Book excerpt: If you read the papers and listen to the "experts," you've heard the usual pitches about retirement: you'll need a million dollars or more so you better start an RRSP early and maximize your contributions, trust the stock market and mutual funds for the best returns and put your faith in a financial advisor. But what if this advice is wrong? By reading this book, you will learn the truth about these myths. You will also be given six free spreadsheets to figure out where you really stand, including the latest "Retirement Optimizer" that allows you to compute your retirement income year-by-year and the "Personal Rate of Return Calculator" so you can determine just how well your investments have done. Find out how much you'll really need to save. Smoke and Mirrors dispels the five main retirement myths: If I had $1,000,000 I could retire. Find out why you might be fine with much less. RRSPs are the holy grail of retirement. Discover what is more important than the size of your RRSP. Don't worry about your investments; you'll be fine in the long run. Learn how to figure out the truth about how well your investments are really doing. Income taxes are the enemy. We're all interested in reducing our taxes, but find out why tax shelters and donation schemes may be dangerous to your financial health. Buy permanent life insurance to secure your financial future. Find out who needs life insurance, who doesn't and how to get it cheap.