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The new book from Coach Pete D'Arruda

Solving for Income

Build the pension your job never gave you.

Find your Income Gap — the one number almost nobody has written down — then turn part of your savings into a paycheck that arrives every month for as long as you live. Book a no-cost review and the book is yours free.

Book My Review — No Cost Send Me the Book

No cost. No obligation. No pressure — ever.  Or call 800-661-7383

YOURS FREE Solving for Income: Build the Pension Your Job Never Gave You, by Coach Pete D'Arruda — book cover

The illustrated edition — eighteen chapters, five worksheets.

As seen on

Host of The Financial Safari®  ·  Heard on 50+ radio stations

Why this book

The paychecks stop. The bills keep coming.

For forty years, money came in on a schedule and went out on a schedule, and the two shook hands every month. Retirement quietly tears up one of those schedules and leaves the other one taped to the refrigerator.

Your parents may have had an answer for that. It was called a pension. Most of us were handed a 401(k) instead — and nobody ever showed us how to turn it into a paycheck.

“Who is going to sign your paycheck once your employer stops?”
Illustration from the book: a toddler stands at the crib rail in the dark, watching the two o'clock train's headlight through the window.
From Chapter 1 — A train that always comes
The balance

A balance is not a plan

The biggest number you have ever seen with your name on it still has never shown up in your mailbox as a check.

“Both are guesses wearing a nice suit.”

The old rule

The 4 percent rule is a bet

It was tested on thirty-year retirements. Stretched to forty years, it leaves about 1 in 12 households out of money.

“If 1 of 12 couples in the room runs out, how do we make sure it isn’t us?”

The order of the years

Same savings, opposite retirements

In retirement you sell shares to pay the bills, so the order the years arrive in can matter more than the average.

“The order of the years decides who sleeps well.”

The one number

Find your Income Gap

What you spend each month, minus the checks that already show up on their own. What is left is the paycheck your savings has to build — every month, for the rest of your life.

Your bills still have a train schedule. Your income doesn’t anymore. Coach Pete D'Arruda

Try it with your numbers

A rough guess is plenty to start. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Housing, utilities, insurance, groceries — the bills that cannot wait.
Travel, gifts, dinners out — the spending that makes retirement worth having.
Social Security, a pension, any lifetime income already turned on. Not dividends, not withdrawals, not hoped-for rent.

Reliable means it passes two tests: it arrives no matter what the market does, and it keeps coming for as long as you live.

The book’s example household
$2,400a month

About $28,800 a year, for as long as you live.

$5,300 of spending, minus $2,900 of reliable income.

Job one: get $600 of must-pay bills under a roof.

Bring This Number to a Review

Example household from the book, for illustration.

Illustration from the book: three jars of money on a kitchen shelf — green, yellow, and red — above an older couple unpacking groceries.
From Chapter 10 — Paychecks, playchecks, and the three colors of money
Build the floor first

Every dollar has a color

Hold every account you own up to two questions, and it lands in one of three places.

1 · Can it be lost?2 · Can it be outlived?
Color of money Safe from loss Can’t be outlived

Green money

Guaranteed lifetime income. Social Security, a true pension, lifetime income you build from savings.

 Passes Passes

Yellow money

Safe and reachable. Emergency cash, savings, CDs — for the furnace and the new roof.

 Passes Fails

Red money

At risk in the market. Stocks, stock funds, most of a typical 401(k). It can grow. It can crash.

 Fails Fails

“Safe is half of green.”Chapter 10

One plan, on one page

Five moves, in order

Every chapter builds toward the same page — the Plan Once – Plan for Life™ plan. Skip a move, or take them out of order, and it wobbles like a kitchen table with one short leg.

  1. Find your Income Gap

    Spending minus the reliable income that already shows up.

  2. Count your green flags

    The checks that already arrive, no matter what the market does.

  3. Get Social Security right

    The biggest flag most people own — and it costs nothing to get right.

  4. Build the floor with green money

    Guaranteed income under every must-pay bill.

  5. Let the Explore money be brave

    Once the Core is full — never with the grocery money.

The order matters as much as the moves.

For readers — no cost

Your Retirement Income Review — and the book to keep.

