Control Your Retirement Destiny: Achieving Financial Security Before the Big Transition

People in their fifties start to wonder: When should I retire? Once I do, when should I take Social Security? Do I need to buy an annuity to make sure I have enough money to last my whole life? Should I move everything into “safe” investments? In short, what do I need to do now to ensure a comfortable retirement? Control Your Retirement Destiny: Achieving Financial Security Before the Big Transition provides practical how-to knowledge on what you need to do to get your finances in order to prepare for a transition out of the workforce. While never easy, retirement investing from your 20s through your early 50s has been straightforward. But once you hit your mid 50s and beyond, you need a different kind of plan to align investments, retirement accounts, taxes, Social Security, and pension decisions, all with a single objective: providing reliable, life-long income. In this book, nationally known retirement expert Dana Anspach explains how each part works, how one decision affects another, and how to focus on the things you can control (like managing taxes and risk) rather than on those you can’t control (such as inflation or investment returns). When you put it all together in a plan that works for you, you’ll have more choices and a greater sense of security about the financial decisions you are making. A transition into retirement can be scary. Control Your Retirement Destiny equips you with the knowledge you’ll need to avoid big mistakes while optimizing the flow of funds to support the retirement you’ve always dreamed of. This book: - Covers all the major topics in retirement planning – investments, Social Security, annuities, taxes, healthcare, part-time work, and more - Provides examples of how planning decisions can result in a more secure outcome when they are coordinated - Helps couples coordinate their retirement incomes to maximize benefits - Shows how to create a plan to enable the life you’d like to live after ending full-time employment - Explains how to work with advisors (and how to find the best ones) if you’d rather not plan your own finances Control Your Retirement Destiny: Achieving Financial Security Before the Big Transition is for those who are beginning to think about when and how they might transition out of regular, full-time work. It will enable you to take charge of your financial future right now to ensure a happy, secure retirement.

In 2008, Dana Anspach began writing for About.com as their MoneyOver55 Expert. This content has now evolved into TheBalance.com where she writes as their expert on Retirement Decisions. She also contributes to MarketWatch as one of their RetireMentors.

Anspach has been practicing as a financial planner since 1995. In 2011 she founded Sensible Money, a registered investment advisory firm with a specialty in the area of retirement income planning.

Dana is a Certified Financial Planner, Retirement Management Analyst, a Kolbe Certified Consultant, and a member of NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors), FPA (Financial Planning Association), and RIIA (Retirement Income Industry Association).

As an expert in her field, she has spoken for numerous organizations, associations, and conferences on the topic of retirement planning and interacts regularly with readers and clients on these topics. 

Anspach believes the retirement income planning process is not static; it is alive with choices and variables. To make the best decisions, consumers need a way to understand the interactions of the choices they make and the corresponding impact on their future. To trust the information they see, they need an independent voice that provides information free of the influence of politics, financial products, or media articles that are advertising in disguise.As her clients can tell you, Dana Anspach is that independent voice.