San Beda College – Alabang

School of Law

A Book Review of:

“Life After: Journey to a Fulfilling Retirement”
SUBJECT:
Advanced Taxation and Review - 4F

PROFESSOR:
Atty. Nicasio C. Cabaneiro, CPA

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
30 June 2022

SUBMITTED BY:
Uriarte, Juan Carlos G.
2017400024
 The book, “Life After”, written by Atty. Nicasio Cabaneiro along side Ms. Nadia
Manuel provides its readers with an eye-opening view of the retirement planning
process. The topic of retirement planning is often associated with people in the twilight
years of their careers but, this book manages to drive home the point that retirement
planning is something that even our generation should consider. Perhaps the most
important feature of the book is how it frames retirement planning as a wholistic process
that is not confined to the retiree alone. It is discussed in full detail and with respect to
the heirs and beneficiary that will be left in charge of what you have saved up during
your lifetime. The book’s last two chapters were a beautiful touch to the otherwise
technical discussion on the retirement planning process. The book provides a humane
look into the retirement stage that many of us will experience later on, by reminding us
to make “experiential investments” to make our lives worthwhile, and to ensure that
when we leave this earth, our loved ones who will succeed us will be taken care of by
the assets that we leave behind.

Redefining our understanding of “Retirement Planning”

The first few chapters of “Life After”, disabuses our minds from the usual
understanding of Retirement Planning. Before reading the book, I understood
Retirement Planning as the preparations for our lives after putting an end to our career.
Retirement used to signify a change in lifestyle in order to stretch your retirement
savings in order for it to last until you depart from the mortal realm. However, this
understanding change after reading the first chapter of the book because of how the
concept was reframed as a way of preparing for retirement at an early stage of your
career in order to retire and maintain your lifestyle when you were working. This
important portion about lifestyle maintenance radically changes your perspective
towards retirement planning from that of an arduous process for a simpler lifestyle
brought about by limited funds, to that of a series of wise financial decisions geared
towards creating a fund that can make you live life comfortably despite the cessation of
ones’ employment, business, profession, etc.

Furthermore, the first chapters of the book also work to readjust our perspective
towards retirement planning by saying that each family’s set up will ultimately affect your
game plan for your retirement process. Many people that I know end up having a
stressful experience when it comes to retirement planning because they keep
comparing their retirement planning to the retirees with different family set ups and
needs and end up complaining why said set up works for the other family but is not
feasible for their family. Chapter 2 explained how retirement planning entails the
process of taking your own unique family type into account when sorting out your
retirement plan. For instance, a retiree who is part of a nuclear family might need to set
up and invest on more assets compared to a retiree who is part of a single parent
family. Another example would be that of a retiree belonging to an extended family who
probably needs to make more efforts in making investments on passive sources of
income to support the members of said extended family. Ultimately, the book tells its
readers to be introspective when it comes to planning your retirement, because you and
your family have different needs, and it is now up to you to start taking account of the
foreseeable continuing expenses that you need to save up for.

Chapters 3 and 4 explains Financial Planning in relation to Retirement Planning

and the preparatory steps for Retirement Planning. Financial Planning is explained by a
simple 5-Step General framework which are as follows:
1. Understanding one’s current financial situation;
2. Setting of financial goals;
3. Creation of an action plan to achieve financial goals;
4. Implementation of the action plan; and
5. Reevaluation or revision of the action plan when needed.
The preparation for one’s retirement plan is supposed to span the three general stages
of retirement planning namely:
1. Aggressive Wealth Accumulation Stage (Ages 21 to 35);
 2. Continued Asset Growth Phase (Ages 36 to 50); and
3. Pre-Retirement Phase (Ages 51 to 60 or 65).

Taking the 5-Step Framework into account in relation to the three (3) main stages of
Retirement Planning, the reader is able to start formulating a timeline of when to
properly commence said planning. An examination of the two chapters shows that
retirement planning is something that our age group should begin; it isn’t something
reserved to people in their mid 40s or 50s. Finally, Chapter 5 helps to flesh out the
retirement planning process by further discussing each of the 5 steps mentioned above
in the preceding paragraphs.

The “technical aspects” of retirement planning.

