1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement

Retirement can be the best time of our lives. Unfortunately, the first part of many people's lives is wasted on boring work and the last part is wasted on a boring retirement. The good news, however, is that many more people enjoy retirement than those who don't.

This book came about by accident. I was in the process of writing a new edition of The Joy of Not Working: A book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked, as well as the original editon of HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE when I thought about Bob Nelson's bestselling 1001 Ways books. I wondered why no other author had written a book on retirement similar in approach to Nelson's 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.

There and then, I decided that I would be the one to write it. First, the challenge was to generate 1001 ways how people could enhance their retirement. After about four weeks of working on this as a side project, I was convinced that creating 1001 ways was easily within my reach.

The second challenge was to provide interesting examples of retirees who are actually doing most of these things. This also ended up being a lot less difficult than I figured that it would be.

In fact, I came up with more good examples than I needed for a book of a reasonabe size. I have used the most interesting cases of people who are enjoying their retirement and what they are doing with their time. Some of the examples come from individuals who have written to me after reading The Joy of Not Working; others come from telephone and in-person interviews that I have conducted with retirees; and still others come from people who have been featured on websites or in newspaper stories.

Clearly, retirement can be a challenging life transition, either financially or personally. Many people have lots of time on their hands, but way too little money. Others have lots of money, but don't know what to do with their time. In this regard, Samuel Johnson declared, "Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life and the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use."

Regardless of your financial means, this book can help you enhance your retirement. Generally speaking, the key to a happy retirement is not to spend a lot more money. The key, instead, is to select enjoyable activities that allow you to get by on the money that you presently have. Indeed, several of the retirees cited in this book have below-average incomes. Nonetheless, they manage to fill their days with happiness and joy - much more than some people who are filthy rich.

If you are still working, but contemplating retirement, 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement will give you many ideas on what you can do once you leave the workplace and the best places to retire. In sidebars throughout the book you will find quotes relating to the topics on hand, thoughts from retirees about their experiences, and interesting research relating to retirement. You will also encounter many advantages to being retired. These retirement advantages, in fact, may influence you to retire earlier than you had planned.

In the event that you are already well into your retirement and you are not finding it as challenging and fulfilling as you had anticipated, 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement may be just the inspiration you need to make retirement the best time of your life. If millions of other people can do it, so can you. Like them, however, you must be motivated, you must be creative, and you must have a positive view of retirement.

Ernie Zelinski

For Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings

RETIREMENT QUOTES CAFE

Your Retirement Advantages

Unfortunately, retirement often gets a bad rap from many media people and other individuals who themselves have not been able to successfully cope with retirement. Fortunately, people who can't cope with retirement are in the minority. "Retirement works out quite well for people," states Joel Savishinsky, a professor at Ithaca College. Savishinsky, author of Breaking the Watch, adds, "It is not the kind of trauma it has often been pictured in the past."

To be sure, most retired Americans are enjoying themselves according to a survey by financial services firm AIG SunAmerica. Similarly, based on a recent survey conducted by Trimark Investment Management, most retired Canadians have no regrets about being retired. The Canadian retirees taking part in the survey claimed that a drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation since they left the workplace are two big advantages of being retired.

A drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation aren't the only advantages that people around the world get to experience when they retire. "Retirement has been very enjoyable for me," declares Pat O'Brien, 65, of East Haddam, Connecticut. "When it snows, I don't have to worry about getting on I-95 to go to work."

Mr. Yong Khin Chong, 56, of Singapore states that more time with his two grandchildren is the biggest perk of retirement. Indeed, after two years of retirement, he claimed that he still didn't have sufficient time to do the things that he would like to do. His retired wife, Madam Ku Lee Nor, also 56, added, "I don't feel bored at all. It's only now that we have time to travel, read, do gardening, and exercise more regularly."

The ability to make many choices is another benefit of leaving the work world. "You're free to rediscover who you really are," states retiree Lynn Nelson Paretta, a volunteer with a community service center in Springfield, Virginia. "You're free to go back and build on those aspects you perhaps did not have a chance to express when you were in the working world."

Truth be known, there is a myriad of advantages to be enjoyed by fully retired people that most working stiffs can't enjoy. It's simply a matter of capitalizing on these advantages. To prevent you from getting overwhelmed with too many of these advantages all at one time, I have spread out another 60 or so throughout the book. These should serve as reminders why retirement can be the best time of your life.

