Hitting the Books during Spring Break

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As kids, most of us anticipated Spring Break as a time to escape from reading, books, or anything that remotely resembled “heavy” thinking. However, as I’ve gotten older, I find that I anticipate Spring Break or any vacation as a great opportunity for leisure reading. With that in mind, I have a handful of Spring Break-worthy books related to your future (financial and otherwise) to recommend for you.

Spring Break Inspiration Through Books

Now, before you run for the door thinking “Spring Break” and “financial future” are words that should never be used in a sentence together, hear me out. These books are lighter on the technical side of finance and more on the motivational or aspirational side of your future.

Take a look and see if one piques your interest…

 

Books - The Investment Answer On the lightly technical side of investing
The Investment Answer by Daniel C. Goldie and Gordon S. Murray

Gordon Murray was in the end stages of brain cancer when he wrote this book along with his friend and financial advisor, Dan Goldie. Murray was a Wall Street veteran who “saw the light” on the futility of active money management and felt compelled to write a book in his last days that explains investing in a handful of simple steps (five of them, to be exact). This slim volume (less than 100 pages) is the best book I’ve found to simplify the mystery of how to invest your money. We give it to every new client and I encourage you to start here for an excellent foundation in investment management.

Books - How To Retire For a mostly non-financial guide to preparing for retirement
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won’t Get From Your Financial Advisor by Ernie J. Zelinski

As a financial planner, I’m slightly affronted by the title of this book but the terrific content nearly makes up for it. Zelinski encourages his readers to mentally and emotionally prepare for retirement long before retiring. He uses humor, stories, and exercises to help you envision how to live your life in retirement and also how to change your life now to more closely align the two. After all, for those of us still working, who wouldn’t want to feel like our “retirement” life won’t be much different that our “work” life (in a good way)? Let this quote from the book entice you: “The most fortunate of retirees are those who through good planning, experimentation, and risk-taking succeed in making retirement the best time of their lives.” Where do I sign up!?!

Books - Gift From The Sea And, a classic worth re-reading to consider the character of our life, in general
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

This beloved book hardly needs my introduction but deserves a fresh read to immerse, again, in the graceful writing and timeless musings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Charles Lindbergh’s wife but an extraordinary aviator, writer, and women in her own right). This short book (144 pages) has been a bestseller since its first publication in 1955. Lindbergh shares her meditations on aging, relationships, contentment and more. In doing so, she “helps readers find a space for contemplation and creativity within their own lives.”

For all of us pondering how to live the best life we can, this gem is a treasure worth unearthing repeatedly. Enjoy and find yourself calmed, renewed, and inspired.

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