During this holiday season of good cheer, family gatherings and lost gift receipts, I'm assuming that readers aren't in the mood to hear about how poorly they are investing. Or how somebody may be trying to rip them off.
So in the spirit of the holidays, I'm devoting this column to a story that is so heartwarming that it would melt icicles (if we had any).
The story begins 15 years ago, when Henry Hebeler, a bright guy with a philanthropic heart, walked away from a top job at the Boeing Co. Hebeler, who was the vice president of planning, reported to Boeing's chairman for the corporation's long-range forecasts.
Hebeler decided to retire early after discovering what he considered to be the dreadful state of the nation's retirement planning. Upon reaching his mid-50s, the engineer had become interested in projecting what his own financial retirement would look like, so he started investigating what was out there to help. He was stunned at what he found. The retirement calculators and software that he tried were simplistic, misleading and the math was often wrong. You could plug the same figures into different programs and you'd get totally different conclusions.
"If I presented forecasts to Boeing's board like that, they would have thrown me out," he recalled.
Meanwhile he was appalled at the advice he was hearing at retirement seminars, which are usually little more than thinly disguised sales pitches.
Surely, Hebeler thought to himself, retirees and those careening toward that milestone deserved better. And, he thought, why couldn't he be part of the solution? Hebeler decided to ditch the weapon systems business to pursue his quixotic dream of helping others plan their retirement finances more wisely.
Using his background in forecasting, planning and math, he had hoped to write a book that would instruct readers how to develop their own sound retirement plans, but publishers were hardly enthused. When he tried to meet with editors during a trip to New York City, he couldn't even get face time with the secretaries.
He did snag a contract with a small publishing company in Salt Lake City in the early 1990s, and thousands of copies of his book were sold. But the owner, get this, inexplicably wagered the publishing house in a bet. The publisher lost the bet, the winner sold off the assets and Hebeler's book vanished from the market.
At some point, Hebeler concluded that it would be easier to get his message out through journalists. Consequently, he began passing along his research and his thoughts to reporters at The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger's Personal Finance and other publications.
News of his work spread among journalists and eventually investors. One day, Hebeler got a call from John Wiley & Sons, who asked him to write a book. I've previously recommended the book, "J.K. Lasser's Your Winning Retirement Plan," as an excellent resource for the retired and the soon to be. He has finished another retirement book, which should be even better.
At some point, Hebeler decided that instead of simply railing about lame software, he'd create his own. Now, most of us would have a better chance of developing a cold than ever developing software, but Hebeler is a guy who earned three degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the past few years, he has consumed thousands of hours writing software code. One of his projects was creating a program on when to begin taking Social Security benefits. He designed this for Jonathan Clements, a Wall Street Journalcolumnist.
Be warned that Hebeler's software, which relies upon Excel, looks like it was designed by an engineer. The programs are about as aesthetically pleasing as your living room after a Super Bowl party. But the information is invaluable, and anybody with a computer can use it.
All Hebeler's programs are available on his Web site, www.analyzenow.com. Most of what you'll find is free, including the Social Security calculator. Hebeler has no interest in making money off his work. He charges a modest price for his two most involved programs, Dynamic Financial Planning Pro III and Simplified Financial Planner Plus, because he must pay licensing fees for the financial indexes and other related costs.
If you use the tools on his site, you should end up with a much better idea of how much your retirement is going to cost and whether you will have enough to cover the tab.
Unlike current popular programs, for instance, the Dynamic Financial Planning Pro III represents the tendency of retired people to spend more when their investments increase appreciably in value or to cut back on spending when their investments fall.
Most retirement programs assume that people spend the same amount of inflation-adjusted money each year until their investments are exhausted. Another common flaw that popular programs make is not taking into account the cost of investments.
For all his preoccupation with helping people with financial plans using e-mail and his Web site, he and his wife also assist several immigrants and a number of poor elderly widows. Under his desk is a box stuffed with thank-you notes, primarily from people who have used his software.
And his good works have attracted volunteers who want to help. Someone in Utah runs the Web site. A retired Oxford finance professor reviews his math. Others mail software and books. An attorney answers estate-planning questions. When your Web site gets several thousands hits a day, the work piles up.
