Buckets of Money: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety »

RAYMOND J. LUCIA, CFP®, is a nationally renowned expert in the field of financial and business management. He is the President and founder of Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc., which manages over $500 million in assets. Ray’s radio show, The Ray Lucia Show, is heard in over sixty markets across the country. He has been called "A rising star in talk radio," and listed as one of the top 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America by Talkers magazine.

Many people head into retirement assuming they will have enough money to live on for the rest of their lives. But when issues such as inflation and taxes come into play, their financial cushion can become so thin that they may have to cut back drastically on their standard of living or go back to work just to survive. Don’t let this happen to you!

Nationally recognized Certified Financial PlannerTM and radio personality Ray Lucia has helped thousands of people improve their financial lives over his thirty-year career–and now, he has transformed these experiences into a program that will allow you to enjoy a comfortable retirement without worrying about your money running out. In Buckets of Money®: How to Retire in Comfort and Safety, Lucia provides you with a smart and conservative way to protect and grow your nest egg. With this book as your guide, you’ll learn how to achieve both income and growth, while reducing risk.

In an easy-to-understand and accessible style, Lucia outlines his proven "Buckets of Money" technique. The concept behind Buckets of Money is amazingly simple. You match your assets to your liabilities. If you need income today, that’s a short-term liability (Bucket No. 1) that requires short-term assets, such as CDs and Treasury Bills. If you want inflation-indexed income tomorrow, that’s a mid-term liability requiring a match of mid-term assets, such as bonds and certain kinds of annuities, in Bucket No. 2. If you want your money to grow over the long run, that’s a long-term liability to be funded with long-term assets, such as stocks and real estate, in Bucket No. 3. Because you’re buying time with the income from Buckets Nos. 1 and 2, your Bucket No. 3 can grow without the worry of market volatility. Using many examples of "Buckets" in action, Lucia details the investments that are best for each Bucket and illustrates how to modify the Buckets system as your situation changes.

Buckets of Money also includes a self-assessment test to determine your investing style and a worksheet that allows you to experiment with different dollar amounts, time periods, rates of return, and inflation so you can estimate what to realistically expect from your portfolio.

To win at the retirement game, you need to know your financial goals, divvy up your money accordingly, and then invest intelligently. Although there is no such thing as a "risk-free" investment, Buckets of Money offers a technique that will put you on the right track to a more secure retirement–regardless of your age, income, net worth, or investment experience.