Given that it’s a slow news day — Rosie O’Donnell has declared she has no more to say about Donald Trump — I thought I’d take advantage of the silence and send you an overdue update on things Number-wise. The trade paperback edition came out just last week and seems to be doing well — it’ll turn up on the NY Times extended bestseller list as of January 21, just four notches below In Cold Blood, which has been out for over 40 years. The Number should live so long. I’m also pleased to report that Business Week selected The Number as one of the best “career” books of 2006. As far as world news is concerned, the Turkish edition of the book (announced here previously) will be published next month, joining other international editions in Taiwan and Korea, a geocultural pattern — the Axis of Enlightenment? — that defies easy explanation. Otherwise, I’m dividing my time between research on a new project — details a closely held secret, even from me — and giving updated presentations built around new reporting on The Number. Thanks to many of you for staying in touch — and, most importantly, warm New Year wishes to everyone out there.

Just returned from the Financial Planning Association’s annual conference, where I delivered a keynote presentation to some 3000 financial advisers. They were welcoming and warm, though understandably unsettled by the surroundings — namely, the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, surreal details of which I’ll try to provide in a later post.

Anyway, the talk seemed to go over well, but just as rewarding were the hallway interactions with so many people – from U.S., Korea, the Netherlands, and many other nations — who are determined to bring greater integrity and professionalism to the widely befogged world of financial advising.

Many folks commented on the book and told me that they were giving it to friends, family and clients, hoping to stir up some new insights or, perhaps, nudge them into action. With the holidays right around the corner, someone also inquired about whether it is possible to send signed copies as gifts, and the answer is yes, but it requires some prompt action. I’m told that the supply of in-stock, inscribed copies is limited.

To place an order for signed copies, please contact 800CEORead, a link to which is at the bottom of the Buy page on this site. These personally signed editions are available at a discount, as follows: 0-24 copies 20% off list $20.80 each 25-99 copies 30% off list $18.20 each 100+ copies 35% off list $16.90 each

Given the time crunch between now and the holidays, it might be good idea to call Meg at 800-236-7323 (ext. 206) just to confirm that indeed she’ll be sending you copies from the signed pile.

Gratifying news today: I was delighted to hear that THE NUMBER has been named one of five finalists in the best Business book category for the 2006 Quill Book Awards. The winners, which are selected by popular vote underway now through September 30, will be announced at a ceremony to be held in New York City on October 10, then broadcasted on NBC on October 28. Last year’s Business winner was Freakonomics.

I’m pleased to report that THE NUMBER is on an international roll. Most recently, global publishers abroad have contracted to bring out foreign-language editions in Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. Also on the calendar is a September talk I’ll be giving in Hong Kong. The event is the 2006 CLSA Investors Forum, which annually brings together several hundred CEOs worldwide. This year’s featured speakers also include Alan Greenspan and Al Gore. From Hong Kong, it’s back to the States for several planned talks, notably the Financial Planning Association’s annual meeting in October. All that’s to the good. The challenge is to get through it all without shaving cream, deodorant, and toothpaste.

Sally Hass was one of the more memorable and inspiring characters I met while researching THE NUMBER. Sally, you’ll recall, was the indomitable education manager at the Weyerhaeuser Company (Chapter 7, “The Forest for the Trees”), the leader of the company-sponsored, pre-retirement workshop I attended a couple of years ago. At the end of that chapter, Sally reflected on plans for the twilight of her own career, no small detail of which was the 120,000 pound, steel-hulled, full-displacement trawler she and the man in her life – lately arrived – were building by hand. The other day, Sally sent an update on where things stood.

“The pre-retirement planning seminars continue to be a smash hit,” Sally wrote in her note. “Unfortunately, Weyerhaeuser, like other large manufacturing companies, is currently involved in some downsizing and restructuring. For me, this means working with employees who are losing their jobs. As far as many of them are concerned, this is devastating due to a lack of readiness for an early, or unplanned, retirement. The message is clear — none of us knows the hand we might be dealt. Thoughtful and early planning, monitored regularly, is the only answer.”

Then, on a happier note, Sally proudly announced that she and Dan, now engaged, had just the other day launched their beloved Spirit of Balto, whose baby picture I’m pleased to share here. “We plan to sell the big house and move aboard soon,” she said. “And who knows…wedding bells may not be too far off. Let the adventure begin!”

