Unveiling the Retirement Myth by Jim Otar

[nico08]

I just finished reading Jim Otar's 500+ page book- Unveiling the Retirement Myth. The book contains a lot of good material, but some of it was over my head. I wondered if you think that anything in Otar's book contradicts or challenges the premises/assumptions that make up FIRECalc?

Also, if you read Otar's book, I would like to know you found particularly informative and helpful to you in planning for early retirement.

Thanks.

 

[lark_L]

I've finished most of it. A lot of the graphs are very similar to FireCalc graphs. All in all, the book was well done. I found some of the "market timing" information (he uses some sort of allocation title -- escapes me at the moment) to be quite a surprise. He talks about the dangers of "aft-casting" with historical data. Then he turns around and does the same a few hundred pages later.

Regardless, it really helped me understand the whole 4% (or whatever % you ascribe to) issue a lot clearer. The clarity with the ratios (33 x desired income if you want to retire at 55....) really was useful.

 

[Danmar]

I think he uses the same data as Firecalc. What he tries to do is interpret the data in a way that helps you decide what to do. Effectively testing a variety of scenarios and then determining the result on portfolio longevity.

 

[walkinwood]

You may find your question answered and a lot of other discussions in this thread.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/otar-unveiling-the-retirement-myth-45922.html