Nolo's Essential Retirement Tax Guide: Your Health, ... (ISBN 1413309127)

Typical Nolo excellence, but do you really need it?:
As usual, Nolo has produced a fact-filled book on an essentially legal subject. Actually, eleven subjects bound together by the common thread of taxes. Anyone with an abiding interest in all eleven subject areas doesn't need this book - they are wealthy to the point where they would be foolish if they didn't have adequate professional assistance. In any event, none of the eleven subject areas are treated in what I consider to be a substantial way. That brings me to my concern about the authors and their qualifications. One of the authors, Twila Slesnick, appends Ph.D. to her name - but I have been unable to find what field that Ph.D. is in. Likewise, she says she is an Enrolled Agent. The Enrolled Agent program of the IRS requires "passing a comprehensive examination which covers all aspects of the tax code, or having worked at the IRS for five years in a position which regularly interpreted and applied the tax code and its regulations". Considering the low accuracy rates attributed to IRS employees offering tax advice, one has to wonder how "comprehensive" any examination offered would be and just what worth five years of experience wih the IRS has. John Suttle has a small law practice in San Francisco. In my opinion, neither author has an impressive biography. Much of the advice that I saw is essentially a restatment of the instructions from IRS forms in somewhat better English. In all, this is a general guide that covers a lot of subject areas in very little depth. I am not saying it is unhelpful. I just question the value of this book compared, say, to looking up what you need to know on the individual topics on the web. Jerry

Much better than I thought it would be:
Basically, I think this can teach everyone something, and any good financial advise is worth more than the cost of this book as it will be you back in spades. Some of the deductions were things I did not know and some other advise was also very useful. I would actually recommend this for someone about to graduate college. As a preparation tool, I think it would help a lot, and most younger adults may not be aware of most of the things mentioned in this book. Of course, this cannot and should not replace a CPA, however, it does increase general knowledge, so you should decide what that is worth.....for me the cost of this book is cheap compared to that. I think anyone can benefit from this book and I highly recommend it.

IRS Pubs in an Easy to Read Form:
This book contains the same information as IRS publications all together in one book in an easy to read form, but I found it depressing to read because it brought home to me what a terrible burden our tax system is and how deductions have been whittled away over the years. The book is well laid out, but all I saw in it was "CAN'T, CAN'T, CAN'T," nothing about what you can do but everything about what you can't do. Also, I never felt that the authors were really trying to help retirees plan retirement tax strategies, and much of it was just general information for everyone. I think this is a good book for people who don't know anything about doing their taxes, but for those who have been doing their own for years, there is nothing new here.

Good reference for those at or near retirement:
This REFERENCE book is great if you are close to retirement or if you have parents that are close. My parents have reached retirement and they are not most savy when comes to this information I rate the book 4 stars because it is a good reference. It will help educate you on the terminology and the options that are available to you. Personally I believe you still need to go to an expert for your tax estate planning. Protecting your assets is important especially if you have family and doing estate planning with just this book will not cut. One should not expect to build strategy from this book, my expectation were not high because the reality the book is $19 and a tax estate planner will cost at least a few hundred dollars. They key is to ask around for recommendation from friends and family. We are little paranoid and never want to get scammed.

Disappointing Regurgutation of Tax Code; No Strategic Advice for Retirement Tax Planning:
This book is a decent regurgitation of the IRS tax publications. It is easier to read than the IRS pubs, the print isn't as small, and it is conveniently bound into a single volume. If that is all you want, this book is fine. If you are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of taxes, it is probably worth reading to familiarize yourself. But there is so much more that could be included in a book which claims to be a retirement tax guide. Something titled "Essential Retirement Tax Guide", should include much more in the way of tax strategy advice about how to do tax planning, both before and during the retirement years. Such as when to start withdrawing from IRAs, and when you might want to do so on Jan 1 of next year rather than Dec of the current year, for example. How and why you can start withdrawing as early as 55 without penalty. The pros and cons of traditional IRAs versus Roth IRAs. Are there certain investments that should be considered to reduce retirement tax liability (e.g. municipal bonds)? How can one use life insurance investments to tax advantage, and to pass on to heirs tax free.? How can one take best advantage of losses in the stock market to reduce taxes? Etc. Other retirement tax issues I was hoping to see included here but which are not addressed are: what is the income tax rate, and overall tax burden, for each of the states. Which states have no income tax? Where can I move to minimize the amounts of taxes I am going to owe once retired? Is there any way to protect myself from rising property taxes? How are taxes affected if I retire to another country? You get the idea.