At age 71, Hebeler, who spends about 12 hours a day on his mission, remains incredibly busy. An issue he's been analyzing lately is President Bush's determination to reform or gut (pick your own verb) Social Security. Hebeler's a Republican, but he's troubled at the preliminary numbers he's crunched so far. But since this is a holiday column, I'm going to resist wandering down that dark alley. At least this Sunday.
Lynn O'Shaughnessy is the author of "The Retirement Bible" and "The Investing Bible." She can be reached at LynnOShaughnessy@cox.net.
better. And, he thought, why couldn't he be part of the solution? Hebeler decided to ditch the weapon systems business to pursue his quixotic dream of helping others plan their retirement finances more wisely.
Using his background in forecasting, planning and math, he had hoped to write a book that would instruct readers how to develop their own sound retirement plans, but publishers were hardly enthused. When he tried to meet with editors during a trip to New York City, he couldn't even get face time with the secretaries.
He did snag a contract with a small publishing company in Salt Lake City in the early 1990s, and thousands of copies of his book were sold. But the owner, get this, inexplicably wagered the publishing house in a bet. The publisher lost the bet, the winner sold off the assets and Hebeler's book vanished from the market.
At some point, Hebeler concluded that it would be easier to get his message out through journalists. Consequently, he began passing along his research and his thoughts to reporters at The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger's Personal Finance and other publications.
News of his work spread among journalists and eventually investors. One day, Hebeler got a call from John Wiley & Sons, who asked him to write a book. I've previously recommended the book, "J.K. Lasser's Your Winning Retirement Plan," as an excellent resource for the retired and the soon to be. He has finished another retirement book, which should be even better.
At some point, Hebeler decided that instead of simply railing about lame software, he'd create his own. Now, most of us would have a better chance of developing a cold than ever developing software, but Hebeler is a guy who earned three degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During the past few years, he has consumed thousands of hours writing software code. One of his projects was creating a program on when to begin taking Social Security benefits. He designed this for Jonathan Clements, a Wall Street Journal columnist.
Be warned that Hebeler's software, which relies upon Excel, looks like it was designed by an engineer. The programs are about as aesthetically pleasing as your living room after a Super Bowl party. But the information is invaluable, and anybody with a computer can use it.
All Hebeler's programs are available on his Web site, www.analyzenow.com. Most of what you'll find is free, including the Social Security calculator. Hebeler has no interest in making money off his work. He charges a modest price for his two most involved programs, Dynamic Financial Planning Pro III and Simplified Financial Planner Plus, because he must pay licensing fees for the financial indexes and other related costs.
If you use the tools on his site, you should end up with a much better idea of how much your retirement is going to cost and whether you will have enough to cover the tab.
Unlike current popular programs, for instance, the Dynamic Financial Planning Pro III represents the tendency of retired people to spend more when their investments increase appreciably in value or to cut back on spending when their investments fall.
Most retirement programs assume that people spend the same amount of inflation-adjusted money each year until their investments are exhausted. Another common flaw that popular programs make is not taking into account the cost of investments.
For all his preoccupation with helping people with financial plans using e-mail and his Web site, he and his wife also assist several immigrants and a number of poor elderly widows. Under his desk is a box stuffed with thank-you notes, primarily from people who have used his software.
And his good works have attracted volunteers who want to help. Someone in Utah runs the Web site. A retired Oxford finance professor reviews his math. Others mail software and books. An attorney answers estate-planning questions. When your Web site gets several thousands hits a day, the work piles up.
At age 71, Hebeler, who spends about 12 hours a day on his mission, remains incredibly busy. An issue he's been analyzing lately is President Bush's determination to reform or gut (pick your own verb) Social Security. Hebeler's a Republican, but he's troubled at the preliminary numbers he's crunched so far. But since this is a holiday column, I'm going to resist wandering down that dark alley. At least this Sunday.
Lynn O'Shaughnessy is the author of "The Retirement Bible" and "The Investing Bible." She can be reached at LynnOShaughnessy@cox.net.
