PBS: The Boomers Guide to Great Retirement

[mickeyd]

If you can catch the PBS program from about 8PM-10 (CDT) tonight it may be worth your while.

They are having a pledge break now but the first 15 minutes or so was pretty good. They did a pretty nice job on the review of early SS or not, a topic that i have seen here on occasion.

Back to the show...

 

[Leonidas]

Must depend on where you live - I've got a John Denver concert on my PBS station.

 

[REWahoo]

I love the little gems of market timing advice: "You can tell the market has reached bottom and is due for a major upturn when you see ads for 'llama farming' on TV."

Sheeesh... :

 

[mb]

I love the little gems of market timing advice: "You can tell the market has reached bottom and is due for a major upturn when you see ads for 'llama farming' on TV."

Sheeesh... :

Wow, I missed it llama farming ads are sure the indicator that is always right! Dang! Do you think it's to late to buy?

 

[REWahoo]

Jonathan Pond is the pledge spokesperson/financial planner for the program. If you make a pledge you will get his book and "personalized financial planning reports".

http://jonathanpond.com/

 

[REWahoo]

Dang! Do you think it's to late to buy?

Unfortunately, it's never too late to buy the farm...

 

[larry]

Must depend on where you live - I've got a John Denver concert on my PBS station.

We had Yawnni (I know I spelled it that way intentionally) on the old boob.

 

[unclemick]

You got me looking last night - ended up with Alison Kraus/Union Station.

And Divo Live at the Greek was on the other PBS channel.

Heh heh heh - nothing wrong with a singing and plunking break from finance and football - right

 

[mickeyd]

I love the little gems of market timing advice: "You can tell the market has reached bottom and is due for a major upturn when you see ads for 'llama farming' on TV."

Sheeesh...

Yea, that was interesting wasn't it? He also mentioned ads for gold and collectibles were a sure sign of the market bottoming out.

I took it as a sarcastic note that these kind of investments always crop up when folks are in a panic that their accounts are down (i.e. 2000-03) and they need to "time the market" and get in on the ground floor of the llama/gold market. I did not think that he was promoting market timing, just the opposite.

There were a number of pretty good ideas that he covered in the 2 hour show. My big complaint is that there was only about 45 minutes of retirement planning talk and about 75 minutes of pledge drive stuff (get Pond's book, financial plan etc as a bribe for a pledge). His comments on indexing and lifecycle/target funds were on the money.

I'd say that it was a good starter for someone who has not given much thought to retirement planning, but way below the level of most of the semi-experts on this forum.

 

[FinanceDude]

Seems like another stiff to me, along the lines of Jane Bryant Quinn/Suze Orman, just trying to sell books............

To me PBS has lost their way........it's all about fund-raising. I used to give the local station a nice donation, but when they kept calling and asking me to DOUBLE it each year, I had my name taken off the list.........

 

[mickeyd]

trying to sell books

Your point is well taken FD. I watched a bit of the pitch for the pledge drive and Mr. Pond was implying that this is some kind of unique deal that is exclusive to PBS pledgers. I know that there must be some kind of comp that he gets for how many folks donate and get the whole package (autographed book, financial plan, etc). I doubt that he is doing it just to help out the poor boomers. Suze got her foot in the door this way then when CNBC came along she jumped ship and does the same kind of show weekly on the new station.

I guess I should not blame either of them for figuring out a niche market to sell their planning s**t to, as they are only out to make a buck like the rest of us dopes.

 

[REWahoo]

I'd say that it was a good starter for someone who has not given much thought to retirement planning, but way below the level of most of the semi-experts on this forum.

I think you are being kind. His advice was a mile wide and an inch deep.

Example: "Most investors don't even get average returns, but someone has to be above average. That can be you. How? Choose good investments."

 

[rs0460a]

You got me looking last night - ended up with Alison Kraus/Union Station.

One of my favorites!

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/krauss_alison/artist.jhtml

 

[Cut-Throat]

I think you are being kind. His advice was a mile wide and an inch deep.

Example: "Most investors don't even get average returns, but someone has to be above average. That can be you. How? Choose good investments."

He's better than Suzie Orman

 

[REWahoo]

He's better than Suzie Orman

OK, damn him with faint praise , but you've got a point.

 

[FinanceDude]

He's better than Suzie Orman

True..........he probably doesn't use crystals to look into the future on investment topics............

 

[Patrick]

I love the little gems of market timing advice: "You can tell the market has reached bottom and is due for a major upturn when you see ads for 'llama farming' on TV."

Sheeesh... :

Hmm. I saw a commercial for alpaca farming last night. Does that count?

 

[JohnEyles]

To me PBS has lost their way........it's all about fund-raising.

Here they are actually showing this informercial called The Perricone Prescription.
I mean, the guy has some good common-sense health advice, but he's also
pushing these expensive supplements. Dunno for sure he pays the station
to run them (and not the other way 'round), but they (the station) is pretty
stupid if not. So they are showing you an infomercial while they beg for money;
sheesh ...

 

[REWahoo]

Based on this review of Jonathan Pond's book You Can Do It! The Boomer's Guide to a Great Retirement, maybe I was being too hard on him. At least he includes the expense side of the equation in the "how much do I need to retire?" discussion:

...he says,to sit down with paper and pencil to figure out a budget of what, realistically, you'll need to sustain yourself through your golden years. Conveniently, he provides worksheets to get you started.

Pond, trying mightily not to sound like Scrooge, is at his absolute original best when he goes off on rants about people who throw away potential retirement savings by spending far more than they should on their homes ("edifice complex," he calls it) or on their cars ("mobile phallic symbols").

Without divulging where he lives or what kind of jalopy he owns, Pond confesses, "I found a piece of paper on my windshield one morning that said, 'Your car violates this neighborhood's standards of good taste.' "

Could be my kind of guy...

 

[Nords]

'Your car violates this neighborhood's standards of good taste.'
Could be my kind of guy...

My kind of car, too...