Retiring?: Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money

I wish I read this book before I retired rather than immediately after. Thought provoking.

By brother found it useful for him in many parts. Very organized book with a straightforward approach. “Useful” in that it is good encouragement and advice besides just saying the regular fluff retirement fun.

As a financial advisor on a team with 100+ years' experience walking clients to/through retirement, it's always amazing to me to see how little holistic care the financial services industry as a whole can at times provide for its clients. We witness - day in a day out - the retirement stories of so many different types of people playing out in real time...the good, the bad, and the ugly at times. How invaluable could sharing those tales of success and failure alike just as retirement is top of mind?What makes this book and its advice so punchy is the authors' abilities to synthesize their own life experiences and to provide tangible frameworks that compel readers to extract simple, powerful, actionable insights as they plan for success during life's third and final act. Kudos to the authors; this book is going out to every single one of my clients during their financial planning process!

With my own retirement inching closer and closer with each passing day, I have started to turn to books for advice. There are option aplenty when it comes to books on retirement and one that caught my eye is this one, Retiring?: Your Next Chapter Is about Much More Than Money.The book’s title makes one fact clear: Finances matter, but there is much more to a successful retirement than a large retirement account. What you decide to do with your time, where you choose to live, and other factors are what set apart a happy retirement from an unhappy one. Deciding that your retirement will consist of nothing more than reading books and spending time with grandchildren is a sure path to dissatisfaction. You need to plan for more, and this book is here to help you.Like other retirement books, this one has occasional fill-in-the-blank sections and these can be useful. An example is a section that asks you to write down your values, followed by another section that asks you to list things you have done in the past, but never care to do again. There are a handful of sections like this, so be sure to have a pen handy.Compared to other retirement books I have read, this one is quite brief and can easily be finished in a single sitting. I did find some useful bits of advice, but the problem I had with this book is that it’s more of a warmup than anything else. After I finished each chapter, I had more questions than answers and wanted to research further. If that was the book’s intent, then it succeeded.Deciding what to do in retirement is not something one should take lightly. There are countless things that come into play and since people are generally living longer, retirement can easily last two or even three decades. You need a plan of action, and this book is ready to offer some assistance. It is far too short to serve as a retirement guide on its own. But it does serve as a good launching point to get you thinking more about your golden years, and it does include good recommendations for other retirement books to read as well as web site resources.

I'd done the financial planning and hadn't thought about all the other retirement changes. This is a practical, clearly written workbook that will help just about anyone. Nothing "preachy" just helpful.

“Can you recommend a good book to read about retirement?” I get this question a lot from friends who have taken the plunge and others now wanting to give back via a non-profit organization and looking “to do something where my skills can be used.” They are mainly interested in part-time teaching and other volunteer work for an international organization — or both. Inevitably it is also because their spouse or partner thinks they should. So far, for every 10 who are interested, maybe 1 is really a good fit.Now I have just the book to recommend. Senator Ted Kaufman and Bruce Hiland have put together a terrific and genuine roadmap. And with lots of guideposts and mile markers along the way.“Life After Working” should be the new bible for a lost generation searching for service and meaning. And who have so much to offer.The authors suggest anyone thinking through retirement should do so as if planning for a trip. And that is the missing ingredient I so often encounter. Adjunct teaching and volunteering is not for everyone and not everyone is good at it. But so many who are retiring do have something of value to offer. Using the approach and worksheets outlined here BEFORE taking the plunge can help refine the approach and lead to something really satisfying.Having read the book in the midst of a Pandemic lends it a special relevance. There is a generation of experience with a commitment to civic service and no longer interested in their golf handicap. They have the time and we have never needed their help and energy more. So this book will help us all find who fits, how, and where their journey and ours can take us to prepare the generation just coming on to make the world we share a less dangerous place.Submitted by Allan E. Goodman, President and CEO, Institute of International Education

There was some good info/advice in this book and I enjoyed it. However, some of the advice is biased toward the author's backgrounds and socioeconomic class. They do emphasize that the book does not focus on the financial aspects of retirement preparation. But, if you retire with a nest egg of 2 million vs 20 million (or more), it will certainly influence your decisions/choices and lifestyle once retired.

makes you think for yourself

A fantastic guide to retirement, looks at retiring in a nuanced way and focuses on some of the challenges of retirement that aren’t talked about enough!