101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life! [Paperback]

Shuford Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2000

More than 5,000 people retire every day--yet there have been no retirement books that are both informative and motivational until now. 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement encourages and inspires retirees to simplify their lives and pursue their dreams. The authors cover all the essential topics, including health, social life, relationships, financial matters, legal issues, and more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Helen and Shuford Smith are the authors of The Retirement Sourcebook and have coathored a variety of newspaper and magazine articles on everything from computers to travel to retirement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0737304200
• ISBN-13: 978-0737304206
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #637,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Wisdom, August 2, 2005

By 

Casey Dawes "Wise Woman Shining" (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life! (Paperback)

There is a great deal of wisdom in this book by Mary Helen and Shuford Smith. The Smiths cover the practical aspects of retirement as well. The Smiths retired early - ages 39 and 43. They consider their retirement lives extremely rich and provide this guide to fill in a gap that they see in retirement literature. They aren't afraid to tackle issues that many other retirement books don't address, such as the reality of death and sexual changes, while covering the practical aspects of retirement as well.

The construct of the book is in the form of 101 brief essays grouped together in eight categories. The first category, "Make Successful Transitions," is one of the critical sections that make this book stand out. The Smiths discuss the importance of developing a philosophy for life during your retirement years. Many recent retirement books talk about finding jobs, volunteering, travel and relationships, but few acknowledge that we must come to grips with the realities of aging and defining our purpose on earth - our reason for "being," rather than "doing." The Smiths replay this theme throughout the remainder of the book.
If I have one gripe with the book, it's the style of writing. The Smiths have chosen to write in the first person plural ("we," "our"). This can begin to grate if the reader chooses to read from cover to cover, because it begins to sound like a royal "we." Because of this, I recommend reading the book in short bursts, dipping into different essays as appropriate.

In spite of this shortcoming, 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement belongs on the bookshelf of everyone approaching retirement.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars common sense, not "secrets", June 29, 2005

By 

W. D. Amato "Drumturtle" (Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life! (Paperback)

I bought this book thinking that the "secrets" therein would enlighten me as to things we might be missing in our planning for retirement. The other reviewers on this site made it sound like the book would have advice on little-known health care deals, finding a good place to live, etc. Instead, it is filled with common sense tips, such as "enjoy sex" and "learn to forgive." Gee, thanks. This might be a good book if you're retired and bored, but don't buy this looking for much more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Primes the pump with ideas for active retirement, December 30, 2003

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life! (Paperback)

This is a much more practical book than some of the "100 things you can do when retired" books that suggest babysitting, dogwalking or other simplistic ideas. Mary Helen Smith lists 101 things you should think about or do, like consider what is "quality of life"--for example, downsizing your house versus staying in an expensive piece of real estate, and listing government programs for retirees, something you may not know about. In addition, she stresses understanding about money.

Once you are on a fixed income, and one that is possibly lower than your salary, you must deal with money in a different manner. Now is the time to learn about finances and money, not after you've gotten your first social security check. With many millions of people hitting retirement or near-retirement age from the Baby Boom, this is a really good starting-off point to plan out your coming retirement years. Highly recommended. There are ideas here, but this is just the jumping-off point.