Preparation Is Key

Although retiree Pat O'Brien of East Haddam, Connecticut occasionally misses the stimulation of work, she is as active as she could be. Eighteen months after O'Brien retired from her proofreading job for a law firm in Stamford, Connecticut, she told a U.S. News reporter, "The biggest surprise is I just don't know where the time goes."

Regardless of the bad press that retirement often gets, many people such as Pat O'Brien don't have trouble filling their days when they retire. O'Brien, 65, is joined in retirement by her husband, Jim, 70. She is active in the local historical society, a church group, a women's exercise club, and the American Legion. "It's been very enjoyable for me," stated Pat.

According to the survey conducted by AIG SunAmerica (mentioned previously), the people most likely to enjoy retirement are those who have planned for it. This is borne out by the fact that 78 percent of people who prepare for retirement both financially and psychologically view it as "a whole new life" or a "continuation of life as it was."

If you are not presently retired, it's important to spend many preretirement days thinking about what you want to do when you walk out of your workplace for the last time. All too often, people put off things too long. As 71-year-old Florida retiree Howard Salzmann stated, "If you didn't learn how to live before you reach 65, it's very difficult to teach you how to live afterwards."

Planning for a meaningful life after work ends should start as early as possible. In the event that you are still in the workplace and contemplating retirement, you should be thinking long and hard about the planning you should be doing and the problems that may arise when you no longer have the routine, structure, and purpose of working life to rely on.

As part of his research for his book, Breaking the Watch, Joel Savishinsky followed a group of retirees in Shelby, N.Y., for about six years. He discovered that retirees must know themselves, have passions in which to indulge, and be prepared for the unexpected. "They realized there was a lot more to retirement than putting together a portfolio," states Savishinsky. "It was more about putting together a life."

Ways to Prepare for Retirement

* Establish a good work/life balance many years before you retire and zealously maintain it.

* Refrain from working on weekends.

* Maintain optimum health while you are working.

* Be open to learning new things at work and in your personal life.

* Have a major life purpose other than your work.

* Think about all the retirement jobs that you can work at temporarily as a fun job.

* Develop close friendships removed from your workplace.

* Maintain - i.e. don't neglect - your true friends so that they are still around when you retire.

* Learn how to handle freedom. A good way is to become self-employed for at least a year or two before retirement.

* Accept that money will buy style and comfort, but it won't buy you happiness.

* Spend a lot of time alone while learning how to enjoy solitude.

* Indulge in regular strenuous exercise so that you will be physically fit and able to enjoy retirement activities.

* Take all your paid vacation time so that you learn how to be more leisurely.

* Read The Joy of Not Working and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ten Speed Press and Random House Author Ernie J. Zelinski.

* Travel a lot. People who don't get to enjoy travel before retirement seldom develop a liking for it after retirement.

* Don't allow your identity to be tied to your job.

* Find many ways to connect with the world.

* Take an unexpected day off work, and ensure that you loaf it all away to experience what it's like to be a member of the leisure class.

* Take a pre-retirement course that deals with the personal issues and not only the financial issues.

Above all, don't put off being happy until your retirement. People who have tried this realize that they have waited too long. The ability to be happy before you retire - regardless of your financial circumstances - is the key to having a happy retirement.

NOTE: To prepare for your retirement, check out:

Retirement Letter Samples

Free Retirement Speeches

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RETIREMENT SPEECH TIPS CAFE

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY IN RETIREMENT CAN GREATLY HURT YOU!

Retirement is a double-edged sword. You either make it work for you - or it will cut your happiness in half. The more you know about the secrets to a successful retirement, the happier you will be once you retire.

That's why you need

The Best Retirement Book in the World

O ver 140,000 Copies Sold

P ublished in 9 Languages

Top 10 Reasons to Buy and Read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

1. You are ready to claim your freedom from corporate life.

2. You want to follow your retirement dreams instead of someone else's.

3. As a spiritually and highly evolved human being you know that how to enjoy life to its fullest is much more important for creating an active, satisfying, and happy retirement than how much money you have saved.

4. Many retirement columnists and retirement seminar presenters have ranted and raved about this book. For instance, retirement columnist Nancy Paradis of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida advises, "Get this book if you look forward to a retirement with 'zing.' "

5. With it's great title and the inspirational subtile, this book makes the perfect gift for the soon-to-be retired friend or for the person retiring at the office.

