The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Robert Kelley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2003

Creative retirement involves passion, emotional commitment, quality of life and a zest for living. Are you missing any of these things? Is your retirement going the way you thought it would? This humorous, innovative guide will change your perception of traditional retirement. It will broaden your views on which activities are appropriate for retired people.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

When you think about it, we get training and guidance at every stage of our lives except retirement. And with the Baby Boomer Generation retiring in their mid-fifties, it is very possible that retirement for them maybe twenty-five years long, almost as long as their working years. Having a coach to help you discover your needs and interests and to help you set new goals for yourself will make the journey a whole lot more exciting, memorable and rewarding

About the Author

Former teacher, department head, computer education consultant, and textbook author, Robert E. Kelley retired at age fifty to set off in a new direction. "Unfortunately, I turned into a couch potato that first year. When you retire, your daily routine, mental and physical activities, and camaraderie at work all suddenly disappear. Searching for activities that were personally fulfilling and not just time-filling became my goal. I feverently believe that any retiree with a little reflection on what they enjoy the most, and some creative thinking on how to obtain their goals, can enjoy an emensely rewarding retirement. I also believe that age, wealth, and education are only limiting factors if you chose to perceive them as roadblocks, Those who remain young at heart will enjoy new adventures well into their eighties.

True to his beliefs, Rob has since researched and written two family history books, joined the gym, been on two ocean cruises, attended photography workshops in Florida and South Carolina, annual writing workshops in California, organized a family tree reunion, and taught himself how to play the piano. His most passionate hobby, however, is writing books. He lives in a steel-manufacturing, university town, home of the Hamilton Tiger Cats and Coops Coliseum, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: TurnKey Press; illustrated edition edition (May 12, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974003093
• ISBN-13: 978-0974003092
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable Resource for Your Golden Years, October 5, 2003

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement (Paperback)

Many friends and family members have told me that they were unprepared for retirement when it came. They struggled mightily with problems that they later found that almost everyone has. So although they had the financial wherewithal to retire, they didn't really know how to spend their time and focus their energies. As a result, they enjoyed the early years of their retirements much less than they had hoped and could have. That's a same because the first few months and years of retirement are likely to be the time when most people will have the most health and financial resources to explore whatever it is that they would like to do.

Mr. Kelley's The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement is a resource that addresses the issues very well that retired people have told me about. I heartily recommend it to everyone who would like to retire in the next ten years . . . and to those who are recently retired.

The book is organized into two sections. In section one, you are given ideas for thinking about retirement in new and more productive ways. Section two is a resource guide to help those with different orientations (organizers, creative people, socializers, intellectuals, volunteers and caregivers, nature lovers, athletes, and those who would like to keep working past the normal retirement age).

In chapter one, Mr. Kelley compares the frustrations of many retirements that were not planned (such as after being "downsized") with those who had planned creatively for retirement, and found their golden years to be an improvement in their lives.

In chapter two, you will learn the 12 strategies for retirement.

1. Maintain as much of your daily routine as you can.
2. Leave the house at least once a day.
3. Make a daily list of things to do.
4. Plan ahead.
5. Plan your social life.
6. Eat less.
7. Exercise daily.
8. Simplify your life.
9. Pursue your favorite activities.
10. Get better at what you want to do while retired.
11. Join a support group.
12. Lose yourself mentally and emotionally in your activities.

The first section goes on to help you see choices that you may not have considered, explains how to adjust in retirement in your relationships with your spouse and friends, and gives you a planning guide that you can fill out to begin your thinking.

The second section isn't as exhaustive as it might have been, but there are enough ideas to get you started. I'm sure it will stimulate you to come up with even better choices that fit your circumstances best. Don't be afraid to think of yourself as having more than one dimension (you may be an athlete and a socializer).

I also encourage you to share this book with your spouse, family members and friends. They may be able to help you develop better choices after having considered the book.

After you are done, I suggest that you think about how you could help others have a better retirement as well.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complete Guide to Creative Retirement, August 22, 2003

By 

Professor David J. Demko, PhD, gerontologist (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement (Paperback)

You've heard the stats before. 81 million seniors over the age of 50. Average retirement age is now 57. Every seven seconds another baby boomer blows out 50 birthday candles. But somehow, you never quite take these trends personally. Until you hit the BIG FIVE-0. Then, BOOM. It feels like you got knocked into the swimming pool, the deep end. Suddenly, you find yourself over your head ... frantically looking for someone to throw you a life-line.

