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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 Mr. Zelinski:

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.

Real success at handling leisure will result in a happy retirement and truly enjoying the advantages of retirement. Indeed, retirement planning secrets aren’t all that secret.

Retirement Planning Tips 

• 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 so that you have a purpose when you take early retirement.
• 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.
• 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 you retire. 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.

According to a TD Waterhouse study only 15 percent of indiviudals are “completely living out their retirement dreams.” Lack of planning appears to be one reason for this.

Surprisingly, the best part of retirement is simple pleasures, say the retirees. Spending time with family and engaging in hobbies also are satisfying as is volunteering.

Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings — Advice on How to Retire Happy

Stay busy [when you retire]. If you are going to sit on the couch and watch TV, you are going to die.
— Bill Chavanne

Preparation for old age should begin not later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.
— Arthur E. Morgan

Don’t act your age [in retirement]. Act like the inner young person you have always been.
— J. A. West

Before deciding to take early retirement from your job, stay home a week and watch daytime television.
— Unknown wise person

We have no porch, no rocking chair — and no time. My biggest need is a calendar because there are so many things to do. Now I encourage people to retire — the younger the better.
— Maurice Musholt

Everyone who does not work has a scheme that does.
— Munder’s Law

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
— Walter Gagehot

When is the right age to retire? When you dread going to work.
— Mary Bright

NOTE; For more retirement quotes see:

The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement by Ezines Author Ernie Zelinski

and

Importance of Money in Retirement (Quotes and Sayings) by Vipbooks Author Ernie Zelinski 

Ernie Zelinski’s Books under the Vipbooks and Ten Speed Press Author imprints have now sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.

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.

From The Strebel Planning Group, New York
“With a focus on the non-financial aspects of
retirement, How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free explores the myriad choices and decisions we’re all confronted with in living out our lives. Such as, pondering the pros and cons of remaining at your present job; changing jobs or changing careers; taking an early retirement; delaying retirement; never retiring; or semi-retiring. Clearly, from Mr. Zelinski’s point of view, staying in a less than satisfying job for the sake of some distant future payoff is enormously risky to the health and well being of your life. A mistake like that cannot be fixed since you cannot go back in time to change your decisions.”

OVER 90,000 Copies SOLD
PUBLISHED IN 7 FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com before you submit your retirement letter with this direct link:

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com

Purchase How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com before you submit your retirement letter with this direct link:

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com

Visit one of Ernie Zelinski’s Other Blogs:

Ernie Zelinski’s Redroom Blog

Ernie Zelinski’s Blog on Morgan James Publishing

Vipbooks by Ernie Zelinski on The Library Thing