6. You agree that "Retirement is the beginning of life, not the end."

7. You have put money in proper perspective so that you don't need a million dollars to retire.

8. You want to generate great purpose in your entire retirement life with meaningful, creative pursuits.

9. You like finding extremely useful information about retirement such as The Get-a-Life Tree that you won't find in any other book, but which is acclaimed by people who have read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

10. Above all, you want to make your retirement years the best years of your life.

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com with this direct link:

HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE on Amazon.com

Based on income levels, most Canadians are maintaining their lifestyles during retirement years, according to figures released by Statistics Canada in early March 2008.

Statistics Canada found that on average, a Canadian at the age of 75 received 80 per cent of the income they were earning at the working age of 55.

The study also found that retire income varied based on level of income during the individual's working years.

The lowest income individuals maintained nearly 100 per cent of their disposable income in their retirement years, mostly because of income from government programs.

"Lower income workers (those in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution) experienced little change in income as they moved from the age of 55 through the retirement years. This was largely because of the income maintenance impact of the public pension system," said the study.

"Better-off workers in the top 20 per cent of the income distribution experienced substantial declines in income by time they were 75."

The figures showed that on average, the more disposable income a person had at 55, the lower the portion of income that was replaced in retirement. For those in the top 20 per cent of income distribution at 55, on average, 70 per cent of their income was replaced during their 70s.

Note: See Quotes about Importance of Money in Retirement

* Ability to cope financially before retirement
* Being satisfied with life as a whole prior to retirement
* Retiring at the time preferred

* 51% say retirement living is better than expected.
* 26% say retirement living is about the same as expected.
* 19% say retirement living is worse than expected.

The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked by Ernie J. Zelinski

The Joy of Not Working is all about learning to live every part of your life - employment, unemployment, retirement, and leisure time alike - to the fullest. You too can join the thousands of converts and learn to thrive at both work and play. Illustrated by eye-opening exercises, thought-provoking diagrams, and lively cartoons and quotations, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.

Top 10 Reasons to Buy The Joy of Not Working

1. You are more independent and more creative than most people.

2. You were born a lover of life and not a workaholic.

3. You don't want the cheese; you just want to get out of the trap.

4. You like books that are reader friendly with lots of cartoons, quotations, and exercises.

5. You like books that make you smile and challenge traditional ways of living and thinking.

6. You agree with the words of Bertrand Russell: "To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the best product of civilization."

7. You are receptive to the concept that we can achieve more if we relax, enjoy life more, forget about what the majority in society thinks is important, and focus on the things that really matter.

8. Your parents and co-workers will not approve of your adopting this book as your lifestyle Bible.

9. You know a good deal when you see one - if a book has been published in 17 languages in 21 different countries and has sold over 250,000 copies, it must have great value.

10. You know something important that the hard workers of this world don't know: the secret to a happy and fulfilling life is to work smart and not hard.

Purchase The Joy of Not Working by Ernie Zelinski on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com

To Ensure a Happy Retirement, Develop Many Interests Outside of Work When You Are Still Working

Preparation for retirement living requires mental and spiritual planning more than most people realize. A long-term plan to achieve retirement goals has to be set if the retiree wants a meaningful and productive retirement. The degree to which the retiree plans beforehand how she is going to spend the bulk of her free time will determine how much fulfillment she experiences in retirement.

Gerontologist Ken Dychtwald, author of Age Power and arguably the foremost expert on aging and retirement in the United States, had this to say about the impact of poor planning: "The good news is that people are experiencing retirements that are long, fulfilling and exciting. The bad news is that many retirees will never experience their full potential during this life phase because of inadequate planning."

I received the following letter from Dick Phillips of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England after he read The Joy of Not Working. You will notice that Mr. Philips hasn't left having a happy retirement to chance.

Dear Ernie,

My wife Sandy and I were on an Air Canada flight to Vancouver this summer to commence a "Life of Riley" retirement holiday in your lovely country when a fellow female passenger introduced me to your book The Joy of Not Working.

I later obtained a copy at Duthie's Bookstore and read it when I returned home. (Riley did not allow time for reading on holidays.) I am fifty-four years of age and have worked since I was fifteen years old: first, as a fitter and turner apprentice, then as a seagoing-ships engineer before joining the County Police for a thirty-year career. Your book gives much sound advice, some I have been following for years. I have enjoyed developing interests outside work while still working. When I retired last November, I enjoyed the freedom to parcel up my time and develop interests which include hiking, cycling, old car restoration, model engineering, painting and D. I. Y. projects. You are right that a positive attitude to life in retirement is essential.

In your book, you write about a fellow officer named Rich who, like me, retired in an enviable position but found life difficult. I hope he has now read your book, and he is developing that inner self that makes all things possible. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to next year, when I join a team building a large, wooden sailing ship for disabled people, and later finding time to revisit Canada.