You're not alone. Millions of boomers are treading water, right next to you in the deep end of the pool. Each one trying to keep his or her head above a sea of decisions brought on by retirement. Not to worry. People may flounder around, stumble and fall, but eventually they find a lifestyle that's right ... satisfying, fulfilling, meaningful. In fact, medical science
demonstrates the closer you get to retirement ... the more anxious you become. But, research also confirms, the further you get into retirement ... the more enjoyable it feels.

So, what's the big difference between pre-retirement jitters, and post-retirement enjoyment? Knowing the challenges ahead, identifying your options for meeting those challenges, then making choices tailored to your talents, interests, and needs. Sounds simple enough. But, just like any challenging adventure, your chances of success are better if you've got a guide. An experienced guide. One that's "been there, done that" ... and succeeded. Author, Robert Kelley is that kind of guide. In fact, his new book is titled "The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement."

"Creative Retirement" is not your typical retirement book. Instead of focusing on financial preparation and security, as most retirement books do, Kelley discusses the changes that retirement imposes on the mental, physical, emotional, and social aspects of a retiree's life, as well as offer specific recommendations for improving quality of life.

Kelley explains that what people miss most in the early months of retirement is structure. I couldn't agree more. For the past 30 years, newly retired workers have likened retirement to "A Week Full of Saturdays" (title of an old gerontology film). The thought of so much freedom can be simultaneously liberating and overwhelming.

The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement" offers food for thought on how to keep a delicate balance between coping with the
universal issues that everyone experiences, and more importantly, coping with the issues that are unique to your personal needs, interests, and desires.
Here's a list of themes addressed by the author.

Twelve strategies to ease the transition into retirement
Five distinct lifestyles favored by retirees
How to achieve a balanced lifestyle
Worksheets to analyze retirement needs
Eighty exciting and worthwhile large-scale projects

Kelley also offers inspirational tips highlighting key decision-points. Readers will also find a wealth of resources in the name of helpful organizations, web sites, and case studies.

In my opinion, the author's greatest contribution is his emphasis on "Rethinking Retirement". Before you can create a successful retirement, you must first learn that successful retirement is not a "one size fits all" proposition. No one can dictate your retirement plan for you. Knowledge is the key. Know the challenges, know your options, know what choices are tailored to your unique needs. Kelley makes these points with conviction and clarity.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mostly well-known Advice, October 22, 2004

By 

George Fulmore (Concord, California USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement (Paperback)

"Creative Retirement," by Rob Kelley. Review.

This book gets off to a decent start by making the common argument that retirement without a "life" is not the way to go. So, the goal of the book would seem to be to give relatively young retirees a resource of retirement leisure time activities that will lead them to a "life" in retirement. The argument is made that retirement presents an endless cycle of 24-hour days that can lead to a disaster. "The activities with which we fill those days will ultimately determine the quality of our lives," says the author, who also, without any attribution, tells us that the current average age of retirement in North America is 57.

The first advice we get from the book is to build structure in our retirement days. But the advice is simplistic, at best: Go out once a day, make a daily things-to-do-list, plan ahead, exercise, and indulge your favorite hobbies are some, with "reduce your food intake" thrown in for some reason for good measure. At this point, doubt about this book's contribution to the world of retirement advice is increasing, and, for me, things never get much better.

Of interest is an early point where the author makes the argument that there are no right or wrong choices in retirement and that happiness is defined individually. But in the very next paragraph, he then tells us that we have only one life and if we don't get to all kinds of crazy things, we miss out big time. Hmmmmm.

All this is followed by some chapters of general advice and information, including a questionnaire we're told is a "personal analysis of your current situation in anticipation of retirement." We're about one-sixth of the way through the book. The rest consists of eight chapters each of which describe 10 possible retirement projects for each of the eight personality types, e.g., organizer, socializer, nature lover or athlete.

In the "Projects for the Organizer" chapter, we get such projects as "Teach a Hobby Course," "Have a Garage Sale," and "Plan an Extended Vacation." Projects in other chapters include "Find a Soul Mate," "Wrap Gifts for Charity," "Become a Golfer," and "Join a Dance Group." While I'm sure that this format can work for some, again, it seems too simplistic and high-level to me. Missing for me are stories of actual retirees in the project definitions. But a positive is that there are 80 projects covered, most of which make sense, high-level, and most come with references to organizations, companies and/or websites for further research.

The book's back cover tells us that the book will "broaden your views on which activities are appropriate for retired people." While that may be true, my feeling is that it won't broaden most folk's view by much, as most of the projects suggested are already very, very well known by just about anyone who already has any kind of a "life."