How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor [Paperback]

Ernie J. Zelinski (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2004

Retirement does not have to mean the end of life--in fact it can mean a whole new beginning to the life you never had time to explore. In HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD, AND FREE, best-selling author Ernie J. Zelinksi shows that the key to enjoying an active and satisfying retirement is dependent on much more than just having adequate financial resources. It means paying attention to all aspects of life, including leisure activities, creative pursuits, physical and mental well-being, and solid social support. With its friendly format, lively cartoons, and captivating quotations, Zelinski's guide offers inspirational advice on how to follow your dreams instead of someone else's, how to put your retirement in proper perspective, and how to enjoy life after work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Recommended in "Motley Fool's" syndicated column "Ernie Zelinski helps others find the time to live." -Boston Herald

From the Back Cover

"Get Ernie J. Zelinski's book if you look forward to a retirement with 'zing!' "
- Nancy Paradis, St. Petersburg Times, Florida

"To be sure, retirement books are a glutted field, but most focus on money and financial planning. They view the finish line as the last day of employment. That's where Zelinski's begins."
- Jonathan Chevreau, National Post

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Visions Int'l / Zelinski (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580085784
• ISBN-13: 978-1580085786
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.8 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ERNIE J. ZELINSKI
International Best-Selling Author
"Helping Adventurous Souls Live Prosperous and Free"

Ernie J. Zelinski is an international best-selling author, speaker, unconventional career expert, and prosperity life coach.

Ernie's core message - that ordinary people can attain out-of-the-ordinary results and make a difference in this world - is at the heart of his work. Ernie deeply believes in the powers of creativity and well-intentioned action as the most important elements for how ordinary individuals can attain personal prosperity and financial freedom.

Ernie is the author of the international bestsellers "The Joy of Not Working" (over 250,000 copies sold) and "How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free" (over 175,000 copies sold), two life-changing books that have helped hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world live more satisfying and happier lives.

Ernie's latest creative works include the Kindle edition of the inspirational novel "Look Ma, Life's Easy (How Ordinary People Can Attain Extraordinary Success and Remarkable Prosperity)" and its companion "Life's Secret Handbook (Reminders for Adventurous Souls Who Want to Make a Big Difference in This World)".

Ernie Zelinski's highly-acclaimed philosophy about life reaches over 150,000 individuals a month on his inspirational websites and blogs.

Thousands of individuals have contacted Ernie by phone, e-mail, and regular mail to let him know how they have experienced inner renewal and personal growth as a result of reading one or more of his blockbuster books.

Ernie has negotiated 107 book deals with publishers in 29 countries for his various creative works - which have now sold over 750,000 copies worldwide.

Ernie is uniquely qualified to write books such as "How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free", given that he opted for semi-retirement when he was only thirty years old and close to financial bankruptcy (with a net worth of minus $30,000).

Yet today Ernie is an international best-selling writer, entrepreneur, and prosperity life coach who maintains a three- to four-hour workday and doesn't like to work at all in any month that doesn't have an "r" in its name.

Ernie lives in Edmonton, where, besides hanging around his favorite coffee shops with his laptop, he enjoys running, cycling, reading, and traveling. Ernie's second home is Vancouver, B.C., which he visits five or six times a year.

Ernie speaks on the topics of early retirement, entrepreneurship, and creativity. The Turkish Society for Quality recently spent over $20,000 to have Ernie speak about "The Joy of Not Working" to 2,000 executives and scholars attending its 17th annual convention in Istanbul.


Meet Ernie at his websites:

http://www.erniezelinski.com
http://www.retirement-quotes.com
http://www.retirement-cafe.com
http://www.how-to-retire-happy.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

297 of 305 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Zelinski Again June 28, 2004

By William Wittmann, M.Ed. LMP

Format:Paperback

Who Wouldn't Want To Be Coached By A Guy Named Ernie Zelinski? That's the title of an article I wrote about Zelinski's other books. I love Zelinski. This time his book, How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free is about living, although it's disguised as a book on retirement. It is his best.

I recommend the book for anyone under 27 years old because they are young enough to embrace the ideals of this book and shift their lives accordingly. They can choose to live the life their heart calls them too instead of the life the MBA drives them, too. After 27 years of age people get buried in delusions about the supposed necessities of life.

I also recommend the book for people over 50. These people are now wise enough to know better and can embrace the attitudes of Zelinski's retirement long before they stop working for money. His definition of retirement is all about following your heart and is not based much on working for a living or not. Retirement is a state of mind, and you can apply many of the ideas in the book today to make your life happy, wild, and free.