Regards to Riley,

Dick Phillips

Above all, Mr. Philips emphasizes the importance of having to develop many interests outside of work when we are still working. He shows us that retirement can be highly rewarding if we plan ahead. Of course,
developing new interests and setting new goals can still enhance our retirement years if we haven't developed many interests in our working years. It may just be more difficult doing it this way. Some psychologists say that it's hard to develop new interests at 65 after being interested in nothing but work and material things for over 40 years.

Strong interests in such things as music, travel, people, languages, music, and books are important. Ideally, these interests should be shaped and developed long before your retirement date so that you know which activities you truly enjoy. Generally speaking, leisure activities that fulfill you during your working years are likely to fulfill you in retirement.

Here are some of your retirement advantages that come from my book 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement

• You get to set your own agenda.
• You have fewer headaches because life is simpler.
• Life is less predictable from 9 to 5.
• You can take a nap when the urge hits.
• You have freedom from office politics.
• On nice days, you don't have to skip work and feel guilty when you go golfing.
• You get to discover who you really are instead of living according to some superficial work identity.

For more retirement quotes as well as sensational quotes for smart people on life, marriage, dating, and dancing, check out:

Retirement Quotations for Smart People

Following are the contents of a letter that I received from Rita in Vancouver, B.C. who read The Joy of Not Working and decided to quit her job and go into temporary retirement.

Dear Mr. Zelinski;

I have just finished reading your book The Joy of Not Working (yes, I did all the exercises too). I love it! Congratulations on a fantastic book.

I had been teaching seven days a week, six to twelve hours a day without a holiday at a music school for the last twelve years. I originally took the job to earn my way through my Commerce degree, but I continued to habitually work after my graduation five years ago.

The job was ruining my life - I "retired" (after all, I'm still in my twenties) two months ago. Although I was happy with my decision, I was not prepared for my new lifestyle. My friends and colleagues severely criticized me, and I had to find new ways to spend my extra time.

Having read your book, I am convinced that I made the right decision. I am now even proud to be not working.

Yours truly,

Rita

I had the opportunity to talk to Rita on the telephone several months after she wrote to me. Her six-month sabbatical from the workplace had done her a lot of good. She said that she was back at work, but working fewer hours, enjoying herself more, and being more productive.

She indicated that her temporary retirement while in her late twenties made her a better worker. Just as important, it was also good practice for when she retires sometime in the future.

Now Is the Time to Plant Your Retirement Tree

"We are a society not only obsessed with looks and youth, but also hard-work ethics," declared Marian Marzynski, the producer of the PBS documentary film My Retirement Dreams. "For those who never slowed down from work," continued Marzynski, "the idea of retirement can be frightening; they don't know what to do after."

Regardless of the fact that many retirees don't know what to do with their time, the world of retirement is overflowing with opportunity. Retirees can experience many different events, things, people, and places. Indeed, the incredible variety available to retirees offers endless possibilities for enjoyment and satisfaction.

Whether you are already retired or soon-to-be retired, now is the time to plant your Retirement Tree in order that you have a busy and fulfilling retirement. I first introduced the concept of a Retirement Tree in The Joy of Not Working as a Leisure Tree. I was compelled, however, to change the name to a Retirement Tree since a happy retirement is not necessarily based on leisure activities alone. I went even further and changed the name to the Get-a-Life Tree when I used the concept in my international bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, which has now sold over 80,000 copies and has been published in 7 foreign languages.

Because the Retirement Tree or Get-a-Life Tree is too intricate to describe on a Lens, I suggest you download the Free E-book with over half - mainly the top half of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free at:

Creative Free E-books

Finding the right set of activities for your retirement is a personal matter. There is a good chance that you may overlook many activities, however. To help you add to those that you have already contemplated, I have a list of over 500 activities in both of my retirement books.

Putting the Retirement Tree to Good Use

Karen Mangan from Ukiah, California, sent me a letter in August, 1998. She emphasized how she was using the Retirement Tree (known as a Leisure Tree to her) to plan for a more leisurely life some time down the road.

Dear Ernie
,

Congratulations on your book, The Joy of Not Working, which I've read many times, often referring to it for inspiration and amusement. I am 42 years old, and in my peak earning years, working for one of the better companies out here, a large winery in beautiful Mendocino County, California (hint - our wines can be found all over Canada, and one of our brands is "Bonterra"). If I had the inclination, I could continue to climb the corporate ladder and make more and more money over the next 15-20 years. However, it is not to be. Although I have what many would consider an enviable position, I am, in fact, looking forward to NOT WORKING.

