Startups by Digital Insurance Agenda 2016-2018. Marketing consultant for two of the top 60 insurance companies in the United States. Founder of SafeMoneySmart.org, a non-profit dedicated to the awareness of alternatives to the stock market in retirement. Author of 7 Benefits of FIAs for Retirement.
Take control of creating your own financial independence and the option to retire early on your terms
The Financial Independence, Retire Early (F.I.R.E.) movement has inspired many to optimize their finances and retire sooner than they ever imagined. This creates the time freedom and happiness you want years, or even decades, before the traditional age. F.I.R.E. For Dummies shows you how to make financial freedom and early retirement a reality. With the easy-to-follow steps in this guide, you can set yourself up to follow your big dreams without worry of money being an obstacle. Decrease debts, taxes and expenses while increasing earnings, savings and investing, is what gets you on the road toward building your wealth. You'll learn how to maximize this process and speed up your time to financial independence and retiring early.
This is the perfect Dummies guide for anyone looking to move from the basics of their finances to reaching F.I.R.E. and enjoying the time freedom it creates. Regardless of where you currently are with your money or career, now is the right time to get started.
All veterans and their families deserve the maximum benefits they earned by bravely serving their country!
Veterans of the United States armed forces are entitled to a broad range of benefits and services provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Paul R Lawrence, former Under Secretary for Benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible guide to all the benefits and services available to veterans of the US armed services and how to make the most of these benefits and services.
Guidance and Insights for Veterans, Dependents, and Survivors Include Topics:
Dr. Lawrence will help you fight for the benefits you were promised when you agreed to serve your country!