Book Review: 'The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution' by Raymond J. Lucia

I almost passed by this newly-published book that is available at my library - buckets of money are not exactly lined up and needing attention in my household. But the fact that Raymond J. Lucia is such a well-known Certified Financial Planner swayed me towards reading what he has to say in his book, Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life.

This is a detailed book with no pictures and only a couple of graphs - the reader must "engage brain" the whole time while reading. The reader must also want to slog through approximately 200 pages of information to pick out the particular nuggets that seem to apply in his or her situation, as most of the words of wisdom imparted in this volume are not ones that have immediate application for everyone.

The general information at the beginning of the book does address issues that everyone is facing. Chapter 1, "Adapting to the Changing Landscape" lays out the scenario of today's economic landscape and describes "the end of easy " and "the lessons" that can be learned from what has changed in recent months.

Chapter 2 is also helpful to everyone and covers how to "Prepare for Whatever the Future Holds." In this chapter Lucia covers such topics as: rebuilding your savings; spending less; rethinking your retirement years, and retooling your retirement savings plans.

Chapters 3 through 10 contain quite detailed financial information. Lucia's "buckets of money" concept can be listed fairly easily but it is not easy to summarize what goes into each of the three buckets, which are actually broken down as 5 buckets.

There are buckets 1A and 1B (income buckets); bucket 2 (the relative safety bucket for mid-term investments) and buckets 3A and 3B (growth buckets for long-term investments).

Some of the investments that Lucia talks about are very complex. I would not feel safe in purchasing some of these products without much more in-depth study and investigation. That being said, Lucia does make the options as understandable as possible for the average reader who has much less knowledge than he has in such technical financial management.

By reading this book, I did gain inspiration to delve into my own financial picture. It has helped me identify some ways that I can possibly improve my financial position for my remaining years as well as for my heirs through the application of some of Lucia's recommendations.

The "buckets of money" approach doesn't strike me as being completely novel - most people already understand that there is a need for short-term, medium-term and long-term planning. And although Lucia's financial planning steps are designed to be of help to one and all, I'm enough of a realist to know that not everyone can and will take advantage of the "buckets of money" approach that is explained in The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life.

Would I recommend the purchase of this book? Ben Stein certainly does in his foreword.

My suggestion is that it would be a good idea for a potential buyer to review the book first at a bookstore or library before investing in a copy.

You can view certain pages of the book on amazon.com by clicking here.

Lucia, Raymond J., The Buckets of Money Retirement Solution: The Ultimate Guide to Income for Life, Hoboken, New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010.