At this point, I have a three-year plan to pay down the mortgage and quit my current job to live simply on less, and explore other interests. Like a lot of Americans these days, my boyfriend and I are opting to work hard now, make and save money, and then voluntarily downsize.

I have created a leisure tree with high priority given to running, tennis, reading, hiking, travel, photography, sex, music and volunteer work (not necessarily in that order, of course). As you point out, it's not about getting more stuff, it's about getting more life!

It is amazing how few people have figured this out, and think that they are doomed to until they are 65 at a less than satisfactory job, working on someone else's agenda. The key to happiness, as I see it, lies in pulling your own strings, and becoming the architect of your own life, not it's victim.

Thanks again for writing such a good book. If you ever get to the wine country, please look us up.

Sincerely,

Karen

The Get-a-Life Tree (once called The Retirement Tree) and Retirement Activities for the Get-a-Life Tree included in both How to Retire Happy, Wiild, and Free (over 140,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages) and The Joy of Not Working should help you see more to retirement than first meets the eye.

Duval C. Sherman of Los Angeles, California wrote to me after reading The Joy of Not Working. As you can see from his letter, he found the Retirement Activities for the Get-a-Life Tree (there were only 200 retirement activities in that list) useful for his retirement planning.

Dear Ernie,

I recently finished reading your fine book, The Joy of Not Working, and I am surprised that it has not sold over 1 million copies.

I retired from my very stressful job as a Bus Operator in Los Angeles, Calif. on October 29, 1997 at the ripe "old age" of 46. My former co-workers favorite refrains were, "What will you do," and so on and so forth. That is when it dawned on me that these people had no life away from the job. How sad!

Now that I am no longer stressed out, and have had enough time to clear my mind, I feel much happier and healthier. Your Activities for Your Leisure Tree has been very helpful. I saw things on there that I may have never thought of. For the time being, I have chosen about 70 of them that I think should keep me pretty busy for quite some time, with more to be added later. In fact, Ernie, as I write this I am in the middle of trying one of the retirement activities now, writing my autobiography.

I have ordered two more copies of your book to send to two cousins of mine. One has been a teacher for 31 years and is debating whether or not she should retire. I am hoping that your book, and my continued
urging, kind of pushes her along in that direction so she will have the time to pursue some of the other things that she has told me she is interested in. My other cousin is an obstetrician with her own clinic who shows absolutely no sign of slowing down. I am just hoping that she will take a little time to "smell the flowers" and find the time to read your fine book.

Whenever you are able to take a little time away from your "leisure," would you please be kind enough to send me a reply. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Duval C. Sherman

We have to be at least a little skeptical of some of the information about retirement that the media and researchers throw our way. To be sure, there is a lot of contradictory information as to whether retirement is generally a positive or negative experience.
Adopting either side of the argument can affect how happy each of us is when we retire.

Some researchers have come to the conclusion that retirees experience less life satisfaction than working people. Other researchers have found that young retirees are less happy compared to similarly aged people still in the workplace. Still other researchers have concluded that retirement contributes to depression, and even suicide in the
extreme cases.

According to economist Kerwin Kofi Charles of the University of Michigan, there is truth to these research findings. The presentation of the facts, however, is misleading. It's a case of which came first - the chicken or the egg? In other words, do depressed people contribute disproportionately to the number of the retired or does retirement contribute disproportionately to the numbers of depressed people?

Kerwin Kofi Charles used data from three extensive federal studies of older Americans. He confirmed the conventional wisdom that "the association between retirement and well-being is negative." Put another way, retired people as a group are more depressed than working people.

Yet, surprisingly, Kerwin Kofi Charles found that retirement doesn't add to the number of depressed people. Instead, it's the other way around. Depressed people or those who recently suffered serious emotional upheavals are more likely to retire than people with more positive dispositions. Thus, people who already have the blues disproportionately increase the ranks of retirees.

There is one more interesting aspect to the research conducted by Kerwin Kofi Charles. When he tried to account for the relationship between retirement and happiness amongst well-balanced individuals, there was nothing to worry about. "Retirement appears to actually improve well-being," he wrote in his study.

People all too often fear retirement because they focus on what they are giving up instead of what they are gaining. Instead of seeing retirement as something to be avoided at all costs, they should look at it as a phase of life that can be filled with joy, fun, challenge, excitement, and satisfaction.

A more positive view of retirement reveals a life much more rewarding than work. Retirees can live the lifestyle they want to live instead of the one they had to live while employed. Active retirees find many interesting things to do, and have more time to do them.