Zelinski is inspiring. Zelinski knows we are all creative; I agree. I am constantly urging my patients to have some creative pursuit in their lives. Here is what he says from the book:

Once you retire, you too can reclaim your creative spirit and find an artistic pursuit that will ignite your inner fire. Your artistic pursuit -- whether it's painting pictures, writing poetry, or making pottery -- will rekindle a part of you that has been suppressed for years by the structure of a job and the routine of daily life. Not only can it make you feel more alive, an artistic pursuit can constitute the primary reason for your being....

Ninety-five percent of books on retirement are about how to plan financially for the event, and they ignore the spirit of the matter. Zelinski goes for the heart as he always does. He shows oodles of evidence demonstrating money has little to do with satisfaction in retirement. It is about finding meaning in your life. It's about living happy, wild, and free. Isn't that something that would be useful at any age? It's what I want for you and for me. That and being able to wear aloha shirts or the equivalent whenever you want. Cha! Read more ›

125 of 129 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What he is selling you should be buying March 18, 2005

By Kay julia Arnold

Format:Paperback

I was looking for just this kind of book. Most retirement books are talking about money,and selling you something, this book talks about your life. I am a nervous Nellie when it comes to change or decisions. I research till I know the topic as well as I can and then make my decision.

I saw myself in so many discriptions in the book. I was a workaholic. I now know better and I am trying to change my thinking about work and leisure. I have taken more time off this year than last year to date and plan a lot more days off. I thought my world would fall apart if I did this. It hasn't fallen apart-matter of fact work has gone along just fine without me! This is something of a shock. All those extra hours were a waste of time, my time! I still have a lot of work to do on learning to find my life and live it "Wild and Free", but I am making some progress.

This book made me think about retirement and life in a whole new way. The humor, quotes and exercises helped me understand my possibilities better. I am retiring next summer and moving on to the rest of my life and looking forward to it. Thank you Mr.Zelinski!

191 of 206 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Zelinski: The Supreme Guru of Retirement Authors? November 14, 2004

By George Fulmore

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is quite different than the author's other one that I like so much, "The Joy of Not Working." The format is quite different. In my opinion, the organizational structure is not as good. But in the end, there is a wealth of good, solid, useful, insightful information contained inside, and that would be the point of reading it in the first place.

In short, "Happy, Wild and Free" is another winner by Zelinski for retiree readers, and it can serve as a great "only" retirement book for those who are looking for that. I can't imagine anyone feeling they don't get their money's worth from reading the book.

Just a read of the preface may be worth the price of admission. Here we find a good overview of the subject of retirement, with some first-class comments to boot: "Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do." "Retirement can be both exciting and demanding, bringing new challenges, new experiences, and new uncertainties." "...retirement is the last opportunity for individuals to reinvent themselves, let go of the past, and find peace and happiness within." "Despite the bad press that retirement sometimes gets, there has never been a better time to be retired in Western nations." And the one I like the best: "The most fortunate of retirees are those who through good planning, experimentation, and risk-taking succeed in making retirement the best time of their lives."

I just don't think the elements of this retirement insight and advice gets any better any place else. I truly believe that Zelinski is the reigning guru on retirement, and I have since I first found and read, "The Art of Retirement." If Zelinski didn't exist, I think we would have to have invent him.... But he's saved us the trouble with his combination of fantastic books on retirement.

The major criticism of the book is that, for me, the flow of chapters and even the flow of sections within the chapters does not work. The collection of chapter sections, I think, could probably be randomly placed with the same eventual result. It's not like one section logically follows the other, nor positively belongs in one chapter rather than another.

And, as I look back through my notes in the book, I find words I've written such as "sophomoric," "irrelevant," "repetitive," "dumb," and "weak." I simply do not find all sections of the book to be at the level I want them to be. But that's it. That's all of my criticisms. To me the reader is free, after reading the preface, to read through the rest of the book, remembering quotes and advice and insight along the way, finding sections that he or she finds valuable and to be favorites, ignoring those found not to be worth the read.

The flaws that I see should not prevent most from finding the bulk of the book to be well worth the effort. I highly recommend this book as a gift to oneself and/or for others. I don't think it gets any better than Zelinski when you look for books on the subject of life after work. Read more ›

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book on retirement November 15, 2005

By Mary Anne Fields

Format:Paperback

Ernie has another winner on his hands. The book covers all the basics of planning for the retirement life and making it as rich as you can. It is not about saving money or financial planning. It's way more important than that. It makes the point quite well that money is secondary to living a good life. And a good life can be lived on little or a lot. His style is easy to read. It is obvious that he believes that retirement, in whatever form it takes, is a wonderful period of your life. A time when you can pursue dreams you couldn't when you worked 60 hours a week or had small children at home. A time to find your true purpose in life and fulfill it. Fortunately this is not a philosophical or feel good book; it offers practical examples, stories and exercises to help you prepare for retirement. This could be the only retirement book you'll need. I loved this book and use it in my coaching and training sessions with potential retirees.