What's your magic number.

The Number: A Completely Different Way to Think About the Rest of Your Life By Lee Eisenberg Simon & Schuster US$26

Journalist and consultant Lee Eisenberg wants you to think about retirement in terms of a single number, defined as the amount of money and resources a person needs to enjoy a financially worry-free retirement into the golden years, when life should be lived to the fullest.

Retirement is a timely subject in the United States these days. There are many financial sinkholes ahead for senior citizens' finances: a longer life expectancy, which requires a higher savings level; salary increases that don't keep up with economic growth; and growing levels of personal debt.

After serving a stint as Editor-in-Chief of Esquire magazine, Eisenberg was working as an independent consultant for Time when he received an offer he could not refuse. There was, however, one catch: It required him to move his family from a comfortable home in the East Coast suburbs across the country to Wisconsin, in order to work at Land's End, the casual clothing company. It was quite a change in his life, but he accepted it because, according to his book, he was concerned about that number.

The number, he writes, is different for each individual. But for all of us, in some way, shape or form, it can make outrageous demands in terms of our decisions and our actions. For some, it is a guideline. For others, hitting the number can seem impossible, a sum they can only dream to achieve.

For many, the number is a symbol of freedom and professional success. It's a passport to a life of luxury and immersion into spiritual exploration. For others, it's a nightmare that should be banished from the mind during the everyday bustle of life: A reminder of the poverty they will face when they retire to a stressful life burdened by reduced income and mounting debt.

Most people prefer not to talk about what they need for retirement, Eisenberg posits, fearing that revealing their personal finances would blow a lid off of the lifestyle they work so hard to convey to the world and expose the ugly economic truth. Others are just ignorant in matters of planning and financial wisdom. This secret anxiety, according to the author, is the ultimate taboo.

Eisenberg divides people into four types in regard to how they plan for retirement. Some people reach age 50 without ever really grasping how much they need to retire, or they simply fail to understand their need to invest in their future. Others make plans for retirement but do so unrealistically and stand little chance of achieving concrete goals. There are also some who deny themselves life's many pleasures. They live spartan lifestyles, saving as much as possible. Finally, there are those that consider the number as a means to make their dreams come true and enjoy their pastimes along the way.

Eisenberg explores the subject of personal savings to help readers better manage every aspect of their lives, which largely includes money and happiness. The author looks for a balance between fun and moderation and points out ways to live comfortably without falling into the traps of stinginess or excess.

Widening gap. Eisenberg sidesteps the issue of the widening gap between what U.S. citizens earn and what they spend, which plagues a U.S. economy that has nevertheless enjoyed sustained growth for the last 16 quarters. Nor does he deal with how the benefits of economic growth have failed to reach all levels of society since the end of the Second World War. This is the reason for low personal savings levels across the United States, along with an inherent desire to spend and keep on spending. This book is not an investment guide. It is, however, an analysis of expectations--and fears--surrounding retirement. It invites readers to ask themselves what kind of financial cushion they'd have under them when they cannot continue to work.

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