Leaving behind the demands of a job allows for a more balanced life involving a broader range of interests, activities, routines, and relationships. The examples that follow show well-balanced retirees enjoying retirement for all its worth. Indeed, some of these retirees are so busy that they don't know how they ever had time for work. Not only should these examples in Chapter 2 convince you that retirement is a positive experience, they should give you another hundred or two ways to enjoy your own retirement.

In 1998, filmmaker Marian Marzynski explored a Miami Beach retirement community and the way its residents are growing older. New Yorker Louis Shroer, 80 at the time, was one of the individuals featured in Marzynski's PBS documentary My Retirement Dreams.

After first having owned a shoe store for 30 years, and then having worked in a department store for 17 years, Louis Shroer retired in 1994. Since then, he has split his time between New York and Miami Beach. Retirement for Shroer has been an opportunity to explore new interests, but above all, he appreciates the freedom that this stage of life has given him.

When Shroer was asked what has helped him enjoy his retirement the most, he replied, "Shortly before I retired, I read a book that my wife placed in my hands, which was very fortunate. It is such a wonderful book that I strongly urge every senior to read it. It is called The Fountain of Age by Betty Friedan. I'm going to condense a quotation from the book, by a man named Leibowitz. It is very interesting. He said this to the author, shortly after his retirement:

" 'The adventure continues as long as the energy flows and one continues being involved in the changing interests of the community and the world. All the talk about people losing neurons of the brain due to their age is really all about people closing doors on [all the] sources of energy. Instead, open these doors with new ideas, hopes, and feelings.' "

Shroer added, "I thought this was very appropriate for somebody who's going to retire or thinking about retirement. As for myself, I'm involved in taking college courses, computer courses, working out in the gym three days a week, doing volunteer work at the Paleontology Department of the American Museum of Natural History. Walking, exercising, reading. I manage to keep busy. And while I personally am not connected to the Internet, I do use it occasionally at the library. I don't want to become addicted, even though there are some wonderful and informative things on it."

Retirement Is a Well-Earned Casual and Carefree Lifestyle

Betty Sullivan, 69 at the time, was another of the Miami Beach retirees featured in Marian Marzynski's PBS documentary My Retirement Dreams. Unlike some retirees, she has had no major problems dealing with retirement.

Before Betty retired, she was an administrator at the Department of Animal Pathology at the University of Miami for 17 years. Prior to this, she and her husband owned an appliance and sewing machine store in Amherst, Massachusetts. To Betty, retirement was a liberation from years of tedious responsibilities associated with work and family.

"Before I left," Betty stated, "some of my co-workers had warned and joked about the perils of retirement: boredom, imaginary health problems, lack of purpose, and possible depression. None of these things has happened to me. Why? I exchanged a grueling 9-to-5 routine for a well-earned casual and carefree lifestyle."

Like the other self-actualized retirees of this world, Betty found that retirement can be an enjoyable time in life. She added, "Do I miss the challenge of the workplace that had once been so much a part of my persona? Heavens, no. My days are filled with healthy activities - swimming, working out at the gym, shopping, bicycling, taking classes such as writing, art, and yoga. In the evenings there are movies, concerts, dining and dancing. Soon, I may do a little traveling. And you know what? If I don't feel like doing anything at all except lounge around my apartment, I'll do that too."

"There are lots of good programs on late night TV," Betty continued. "In fact, I feel like having a snack. Maybe I could hop in the car and scoot over to the 24-hour diner for a hamburg. You know what: This is actually a good time to catch up on my laundry. Who would be using the washing machines in our building now? And after the clothes are cleaned and dried I'll put a ton of cold cream on my face and nestle down in a soothing bubble bath for a half hour or so. Maybe I'll be sleepy by then, but if I'm not, it's OK. No problem."

Not so long ago Tom R. Durkan, Sr. wrote to me after reading The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked .

Dear Ernie:

Have bought 6 of your books, have kept two and have given the rest away.

Your book has been very helpful.

Sold my business over two years ago and am living in New York and doing fine. Keep busy reading, going to movies and plays and walk 3.5 to 4 miles in the morning and another two assorted miles walking
around New York.

Have no money problems. Have no strong goals other than keeping my health and keeping busy, both of which I have been able to do.

After two years, am open to new horizons. Am 76 years young and still chase after attractive women when I am in the mood. Whether I catch them or not is not the important thing.

Once, again, congratulations for putting together an outstanding book with The Joy of Not Working.

Sincerely,

Tom R. Durkan, Sr.

