The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life

Written by Lee Eisenberg

Narrated by Lee Eisenberg

Do you know your Number? What happens if you don't make it to your Number? Do you have a plan? The Number is no ordinary finance book—it offers an intriguing and entertaining tour of weath gurus, life coaches, and financial advisers, and our hopes and fears for the future. The result is a provocative field guide to your psyche and finances and an urgently useful book for anyone over thirty.

The often-avoided, anxiety-riddled discussion about financial planning for a secure and fulfilling future has been given a new starting point in The Number by Lee Eisenberg. The buzz of professionals and financial industry insiders everywhere, the Number represents the amount of money and resources people will need to enjoy the active life they desire, especially post-career. Backed by imaginative reporting and insights, Eisenberg urges people to assume control and responsibility for their standard of living, and take greater aim on their long-term aspirations.

From Wall Street to Main Street USA, the Number means different things to different people. It is constantly fluctuating in people’s minds and bank accounts. To some, the Number symbolizes freedom, validation of career success, the ticket to luxurious indulgences and spiritual exploration; to others, it represents the bewildering and nonsensical nightmare of an impoverished existence creeping up on them in their old age, a seemingly hopeless inevitability that they would rather simply ignore than confront. People are highly private and closed-mouthed when it comes to discussing their Numbers, or lack thereof, for fear they might either reveal too much or display ineptitude.

In The Number, Eisenberg describes this secret anxiety as the “Last Taboo,” a conundrum snared in confusing financial lingo. He sorts through the fancy jargon and translates the Number into commonsense advice that resonates just as easily with the aging gods and goddesses of corporate boardrooms as it does with ordinary people who are beginning to realize that retirement is now just a couple of decades away. Believing that the Number is as much about self-worth as it is net worth, Eisenberg strives to help readers better understand and more efficiently manage all aspects of their life, money, and pursuit of happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Jan 3, 2006
• ISBN: 9780743555692

Lee Eisenberg

Lee Eisenberg, most recently the author of Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What (2013). The Number was a New York Times bestseller and was cited by Business Week as one of the best books of the year. Eisenberg is also the former editor in chief of Esquire. Under his stewardship the magazine won National Magazine Awards across a number of writing and design categories. He currently lives in Chicago.

Reviews for The Number

[ralphlagana · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that most should read because it will force you to think about your looming future. The Number refers to the number each of us believes we'll need to have upon the day of our retirement. It differs completely for each of us. Have modest needs? it could be small. Lead a great, costly life now and wish to maintain it? It could be much, much higher. The book address how the number changes with life events like more toys, the arrival of children, the return of college children, etc. it will also point out items most do not really dwell on. We're living much longer, which means we'll need more money, health care is much better and much more costly. So, be prepared, if you hate thinking of your financial future, to be very uncomfortable, but don't say you weren't warned.

[frykitty · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I got to page 106 and the bloody book still hadn't taught me a thing. It seems to be more about the importance of thinking about your retirement, rather than the actual mechanics of being secure for said retirement. It's a fine book for what it is, but it wasn't what I wanted, so I stopped wasting my precious reading time on it.

[llandaff_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well written and easy to read with some interesting propositions.Could have been condensed to half its size (especially the last third).

[lmteske · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I recommend at least a perusal of this book. The subtitle is "A Completely different way to think about the Rest of Your Life". Anyone, no matter their age, who has hopes and fears about what the "Rest of their Life" will be like some day, could get something out of this book. I'm not talking about spiffy formulas to calculate the dreaded Number or specific strategies on how to accumulate savings. Eisenberg says that the standard formulas you see in financial magazines, etc, leave a lot out of the equation, in particular ? what would make you happy and fulfilled? He writes about the "keeping up with the joneses-peer pressure-debtors culture" we have in America. There is no peer pressure to save, to fund your IRA, or to live in a house within your budget. Consequently, very few Americans have anything set aside for retirement. And what about retirement? He says many people have an idea of what retirement will be ? and that idea was a blip in history not destined to last. In all, I liked this book a lot. Eisenberg summarizes so many other works, and presents so many interesting statistics and histories. It was kind of like reading a survey of the literature of financial planning. The book's final chapters address that "financial planning" is on the way out and "life planning" is on the way in, with planners beginning to pay more attention to feelings, hopes and dreams, in addition to working on your Numbers.

[heidilove_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this book should come with a warning: it's not about finance, it's about you. Read it along with "it's hard to make a difference when yo ucan't find your keys" and be certain to allow enough time for the results of what happens when you start living a more midful, aware life. not always comfortable but never a bad thing.