NO COST · NO OBLIGATION · ABOUT AN HOUR

  • A no-cost, no-obligation Retirement Income Review with Coach Pete's team.
  • Your Income Gap, your green flags, and your floor — on paper, yours to keep.
  • Your Survivor Check: what keeps coming if one of you passes first.
  • The printed, illustrated edition of Solving for Income — it comes with the review.
  • Straight answers, in plain English — and no pressure, either way.

Book your review

MON–FRI, 9–6 ET

Call 800-661-7383 Text “PETE” to 600700

We reply to texts the same day.

Or pick a time yourself, right now.

Bring your Income Gap and your statements. You’ll leave with your plan on paper, whether you ever buy anything or not.

Solving for Income by Coach Pete D'Arruda
The book

Solving for Income

One job: by the time you close it, you are holding a number and a plan. Written so you can work it yourself at the kitchen table, with a pencil.

  • Eighteen chapters in six parts, each ending in a Coach’s Corner with a to-do list you can finish at the kitchen table.
  • Five worksheets in the back, made to be written on — starting with Your Income Gap.
  • Twenty-one figures and full-page illustrations that make the idea stick.
  • A source note behind every study and statistic, so you can check it yourself.
Send Me the Book
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Send me the book

Solving for Income as a PDF, free. Tell us where to send it and the link is on its way — nothing to buy, and no obligation either way.

Would you rather have the printed book? The illustrated print edition comes with your Retirement Income Review — book a review and a copy is yours to keep.

What's inside

Eighteen chapters, in six parts

The parts go in order: the problem, your number, the old rules, the floor, the people you love, and the plan.

Part One

The problem nobody warned you about

Chapters 1–3

“The pension didn’t die. It went private.”

What happened to the paycheck-for-life, why the job of building it moved to your kitchen table, and why a big balance still is not a plan.

Part Two

Find your number

Chapters 4–6

“One simple subtraction tells you exactly how much paycheck your savings has to build.”

Your Income Gap, what it really costs to live — fixed and flexible — and the checks that already show up, counted honestly.

Part Three

Why the old rules break

Chapters 7–9

“The most famous rule in retirement planning sounds safe, until you count the families it leaves behind.”

The 4 percent rule, three neighbors with the same savings and opposite retirements, and the Financial REDZONE® — the ten years before your last paycheck.

Part Four

Build your own pension

Chapters 10–13

“Give every bill that can’t wait a paycheck that can’t stop.”

Paychecks and playchecks, the three colors of money, the Financial Fill-Up®, why zero is your hero, and more green flags on the mailbox.

Part Five

Protect the people you love

Chapters 14–15

“The paycheck that matters most may be the one your spouse lives on after you’re gone.”

Social Security, done right — and The Survivor Check, settled on purpose, in writing.

Part Six

Your plan

Chapters 16–18

“Everything in this book fits on one page.”

The four retirement income styles, whose retirement your fees are really funding, and the one-page plan that lets you stop worrying and start living.

Book My Review — Book Included Free
Take these to any meeting

Five questions to ask any advisor — including us

You don’t need a finance degree to protect yourself. You need five questions, a pen, and the nerve to wait politely for a straight answer.

None of them is rude. They are the same questions you would ask a contractor before letting him tear out the kitchen — and your retirement costs a lot more than a kitchen.

  1. How are you paid?
  2. Does a fee come out of my account every year — and how much, in dollars?
  3. What happens to my income in a down year?
  4. What is guaranteed, and by whom?
  5. What happens to my spouse’s income if I die first?
Your coach

Coach Pete D'Arruda

Coach Pete D'Arruda

The name came over a high school loudspeaker. Early on, Pete was helping teachers in Fayetteville, North Carolina with their 403(b)s, and the new principal took one look at “D'Arruda” and gave up. “You’re our financial coach,” he said, “so I’m going to call you Coach Pete.” It stuck.

For well over three decades he has helped families turn their savings into income they cannot outlive, with straight answers and no pressure. He hosts The Financial Safari® radio and television program, has written over 30 books, and has trained hundreds of advisors to say the plain, honest thing at the kitchen table.

Certainty, not probability.
  • 3 Emmy Awards
  • 5 Quilly® Awards
  • 10 Telly Awards
  • Multiple EXPY® Awards
MRFC® · RICP® · Investment Advisor Representative · Two-time IARFC President · Co-author of Successonomics with Steve Forbes · Graduate of the University of North Carolina
Heard on 50+ radio stations
Where we are

Five offices — or wherever you are

Reviews happen in the office, by phone, or on video. You do not have to be near one of these to sit down with us.

