8 Retirement and Investing Books Christine Benz Recommends

I’ve often described working on The Long View podcast as “mandatory weekly learning.” Not only is it an opportunity to chat with a thought leader in investing or personal finance, but it also gives my co-hosts and me a chance to read these experts’ books.

Here are some of my favorite books by The Long View guests in 2026. My co-host Amy Arnott shared her favorites, too, so check those out.

My Favorite Books on Retirement Planning

Living Off Your Acorns: Your Guide to the Four Phases of Retirement by Dana Anspach

You may have heard about the three phases of retirement: go-go, slow-go, and no-go.

In her latest book, financial planner Dana Anspach introduces the “pre-go” phase. In the 10 or so years before retirement—the “pre-go”—Anspach urges readers to begin exploring the emotional side of retirement, especially how they’ll find purpose and meaning and fill their days once they stop working. (She has been blogging about her own pre-go period on The Retirement Manifesto website.)

Anspach also discusses the importance of derisking a portfolio in the years leading up to retirement, ideally selling stocks in tranches to build an income ladder that’s ready to go when working income stops.

The book is chock-full of specific guidance, but what sets it apart is Anspach’s many client stories, which put a human face on the concepts.

How to Help Your Parents as They Age: A Financial Planner’s Guide to Caregiving by Elliott Appel

Not every parent-child relationship is smooth.

In How to Help Your Parents as They Age, financial planner Elliott Appel explores what it’s like to help a difficult parent through healthcare and financial struggles.

Appel discusses the concrete steps he took to help his father, and the pain points he encountered along the way, as well as the importance of self-care during a caregiving journey.

The book provides practical strategies for adult children who are assisting their parents with their money, healthcare, and living situations.

And for those of us whose parents are already gone, the book is a wake-up call to get organized, create an estate plan, and make housing choices to minimize stress on our loved ones.

The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money by Jean Chatzky

Turning a pot of retirement savings into a stream of lifetime income has been called the hardest problem in financial planning, and it’s also a psychological hurdle, as new retirees often find spending to be harder than saving.

Veteran financial author, podcaster, and TV personality Jean Chatzky digs deep into both sets of challenges in this scrupulously researched book. Chatzky is a fan of maximizing guaranteed income sources like Social Security and pensions, and yes, simple income annuities, but the book also includes plenty of helpful detail on portfolio management and ancillary retirement planning topics like paying for long-term care.

Tax Planning To and Through Early Retirement by Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney

This book provides a valuable counterpoint to the familiar narrative that your taxes will inevitably soar in retirement.

Cody Garrett and Sean Mullaney make a compelling case that with a bit of careful planning, especially in the working years and just after retirement commences, retirees may actually lower their taxes relative to their working years.

While the book goes into a lot of detail on tax matters, it’s surprisingly clear and approachable, even for people who aren’t steeped in the tax code.

Your Retirement Sketchbook by Jamie Hopkins and Bonnie Treichel

This breezy book doesn’t tell its readers what to think about retirement; it invites them on a journey to ponder what their own retirements might look like.

Authors Jamie Hopkins and Bonnie Treichel are both retirement-planning experts and attorneys, so the book doesn’t skimp on hardcore retirement topics like mortality credits, defined-contribution plans, and the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. But it also devotes plenty of real estate to nonfinancial topics like gray divorce and finding purpose later in life.

Retirement Planning Guidebook: Navigating the Important Decisions for Retirement Success, Third Edition, by Wade Pfau

This book—a textbook, really—has been a fixture on my desk since its first edition came out in 2021, largely because author and retirement researcher Wade Pfau covers every major retirement-planning topic with great authority and detail.

The third edition, released in January 2026, incorporates new material on tax-law changes, sequence risk, and funding healthcare in the pre-Medicare years, among other topics. It’s a must-own for any serious student of retirement planning, both planning professionals and engaged individuals (OK, extremely engaged individuals).

My Favorite Books on Investing

Risk & Reward: How to Handle Market Volatility and Build Long-Term Wealth by Ben Carlson

Regular readers of Ben Carlson’s blog, “A Wealth of Common Sense,” know of his affinity for market history, and this book is in that same mold.

Full of clear data visualizations, it makes a vivid case that being able to stay the course through searing losses is the price of admission for successful long-term investors. With the US in a bull market that has lasted the better part of 17 years, Carlson’s message that there’s no free lunch is as valuable and timely as ever.

Your Perfect Portfolio: The Ultimate Guide to Using the World’s Most Powerful Investing Strategies by Cullen Roche

The premise of this book is that there’s no single “best” portfolio. Rather, author and portfolio manager Cullen Roche argues that any number of portfolio strategies can work; the only investment approach that matters is the one that you can stick with to reach your goals.

Each chapter takes a specific portfolio strategy for a spin, noting how it works, as well as its pros and cons. The portfolio strategies range from the ultraminimalist “three-fund” portfolio espoused by many Bogleheads (go, Taylor Larimore!) to more complex approaches like risk parity and endowment investing.

The book also includes an in-depth exploration of Roche’s own preferred investment strategy, which he calls “defined-duration” investing.

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