I wanted to pass along word that the Financial Planning Association has asked me to give a general session talk at its 2006 conference, to be held this coming October. The meeting, one of the most prominent on the industry’s annual calendar, draws several thousand attendees from throughout the financial planning universe. The subject of the talk will be an outside-in view of how people like you and me – i.e. clients or prospective ones – view the standards and practices of the planning profession: What do we most need or want from an adviser? What are the biggest civilian concerns about the business? How can a financial adviser best serve our interests? What don’t we like, or understand? I intend to do a good deal of original research and reporting in connection with this talk, and I thought I’d start with you. Please drop me a line with any thoughts, questions, or suggestions you think ought to be brought to the attention of the assembled crowd. You can email me at LeeEisenberg@TheNumberBook.com. Thanks!

I’m doing a lot of traveling these days — a talk in Las Vegas last week, a few days in Scottsdale before returning home, a quick trip to Minneapolis this week, etc. It is a interesting time but, truth be told, there are moments when I’d like to think about something other than retirement funding. For distraction, I pick up a couple of books. One is Kevin Phillips’ “American Theocracy,” a dissection of what has gone haywire politically and economically over the past six years, including how the U.S. now totters on vast layers of debt, from the personal to the national. While Phillips only touches on retirement funding issues per se, the book’s view of the future makes me nervous as a cat. But I finish it dutifully, eager to find respite in the other book I’m carrying, James L. Swanson’s “Manhunt,” the nonfiction thriller about the pursuit, capture, and demise of John Wilkes Booth. Terrific read, can’t put it down. And not a blessed word about variable annuities, pension funds, or Monte Carlo simulations. So here I am, it’s pre-dawn at the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, I’m happily engrossed, a million miles from the moment. And I’m reading furiously, closing in on the end of the can’t-put-down book, have gotten right to part where the Union patrol has surrounded the tobacco barn where Booth has barricaded himself. Suddenly, my cell phone jangles me back to from April, 1865, to April, 2006. The caller is a producer from a national radio network. How she has found my cell number remains a mystery. Why she’s calling is not: this morning, even as Booth was being betrayed by his sorry-assed sidekick, the Wall Street Journal has run a short piece about a new Employee Benefit Research Institute survey. The survey reports that “many workers are counting on traditional pension plans to pay their bills in retirement, even though such plans are fast disappearing. Only 40% of working couples currently are covered by pension plans, but nearly two-thirds of surveyed workers — 61% — expect to get income from such a plan in retirement.” The story goes on to offer all kinds of other grim findings and expert opinions, such as how so many of us assume that we can comfortably live on 70% of our pre-retirement while the real Number, at least according to one quoted financial planner, is around 85%.

Do I have any comment? the friendly producer asks, explaining that her network is preparing a follow-up on the Journal piece. I comment best I can — haven’t had coffee yet — then set aside “Manhunt” for a more relaxed time.

That relaxed time, or so I was hoping, arrives a couple of days later. Airport again — O’Hare. Before cracking open “Manhunt,” I make the mistake of buying the New York Times. Shucky darn! (Midwest foul-mouth expression). On Page C7, there’s a story about how the financial services industry is trying to make friends with millions of “mass affluent” baby boomers who are in need of retirement planning. Again, lots of grim numbers and quotes, including this one from a senior exec at a big financial firm: “The typical working American is on track to replace just 56% of his income in retirement and that only one in five [will] retire with any retirement income plan.”

Nobody calls me for comment this time around. But I do feel obligated to put the Booth book back in my briefcase and work some of the data into a talk I’m to give in a few hours.

As for “Manhunt,” I just now finished it. Not to ruin the ending for you, but Booth got exactly what was coming to him. And so will a great many of us, if you believe everything you read in the papers.

I’m pleased to report that beginning this Tuesday, April 4, there will be a television campaign launched in support of the book — needless to say, quite uncommon for the book biz. The spots will run for about two weeks on Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money” program. This is yet another indication of how terrific Free Press has been throughout this experience, and I’m grateful to everyone there for their enthusiastic efforts. And THE NUMBER continues to resonate with readers — it’s currently #6 on the BusinessWeek list of bestselling business titles.