Obviously, Tom is enjoying himself in his retirement. Hopefully, when all of us turn 76, we will be as happy as he is. I especially like the idea of still being able to chase women and not having to be concerned if I don't catch them.

Retire Early and Get Back to the Basics

After working as vice-president of Worldwide Services at Apple Computers, Grant Gordon of San Martin, California retired at the ripe age of 35 in 2002. Having become a millionaire by investing since he was 15, and capitalizing on employer-issued stock options, he decided to retire early and do what he had always wanted to do. This included playing golf and attending baseball games during the day. To keep intellectually stimulated, he remained a director on three company boards and did some part-time consulting work.

''I'm trying to get back to the basics of what I used to like to do," Gordon told a USA TODAY reporter. "I made sacrifices early so I didn't have to work until I was 80. I work only because I want to. There's quite a bit of jealousy, but there's respect, too. I want to get married and have a family, do some travel. I haven't thought much beyond that."

When happy and successful retirees are asked what advice they would offer to a person just entering retirement, most will respond with a variation of Spend as much - or considerably more - time thinking about how you will utilize your days and months as you do contemplating your finances. As one retiree told a newspaper reporter, "Retirement could well represent 25 percent or more of your whole life. Why leave it to chance?

Top Five Replies from Retirees to the Question:

"What Would You Do If You Could Replan Retirement?"

Save more or save less money - 39 percent
Take better care of their health - 29 percent
Live closer to their children - 24 percent
Retire earlier - 23 percent
Get involved in more hobbies - 21 percent

Britons who are retiring are not content to sit at home and relax, according to new research.

A survey of people nearing the end of their working life found they had a number of ambitions that they wanted to pursue as soon as they begin their retirement.

Interestingly, 19 per cent of Britons said that they wanted to relocate to a new area as soon as retire.

Of those who want to move, the majority are not satisfied to stay in England or the rest of the UK. Fifty-two percent said they want to move abroad.

One of the reasons that people want to relocate is that their cost of living can go down. Indeed, according to a recent poll by NatWest, nine out of ten British expats are financially better off since relocating abroad.

"Retiring makes every day an adventure,'' advises Peter Camenzind of Santa Barbara, California. In 2000, Camenzind retired at the age of 35 after working as a quality assurance director at Software.com.

Having cashed in on the high-tech boom before it crashed, the multi-millionaire certainly doesn't have any money problems. There is, however, at least one minor irritation. "I date a lot, but a lot of people are jealous or feel they can't relate to you," stated Camenzind, "so I usually tell people I'm just taking a year off."

Nonetheless, Camenzind is enjoying retirement. "For me, it means not having to work for money," he proclaimed.

Retirement Tips from an Involuntary Retired President of the United States

Jimmy Carter was in his mid-50s when he had to face what he deemed as "involuntary retirement." He and his wife Rosalynn thought that they had another four years in the White House, but Jimmy was defeated in his bid for re-election as President of the United States. He stated, "We went back to a little village that only had a population of 600; I didn't have a job, and I had no prospect of getting a job. To my amazement, I found that my very prosperous [peanut] business, which I had put in a blind trust, was a million dollars in debt because of three years of drought in Georgia."

Despite the fact that Jimmy and Rosalynn had to face some real big problems, Jimmy Carter found involuntary retirement to be a blessing instead of a curse. Indeed, Carter told Barbara Walters that compared to all the other things he did in his past, including being President, retirement is the best time in his life. He feels that many Americans approach retirement with a great deal of dread, uncertainty, and fear when, in fact, all those feelings are totally unjustified.

After his retirement in 1981, Carter has done everything from monitoring elections in developing nations to negotiating peace with warring factions to attending funerals of foreign dignitaries to building homes for the homeless to being spokesperson for numerous charitable causes. He and Rosalynn also stay physically active by skiing, swimming, and mountain climbing. After all this, he still finds time to surf the Internet and keep in touch with children and grandchildren in many parts of the world via e-mail.

In a 1998 interview with Ron Hogan of Amazon.com, Carter extolled the benefits that he and his wife reaped from being retired: "I would say that everything we now do that is productive and helps other people, or that's enjoyable and benefits ourselves, are new ideas that we never had before we were retiring. I never thought about being a professor, and I'm now in my 16th year as a professor at Emory University. And I've just finished my 13th book, when I never thought about being an author."

