Rockstar Book Review: "Victory Lap Retirement"
This is part of our Rockstar Book Review series. Be sure to check out all previous books we’ve covered!
"Victory Lap Retirement: Work While You Play, Play While You Work—The Joy of Financial Independence...at Any Age" by Mike Drak and Jonathan Chevreau
Who it’s for: I would recommend this book first and foremost to the 40+ crowd who are most likely to be able to relate to the decisions and emotions the authors discuss, and how sound financial planning can make a big difference in making important midlife choices.
Readability: HIGH. At just under 200 pages, the book is well organized, includes some well-chosen quotes, personal stories around career and lifestyle choices, and cartoons to drive its main points home. The authors also make effective use of bulleted and numbered lists that make the book a reasonable reference after the first read. What I liked about it: I enjoy books that offer inspiration along with the information we need to execute. It's nice to know the "how" but, without the "why," we usually don't end up following the advice, even when we agree with it. A desire to act has to come from passion, not from logic. Victory Lap Retirement offers up a good dose of inspiration, thanks to co-authors who are living what they advise and you can tell they're enjoying this phase of their lives. I get the feeling they're just getting started. Further, they share a great deal of their experience throughout the book by sharing their personal story at every stage, from how they managed their careers to planning and executing their "Victory Lap". Their positivity and energy is infectious. I also appreciated that the forward was written by Ernie Zelinski, an author who is living life on his terms and serves as a great example of the type of lifestyle and freedom proper planning can afford us over time. What I didn’t like about it: Authors suggest on occasion that the book is appropriate for a broader audience, perhaps even as a gift for a reader's young adult. I wasn't convinced of that fact and felt it detracted from the potential for the book to reach its target audience most effectively. I would suggest that Jonathan Chevreau's other book, "Findependence Day", a work of fiction similar to "The Wealthy Barber," would be more suitable across all audiences.
Where to find it:
Amazon @ $14.99 || Free @ the library (though better odds in Canada)
“Victory Lap Retirement" Provides the Insights and Inspiration Needed to Get More Out of Life by Seeking More Out of Work, Both Before and After Retirement
Mike and Jonathan walk the talk. They both have made sound financial decisions that enabled them to leave their corporate lives (either through retirement or redirection), allowing them to shift their focus toward what they wanted to do next without having to have money be the primary driver. How can we start stacking the deck in our favor to do the same? By:
- Following the "Seven Eternal Truths of Financial Independence"
- Focusing on one important formula
- Forgetting traditional notions of retirement
#1. The "Seven Eternal Truths of Financial Independence"
When it comes to managing money, most of us want to improve our odds of success. That means ensuring we behave in a way that reduces the financial obligations that work to limit our personal and professional choices. The authors suggest the following behaviors can do a great deal to help us increase our financial flexibility:
- Live below your means
- Pay yourself first
- Get out of debt
- Buy a home and pay it off as soon as possible
- Be an owner, not a loaner
- Never say no to free money from your employer
- Take the government up on its few offers of free money
Two of these include interesting twists on the theme beyond what is usually covered in what's considered mainstream financial advice: #4. Buy a home and pay it off as soon as possible. This is great advice for those among us who want to own a home, but the authors take it one step further: we should look at our home as part need and part want. Need is the bare minimum of what we need in a home: shelter, basic utilities, safety, minimum square footage, proximity to other needs, etc. Want are the extras beyond what we need: extra space, extra features, better privacy, less noise, better outdoor space, better-than-needed neighborhood, etc. Looking at housing this way can help us consider the appropriateness of the largest physical asset class we're likely to ever own. It's easy to justify buying too much house, thereby turning a good purchase into a bad one, and this "need vs want" can help us keep the inflation in check. #5. Be an owner, not a loaner. This suggests that, though bonds are lower-risk investment vehicles, they won't offer the returns that equity can, even when these are risk-adjusted. The authors suggest a diversified portfolio that includes high-quality dividend paying stocks and stress that qualifying dividend-paying stock income also offers some tax advantages over bond-related income for investments that are held in non-tax-sheltered accounts.
#2. The Freedom Formula
Mike and Jonathan managed to increase choice in their lives by focusing on one important formula:
PASSIVE INCOME > NON-DISCRETIONARY EXPENSES = FREEDOM
The authors suggest that the greater our access to passive income of all types (investment returns, pension income, social security), the more we can feel free to choose what we want to do. And the greater the freedom to choose, the greater our peace of mind and the more likely we are to speak our mind and to pay attention to what we really want in life. All great reasons to maximize these income sources.
Once you take the need for money out of the equation, work can be a wonderful source of happiness and freedom. (pg. 21)
As we can appreciate, many of the seven points highlighted in #1 support this formula by contributing to passive income and/or reducing non-discretionary expenses. And, the lower our fixed monthly expenses are, the lower our need for regular income to cover recurring obligations.
#3. Rethinking Retirement
Securing a solid financial future is only a means to an end for these gentlemen. Along with a growing pot of freedom money, the authors want us to question the relatively recent invention that is "retirement." To them, retirement is a "life will be better when" carrot that was created to keep us focused on working and not on thinking about what we want out of life at every step along the way.
Many people allow their lives simply to happen to them, focusing only on getting through the next day, week, or month. Years fly by and valuable time is wasted, until the day they eventually wake up and wish they had taken charge of their lives and set goals earlier. To avoid this from happening to you, you need to know what you want out of life, then figure out a way to get there. (pg. 122)
Mike and Jonathan stress that we need to focus on work we find interesting and fulfilling at all stages and that, as our financial footing becomes increasingly secure, we start to feel freer to trade off some earning potential for a greater sense of meaning and purpose. They also offer compelling evidence that being engaged in life (at work, in the community, with friends and family) is good for our health and promotes longevity. What justification for finding meaningful work that aligns with our values! By focusing on what we want to do as opposed to what we need to do—thanks to good money management—we can work on various career acts, stay interested in learning and experiencing new things and stop thinking about "retiring" altogether.
Bottom Line
The Victory Lap Retirement sends us a clear message: not only does prudent personal finance management provide financial security, it is also an important ingredient in living a longer and more fulfilling life because it gives us the freedom to reinvent ourselves as many times as we like, at any age.
Where you can find the book: Amazon @ $14.99
Bonus: A Short Interview With Mike and Jonathan
Q5: If you could magically gain one new quality or ability, what would it be? Mike: I would love to be able to dance like people on Dancing With The Stars. Jon: I suppose greater fiction-writing talent: the ability to craft moving descriptive passages, develop fully-formed fictional characters and more facility to create and execute plots. ****** All book reviews include affiliate links to Amazon.com or other places they’re sold. Thank you to all those who support our site by going through these links!