For most of us, retirement planning does not rank high as a preferred leisure time activity. And it certainly doesn’t qualify as a core competency. 4 out of 10 Americans say they’re saving nothing for the future. Only a tiny percentage has gone to the trouble to work up a financial plan. Of those who have, more than half admit they can’t remember what it said. Maybe it’s hard to concentrate, certainly hard to relax, with all the noise out there. For 76-million boomers, gerontological clocks tick louder and louder. And, day after day, the alarm bells sound, with wakeup calls ringing 24/7. 2006 is just three months old, but it’s shaping up as the Year of the Sleepless Night. Here’s a first-quarter recap:

January 1: The New Year brings with it two key retirement-related anniversaries, but only one, the wrong one, gets much attention. Airwaves are flooded with news that the boomers start to turn sixty in 2006. There are lots of on-camera interviews with leading-edgers, mostly depicted as vital and active, possessed of healthy teeth and gums, and (at least for now) razor-sharp recall of long-ago days filled with flower power and social conscience. An army of graying trailblazers marches by, determined not to go gently into the dusk of retirement, which is now called, more happily, downshifting. 60 is the new 40. Small comfort. The other retirement-related milestone, the important one, goes largely ignored as the Year of the Sleepless Night dawns. 2006 is also when the 401(k) plan turns 25 – yes, the new age of financial self-determination has been staring retirement planning in the face for a full quarter-century. Trouble is, nobody issued much of a press release back then, one that laid out in detail the fact that the retirement game was going to change, that the days of secure corporate pensions and rock-solid Social Security were numbered. Instead, back in 1981, Congress called the new-fangled 401(k)s “salary reduction plans,” not an especially good marketing handle. (Anybody want your salary reduced? — raise your hand.) It was a while before people caught on. When, and if, they finally signed up for them, many workers weren’t sure how to invest their hard-earned salary reductions. Some were sensible and relied on conventional wisdom, kept their eggs in separate and nicely allocated baskets. They did okay. Others, plenty of them, were too aggressive, and rode the tech boom till it busted. Others still were too timid with their salary reductions and, for their prudence, wound up trailing the cost of living. Then there were those unlucky enough to feather their nests with their own company’s stock.

January 5: IBM announces it is freezing the pensions of 120,000 U.S. employees, while making some enhancements to its – yep — 401(k) program. The Year of the Sleepless Night is less than a week old and it has already delivered retirement planning’s “tipping point,” according to a trade publication for accountants.

January 30: The U.S. Commerce Department issues a report that also gets plenty of play: Americans’ personal savings rate has fallen to minus .5 percent, lower than at any time since the Depression. Some economists try to discount the implications, pointing out that Commerce’s numbers don’t take into account a not insubstantial family piggy bank called home equity. As far as retirement goes, this piggy bank could well prove useful, provided boomers will indeed downsize when they eventually downshift: reign in their spending, pay off their debts, settle for one SUV, not three in the driveway, and set up house in a space about the size of their current media room. But the jury is out the boomers’ willingness or fortitude to volunteer for lifestyle relapse. Says the chief economist at Standard & Poor’s, “Americans … have the feeling that it is wimpish to save.”

February 7: General Motors, having lost nearly $9 billion in the run up to the Year of the Sleepless Night, announces that its major cost-reduction initiative will include capping the legacy health benefits for hundreds of thousands of retirees. Starting in 2007, retired workers at the company once famously known as Generous Motors will face higher monthly contributions, deductibles, and prescription drug costs. The U.A.W and millions of former G.M. employees are not amused, nor should they be surprised. Large companies started trimming these costs well before the Year of the Sleepless Night; small companies usually don’t offer retirement health benefits to begin with. Sleep? You gotta kidding. Says a white paper issued by a major financial services firm: “A couple retiring today at age 65 should plan on spending at least $190,000 out of pocket over the course of retirement.” The figure does not include paying for time in a nursing home, in which one out of two people now 65 will find themselves, at least for a while.

April 1: You won’t read it in the paper but it’s a fact: Today is the first day of the new rest of your life. Don’t touch that snooze button. It’s time to get up, get up, you sleepy heads.

This week, THE NUMBER was the subject of an hour-long segment on NPR’s “On Point,” hosted by Tom Ashbrook. For anyone wishing to download the program, please click here.