Carter added, "We never had climbed a mountain, and now we've climbed Mount Kilimanjaro; we've been 1,100 feet above the base camp at Mount Everest. I went up and down Mount Fuji with Rosalynn after I was 70 years old. I never saw downhill skis until I was 62 years old and Rosalynn was 59, and now we go ski in Colorado a couple of times a year. Those are the kind of things that we've taken on that we never dreamed of doing when we reached retirement."

And Here's Johnny - Ten Years Later

At 66, Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show, which he hosted from 1962 until 1992. Ten years later, he still had no urge to return to work. He declared that he "ain't going back on television," not even to celebrate NBC's 75th anniversary. "I think I left at the right time," Carson told Esquire magazine. "You've got to know when to get the hell off the stage, and the timing was right for me."

"There's no way to ever induce him back," professed Barry Diller, "because, God knows, I've tried. Everybody has. I don't know anyone other than Cary Grant who left the stage with such dignity and elegance."

What was Johnny up to since he left the show? In 2002, Carson described himself as perfectly content in a retirement increasingly preoccupied with boating, having just taken possession of a newly built 130-foot yacht christened the Serengeti. He shares a large Malibu home with his wife, Alexis, overlooking the Pacific. He's kept busy playing poker with pals including Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. He also learned to speak Swahili for his vacations in Tanzania. "It's a sweet language," he said. "It flows and it's relatively easy."

Retirement Not Celebrated by Almost Half of Canadians A recent survey from Fidelity Investments Canada ULC found that summer time is the best time to retire for Canadians. The third annual 2007/2008 Fidelity Canadian Retirement Survey discovered that June, July and August are the months when the highest numbers of Canadians retire. Unfortunately, this year's survey shows that more retirees are finding retiring is getting harder.

"Fidelity's research shows that when it comes to the timing of their retirement, the summer months are the tops for Canadians. When you consider the relatively short summer Canada enjoys, it seems that retiring Canadians want to take full advantage of the summer months by not spending them at work," says Peter Drake, vp, economic and retirement research, Fidelity.

While Fidelity's research shows that more Canadians retired in the summer months, for almost four-in-10 Canadians celebrating their retirement certainly was not their first priority. Thirty-six per cent of retirees stated that they did not celebrate or mark their retirement with anything special. This is partially explained by the 40% of retirees that report they have continued to work after retiring. Luckily, the majority of retirees did celebrate with company parties (31%), parties thrown by family or friends (18%), taking a special trip or vacation (14%) or starting a new hobby (12%). One-in-seven retirees marked their retirement by meeting with their financial advisor.

We keep forgetting about the many wonderful experiences that nature
has to offer us. The more humans have removed themselves from nature,
the more hurried and alienated from the world they have become. If
you are an in-tune person, you will find walking through a park or
the woods much more satisfying than spending time in a room full of
gadgets, trinkets, and other trappings of modern society.

Retirees Amanda and Ron Meyette of Pinconning, Michigan spend five
months of the year visiting national parks across the United States.
They leave their four grown kids at home while they indulge themselves
in all the great things nature has to offer. On a hike through Bryce
National Park in 2002, Amanda, a retired registered nurse, told John
Heilprin of the Associated Press, "We're living our dream." Her husband,
a retired Air Force Lieutenant, added, ''Every day's a new adventure.''

As Amanda and Ron Meyette demonstrate, retirement allows you to take
part in nature's big picture more often. Not only will you feel better,
you will value life more. Listen for all of the interesting sounds.
Pay attention to the things bright and beautiful. Try stargazing,
bird watching, and sailing. Be adventurous on your walks. Hug twenty
different types of trees. Chase wild animals. Get outdoors right now
and see how refreshed and relaxed you feel! An encounter with nature
will do wonders for your physical well-being and psychological outlook
on life.

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Regardless of worries about funding a comfortable retirement or outliving their retirement savings, many full-time workers in various countries, including the United States, have taken few steps to plan for retirement, according to recent research studies by MetLife.

The studies found that more than eight out of 10 Mexican (81%) and Indian (80%) employees; more than half of Australian employees (58%) and more than one-quarter of U.K. employees (31%) have done no retirement planning independent of any mandatory government plans. In addition, nearly half of U.S. employees (46%) have not taken any steps to determine
income need in retirement.

In terms of retirement preparedness, the U.K. may be the most financially fit of the countries studied.

Indeed, 71% of U.K. workers surveyed say they have taken steps to determine their households' retirement needs and 69% have actually started to plan. Further, of those who have planned, more than half (59%) say they have either reached or are on track to reach their retirement savings goals. About one-third (34%) of U.K. employees are "concerned" about outliving retirement money, contrasted to 55% of U.S. workers.

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