Your Retirement Needs a Sketchbook, Not Just a Spreadsheet: This Book Focuses on Your Life Goals Rather Than the Math
"Your Retirement Sketchbook" focuses on the hardest part of retirement planning — figuring out what your retirement life will look like — instead of overwhelming readers with financial charts and formulas.
"Mr. Beaver, unlike a lot of older Americans, my parents do not fear retirement, because they realize the physical demands on their bodies from running the family farm are now too much for them," wrote "Roy" in his email.
"Over the past several months, I've given them several so-called 'bestsellers' on retirement advice. Books that proclaim, 'This is the only book you'll ever need,' and that overflow with charts, formulas and enough gobbledygook to replace sleeping pills! Mom and Dad didn't read any of them.
"Do you know of something that is different, that they will enjoy reading and that will actually help them through this next stage of their lives?"
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Yes, I do indeed, and a few days before hearing from Roy, I had the pleasure of speaking with the authors of a retirement book that is like no other. No, Your Retirement Sketchbook is something else entirely that folks looking at retirement have needed for a long time.
The authors, Jamie Hopkins and Bonnie Treichel, are not your typical financial writers (they are also Kiplinger.com contributors). Hopkins is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, attorney and CFP®. Treichel, also an attorney, is a nationally recognized retirement expert and educator.
What I find remarkable is their ability to translate complex concepts into plain English without dumbing anything down — they do this in their book, and they did it during our Zoom interview.
A retirement book that doesn't lecture or scold readers
Many of the retirement books I've read talk at you, often leaving readers feeling overwhelmed, guilty or convinced they're behind.
Your Retirement Sketchbook is different. It's visually engaging, easy to navigate and written in a tone that feels more like a conversation than a lecture.
Your Retirement Sketchbook talks with you, in a visual form, as a workbook and not a textbook. Instead of long chapters, there are short, manageable lessons — each only a page or two and designed to trigger thought and evaluation. Readers can avoid feeling the all-too-familiar "Oh my God, we haven't done this" panic.
The tone is conversational. You feel like you're sitting with two knowledgeable professionals who are listening to you and who understand that retirement planning is as much emotional as it is financial.
Literally hands-on and thought-provoking
As the title indicates, Your Retirement Sketchbook is a workbook, with prompts, questions, spaces to write and exercises that help you think through what you actually want your life to look like after you stop working. What will your goals be then?
These goals — not investment goals, your life goals — matter more than many people realize. For example:
- Where do you want to live?
- How do you want to spend your time?
- Who do you want to spend your time with?
- What do you want your typical days to look like?
Many retirement books avoid these questions, seeming to assume that if you get the math right, the life part will magically fall into place. But experienced financial planners will tell you that the math is the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what you want your life to be.
That's where Your Retirement Sketchbook really comes through. In a subtle, at times humorous way, it encourages you to think about the things that actually matter.
The authors walk readers through the emotional transition from a structured work life to an unstructured retirement — something many people underestimate until they're living it.
What can derail an otherwise sound retirement?
My office has represented many physicians who did not have to retire when they did — despite my urging them not to — and who had nothing waiting for them in the wings.
After months of watching Netflix, several were bored out of their minds and fell into a serious depression. They were proof that the biggest challenges are often psychological.
The authors list these four challenges as among the most serious that derail retirements, not whether someone chose the right mutual fund:
- Loss of identity
- Loss of routine
- Loss of purpose
- Loss of social connections
Many retirement books devote most of their pages to money and little to the emotional side of retirement. Your Retirement Sketchbook views emotional readiness as being as equally important as financial readiness.
The authors stress that retirement is a major life transition requiring introspection, planning and honesty with yourself and your family.
What makes this book so different?
I suspect there is something about the authors — both experienced trial attorneys — that has had a major impact on how this wonderful little book came into existence.
Practicing law is an exercise in discovering the intricacies of the human condition — what makes us tick, and it is a lot more than numbers in an investment account.
The authors recognize that folks looking toward retirement need confidence and a sense of purpose. They help readers design a retirement that reflects their values, dreams and priorities by getting them to devote time to think about these issues and, in sketchbook form, write them down.
If you're looking for a book that will tell you the percentage of your portfolio that should be in bonds, this isn't it. But if you want a book that will help you understand yourself, your goals and the kind of life you want to build in retirement, this is one of the best resources available that I have found.
In a world full of retirement books, many of which tend to sound the same, Your Retirement Sketchbook is truly different. Many retirement books make you fear running out of money. Few caution you about running out of purpose.
Dennis Beaver practices law in Bakersfield, Calif., and welcomes comments and questions from readers, which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993, or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1@gmail.com. And be sure to visit dennisbeaver.com.
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