Bruce Cohen - Author: The Pension Puzzle

The big question that this book answers is
How Much Money Do You Need To Retire?

According to Dictionary.com a pension is defined as:

1. a fixed amount, other than wages, paid at regular intervals to a person or to the person's surviving dependents in consideration of past services, age, merit, poverty, injury or loss sustained, etc.: a retirement pension.
   
2. an allowance, annuity, or subsidy.
   
3. (in France and elsewhere in continental Europe)
   
4. a boardinghouse or small hotel.
   
5. room and board.
   –verb (used with object)
   
6. to grant or pay a pension to.
   
7. to cause to retire on a pension (usually fol. by off).

This book The Pension Puzzle (Third Edition) by Bruce Cohen & Brian Fitzgerald looks at the technical details behind pensions. These can include pensions and government pensions and government benefits and RRSPs.

To be honest, being 20+ years away from retirement I am guilty of not spending much time reading books about pensions. I'm also self employed and don't plan to ever have a employee pension as such.

This book does set out the guidelines and frame work for those who are / have been employees and who are looking forward to their companies helping pay some of their retirement costs.

According to the book cover, The Pension Puzzle explains what pensions are; how all the different types work; how government, employer plans, and RRSPs fit together; and how to judge if your employers plan is a good one.

RETIREMENT STARTS AT 65
Retirement for most people starts around 65 years of age. At that point you're going to need to know how much money you've got coming in to pay your post retirement bills.

As well, if you've got a certain lifestyle, such as travelling , in mind that costs a few extra dollars, you'll need to have some sort of pension in place to cover these costs.

The Pension Plan helps you understand such pensions as your employers pension plan, Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), Old Age Security (OAS). This will give you the ability to better plan how much money you'll actually have coming in when you retire.

The First Seven Chapters are as follows:

1. Chapter 1: How much, How Long?
   
2. Chapter 2: Are you on a Bicycle or Tricycle?
   
3. Chapter 3: Government Benefits: Cash for Life
   
4. Chapter 4: CPP: Pension Plan or Pyriamid Scheme
   
5. Chapter 5: The Tax Shelter Umbrella
   
6. Chapter 6: Employer Plans: Overlooked Value
   
7. Chapter 7: Defined Benefit Plans: Promises, Promises

I must congratulate Bruce Cohen on writing The Pension Plan. He wrote it out of need for a book with this specific information that affects 4 million Canadians. I was able to easily read portions of the book as it was especially written in mind for the lay person to understand.

Now that this book has created new questions with me, I'm going to have to study this pension puzzle guide for myself!!