Chapters 6 to 8, 10, and 11, talk about the specific laws and legal remedies that
we can avail of for our retirement planning. Chapters 6 and 7 supplement each other by
first, laying down the laws that govern retirement planning such as R.A. 4917 which set
up a tax exemption benefit on the retirement plan benefit of individuals working for
private institutions; R.A. 7641 which mandated private institutions to create retirement
plan benefits for their employees; and even the recent R.A. 11494 which provided tax
exemptions to the retirement benefits of individuals who retired from 05 June 2020 to 31
December 2020, employed in private institutions. Knowing about these tax exemptions
will greatly aid your retirement planning by freeing up extra cash which otherwise would
have gone into paying taxes. These laws are provide for legal ways to perform tax
avoidance for the benefit of growing your retirement fund. Chapter 7 bolsters Chapter 6
by providing other sources of retirement benefits such as State Benefits (ex. SSS,
GSIS, and Pag-IBIG Fund), Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan (ex. R.A. 7641,
Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution), and Individual private Savings Plans (ex.
Personal Equity Retirement Account/PERA, Cooperative Savings, Bonds, Stocks, UITF,
and Investment in Real Estate). Being aware of your options will lead to a more
personalized and creative retirement plan that would surely maximize the benefits that
one can accumulate during the course of their retirement planning. To further
synthesize Chapter’s 6 and 7, Chapter 8 provides us with a sample retirement plan in
order to help guide us on how to implement the lessons from the previous chapters in
our actual lives. This is a nice touch that a lot of other books miss; the process on how
to bring the various theories and lessons proffered into the real world.

Chapters 10 and 11 makes us look beyond our personal benefit and consider the
benefit of our successors. Before reading “Life After”, I viewed Retirement Planning as a
process that is meant to benefit the retiree only, but after reading the aforementioned
chapters, I now see that Retirement Planning is meant to benefit the family of the
retiree, not just the retiree themselves. Chapter 10 in a nut shell, tells us that investing
in a health insurance plan and/or availing health benefits are important for safeguarding
the stable increase of your retirement fund/assets. Our health’s integrity can be quite
fickle at times; we never know when an ailment will strike us down during the heyday of
the aggressive income accumulation stage of our lives. This is why investments on
health benefits and health insurance would greatly help us rest easy during times of
sickness, knowing that our savings will not take a heavy hit from medical expenses.

For the readers of “Life After”, who happen to own businesses, Chapter 11 tells
them to consider the notion that one’s own business need not die when the owner
passes on. This chapter educates the reader on the proper steps to take in order to
ensure the proper transition and succession of heirs to the business. This will increase
the chances of survival of the business in order to benefit the heirs of the retiree.

“Black Swan” Events

Life can be tricky; we never know the path that life may lead us to. At one point,
we can be experiencing an abundance of wealth and blessing, and in the flash of a few
minute moments, we are faced with grueling challenges that will test us physically,
emotionally, and even financially. These unexpected events that can pose as a threat to
the progress of our retirement planning are what the book calls, “Black Swan Events”.
Chapter 9 provides us with a way to navigate through Black Swan Events by harkening
back to Chapters 4 and 7 on retirement planning and other sources of retirement
benefits. In essence, this chapter wants to tell us that investing in stable retirement
benefits such as real estate or stocks, will help serve as a buffer for our retirement fund.
Black Swan Events are unavoidable and unforeseen, and it is now up to us to be
creative and maximize the retirement benefit sources that we have access to. If you
have idle funds, why not invest in real estate, rather than on luxury items that will go out
of style in a few years. If you manage to save a considerable amount of your monthly
salary, why not invest on a health insurance plan, rather than on spending it on a two
(2) day vacation trip every month. Chapter 9 ultimately tells the reader to be wise in
handling expenses and to invest in sources of retirement benefits in order to stay safe
and prepare for Black Swan Events such as the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Life After Retirement Planning

Chapter 12 connects Retirement Planning with Estate Planning. Morbid as it may

be but, a person who retires has already reached the twilight of their life and have
already lived a considerable amount of years, or even decades. That raises the
question, “What happens to all the retirement funds saved by the retiree after he or she
passes away?”. This chapter shows us that retirement funds and assets need not stay
idle or left unaccounted for when carrying out estate planning. We, the readers, are
shown ways on how to draft wills that would better maximize the retirement assets left
behind for the benefit of the heirs of the decedent. Not only will the heirs be benefited,
but also the administrator of the estate, because the latter will have a more organized
guide in distributing the assets to the heirs, due to a properly drafter final will.

Conclusion
 Chapters 13 and 14 of this book rounds up the discussion of retirement planning
by reminding the reader that retirement planning and retirement in general need not be
dull, uneventful, or unhappy. The final portions of the book tell us to make “Experiential
Investments” as well. We shouldn’t neglect those things that makes us happy, because
retirement is the stage when a person should enjoy the fruits of his or her labor to the
fullest. A retirement bereft with opportunities to enjoy those things that gives a person
joy, would prevent a person from experiencing the ultimate goal of retirement; to live a
COMFORTABLE and HAPPY retirement life. After the technical discussions on
retirement planning, it is nice to see how wholistic the approach of the book is, through
the simple reminder of being happy (Chapter 13) and to give back and share one’s
blessings (Chapter 14).

In conclusion, “Life After: Journey to a Fulfilling Retirement”, makes good on the

‘Fulfilling’ aspect of its title. The Chapters were informative, while remaining brief in its
explanations. The topics were arranged in such a way that makes it feel like a step by
step guide to a foolproof plan to a fruitful retirement. This book is a good way to inspire
our generation (mid to late 20s) to start planning for our retirement in the future.