Raleigh, NC

1500 Town Side Drive, Suite 201
Apex, NC 27502

Wilmington, NC

1213 Culbreth Drive, Suite 117
Wilmington, NC 28405

Myrtle Beach, SC

1039 44th Ave North, Suite 204
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

Scottsdale, AZ

18700 N. Hayden Rd, Suite 310
Scottsdale, AZ 85255

Las Vegas, NV

410 S. Rampart Blvd, Suite 390
Las Vegas, NV 89145

Straight answers

Questions people ask first

What is Solving for Income?
Solving for Income: Build the Pension Your Job Never Gave You is a retirement income book by Coach Pete D'Arruda, host of The Financial Safari®. It shows savers who were handed a 401(k) instead of a pension how to find their Income Gap and turn part of their savings into a paycheck that arrives every month for life — and then for as long as a spouse lives.
What is an Income Gap?
Your Income Gap is what you spend each month minus the reliable income that already shows up on its own, such as Social Security or a pension. It is the amount your savings has to produce every month for the rest of your life. In the book’s example, $5,300 of monthly spending minus $2,900 of reliable income leaves a gap of $2,400 a month, about $28,800 a year. Try it with your own numbers.
What are the three colors of money?
The three colors of money sort every dollar by two tests: can it be lost, and can it be outlived. Green money — guaranteed lifetime income like Social Security or a pension — passes both. Yellow money — cash, savings, and CDs — is safe but can be outlived. Red money — stocks and stock funds — can be lost and can be outlived. The book’s rule is to build the paycheck floor with green money first.
What is a Financial Fill-Up®?
A Financial Fill-Up® is Coach Pete’s name for green money set up to deliver a check every month for as long as you live, and then to your spouse — the way a good pension used to. The book pictures it as a green flag on the mailbox that goes up every month.
Does the book recommend annuities?
The book explains how guaranteed lifetime income is built, and it is open that the tool Coach Pete uses most for that is a fixed indexed annuity. It is just as open about the costs to watch for, including variable annuities with layered fees. Annuities are insurance products: they are not FDIC insured, and their guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Whether any product fits you is a question for your own review, not a book.
Who is Coach Pete D'Arruda?
Coach Pete D'Arruda is a retirement educator who has spent well over three decades helping families turn their savings into income they cannot outlive. He hosts The Financial Safari® radio and television program, has written over 30 books, and has trained hundreds of advisors. His message is simple: certainty, not probability.
How do I get the book?
Solving for Income is free. Request the PDF on this page and we will email you the download link. The printed, illustrated edition comes with a no-cost Retirement Income Review — book one and a copy is yours to keep. You can also call 800-661-7383 Monday through Friday, 9–6 ET, or text “PETE” to 600700.
Is the review really free?
Yes. The Retirement Income Review is no cost and no obligation. You leave with your plan on paper whether you ever buy anything or not. There is nothing to buy to sit down with us.
Is there a minimum amount I need saved?
No. There is no minimum and no asset test. The Income Gap works the same way on a modest nest egg as on a large one — it is one subtraction either way.
Is this a seminar or a sales pitch?
Neither. It is a one-on-one working session about your own numbers — not a group presentation, not a dinner event. Bring the five questions from the book and ask us every one of them. If we are the right fit, we will tell you exactly what working together looks like. If we are not, we will tell you that too.
What should I bring to the review?
Bring your Income Gap if you have worked it out, your Social Security statement (and your spouse’s), your account statements, any pension papers, and a list of your monthly bills. If you cannot find all of it, come anyway — we can work from what you have.
What if I would rather do it myself?
Then do it yourself — the book is written so you can. The worksheets in the back work the same either way. Grab a pencil.
Where are you located, and do I have to come to an office?
Capital Financial has offices in Raleigh (Apex), North Carolina; Wilmington, North Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Las Vegas, Nevada. You do not have to come to one — reviews can be held in the office, by phone, or on video.
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Let’s build the paycheck. Together.

Book your no-cost Retirement Income Review. We send the book free and put your Income Gap, your floor, and your Survivor Check on paper with you.

800-661-7383

Mon–Fri, 9–6 ET

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