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The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement

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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.

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.

"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."

The stats are in and they show that people who invest time and effort in planning for their retirement actually enjoy it a whole lot more! For many people, The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement" will be one of those planning tools that will make a huge difference.

Specifically, I believe that the people who will get the most out of Kelly's book are those people who are project oriented. You know the ones, the folks who always have their lists of things to get started, things to get finished, places to see before they die, etc. About 75% of The Complete Guide is devoted to projects for people with specific profiles: projects for the organizer, the nature lover, the gardener, etc.

Kelly starts out with a good overview of what it takes to create a successful retirement and includes some good questionnaires. As a life transition coach, I'd say that for many people these aren't sufficient to offer enough depth for discovery. But for people who have that project bias to life, it'll be just what they need to get them started.

Overall this book is easy to follow and is written in an easy, casual style. My only reservation is that it there are many people for whom it will feel too simplistic. And to them I say, find something else that caters to your preferences! Once again, for those of you who love to take on projects, I think you'll love this book.

I was fortunate to have read Rob Kelley's book in its draft stage ten months ago. At that time I also responded honestly to the 16 questions posed in chapter 6. This immensely readable book helped me to focus clearly on my needs and strengths for the first time in my life.

I had almost buried my dream of taking acting lessons until the dream once again came to light in experiencing this book. Now I have not only taken acting lessons, but I am performing in my third role, and a major one at that, in community theatre! In addition I have started a part time job that fully reflects my needs, strengths and passions and I am pursuing my creative writing. I am meeting many wonderful people who share my interests and together we pursue our dreams.

I thank Mr. Kelley for an excellent resource that has made a world of difference to my personal happiness and sense of fulfillment. I highly recommend The Complete Guide to a Creative Retirement not only to those considering retirement or already retired, but to any reader who wants to get more out of life and out of themselves.

The Complete Guide To A Creative Retirement by Rob Kelley (who retired at the age of fifty) is an impressive and thoroughly "reader friendly" guide to pursuing alternative retirement strategies with a means of reinventing the self, quality activities, and challenging life goals. Half of The Complete Guide To A Creative Retirement is devoted to rethinking this issues concerning retirement strategies and lifestyle; the other half offers a wealth of example projects for the intellectual, volunteer, nature lover, athlete, and many other types who seek to busily pursue dreams and goals. The Complete Guide To A Creative Retirement is confidently recommended as offering a wealth of resources, addresses -- including a useful ad hoc bibliography supplementing this compendium of practical advice, insight and ideas.