Finance ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
Retirement Starts Today: A Non-Financial Guide to an Even Better Retirement
Benjamin Brandt · 2025
🎙 Narrated by Benjamin Brandt (the author)
68/100
👎 Skip It
Brandt makes a fair point that most people plan the money side of retirement and skip the identity and purpose side entirely, and coming from a credentialed CFP with a long-running podcast, that non-financial focus feels earned rather than gimmicky. It's a genuine complement to a financial plan rather than a replacement for one, which is worth knowing going in. He narrates it himself in the same familiar voice his podcast listeners already know, and that authenticity makes the listen an easy, comfortable one even if the book itself lands just short of a full recommend.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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🎙 Narration: good Author-narrated in his established podcast-host voice, which should feel natural and familiar to anyone who already knows his show.
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Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety65
Substance / usefulness70
Craft & writing64
Originality70
Evidence & accuracy64
Hype vs delivers55
Age-fit66
Human-eye read58
Penny’s verdict68
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