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Looking Forward: An Optimist's Guide to Retirement

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Thinking about retiring in the near future? Ellen Freudenheim has written the book for you - LOOKING FORWARD An Optimist's Guide to Retirement. Now you might have attended a retirement seminar or two, and so have I, but in my opinion this book is the best resource I've found in a while. I have been researching the subject because at age 62 I am in the `Retirement Zone' as Freudenheim refers to it. She covers all the areas I have been exploring for retirement activity such as travel, theater, gardening and athletics, and volunteer work, as well as continuing to do what you are doing, i.e. work.

If you want to continue to work, you might consider changing careers as my husband did. After retiring from AT&T (he was downsized or "rightsized" as they called it in the corporate world in the 1980s), he he took his "buyout" money and attended graduate school where he obtained a degree in Employee Relations Counseling which he did professionally for 10 years before he was forced out of the market by the competition (he filed an EEO complaint because he suspected age, race and/or sex discrimination were issues and was proved correct). After the government disbanded the office he worked in (contracted out), he then took up work as a Patent Examiner so as to complete his government retirement - not as you might expect in his field of Electrical Engineering which he learned on the job with AT&T - but the field of personal computers which he taught himself by building several of them for me and the grand kids. Today, retired with two pensions, he plays tennis four days a week and complains about being bored. However, when he heard me speak of Freudenheim's book he said, "I want to read that when you' re through with it."

According to Freudenheim, my husband and I are merely examples of what the statistics have been showing. She combines many life histories along with statistics from reputable sources to explore the truth of the retirement zone from overall and individual perspectives. The truth is, large numbers of people are in the retirement zone (and not just because of the baby boom as we so often hear, but also owing to increased immigration beginning 40 years ago as well as increased life expectancy among the older population). Many potential retirees continue to work (women more so than men, as the immediate cohorts of women stayed home with the kids back in the "old" days, and they have not yet put in enough years for retirement benefits). And, depending on your profession, the pressure to quit working is enormous after you reach a certain age, because those younger workers breathing down your neck have spent their lives in much larger cohorts of the baby boom (just wait until those kids born in 1957-1961 hit retirement ages!!). However, other types of employment may be available to you. Sometimes you just need to look around. Freudenheim suggests there are choices to be made.

Should you leave work altogether - which my 75-year old husband finally did, Freudenheim has tons of suggestions (I hope he really does read her book!!). She provides the reader with all sorts of alternatives for occupying your time fruitfully - paid and unpaid, or if you really don't want to work she has other suggestions. Her book is a comprehensive resource with hundreds of sources - books, websites, and ideas gleaned from others who have tackled the Retirement Zone.

Will I retire soon? Who knows. Right now, I am just living one day at a time. It's comforting to know, however, that I do have alternatives, and that I am not alone.

Taking a positive view on retirement as an opportunity to pursue options in your life that were not available while working full time, author Ellen Freudenheim provides a fresh look at the wide open world of a positive retirement. She suggests that you start by getting to know yourself again in a retirement perspective. From there you can branch out to altruistic opportunities, traveling, spiritual growth, hobbies, and passions. She ends the book with a section on dealing with practical matters of retirement such as paying for it and decluttering your life. Viewing retirement not as an end of your working years but the birth of another stage of your life including new opportunities makes Looking Forward a recommended read.

This book is terrific. It offers excellent advice to new retirees or those thinking of retiring. Ellen Freudenheim has written a book that goes far beyond the standard ABC's of retirement. The author assumes that you want a 'real' life after you leave your primary job. Each section of the book offers good advice to those who want more. I loved the "Anchor Activities" section Growing, Doing and Just Being. Readers are encouraged to continue growing spiritually, to do what they have wanted to do, and to continue being who they are, but much more so. Sound advice is given concerning the retirees awareness of his or her new financial situation; and how to move on mentally and physically.

As one who has recently retired, I read this book from beginning to end and found information that I have already begun to use. Freudenheim provides little windows into the lives of some people who have retired and are happy with their decision to do so. Some of those profiled continued doing more of what they enjoy, some made changes so drastic it boggles the mind. Might I suggest that this book is not just for those thinking of retirement? It will be useful to those who wonder with a fair amount of trepidation what they would do if they did retire.

This book has the right title, Looking Forward: An Optimist's Guide to Retirement. The key words here are "Looking Forward".

Vannie(~.~)
Work & Family @ BellaOnline.com
http://www.bellaonline.com/Site/workandfamily

This is just what I should have been reading 5-10 years before I retired. Not only is it a great pre-retirement resource, it also provides retirees wonderful information on ways to have rewarding years in retirement. Excellent examples are given on what others have done to reinvent themselves and there are numerous references to websites and other publications. Well done Ellen.

You're in your 40's and you know your retirement plans, both social and financial, should have been in place long ago. So you're definitely going to do it. Or think about doing it. And you'll start by reading a book about it. And the average how-to or what-to retirement book is so boring, you put it aside and the cycle begins again. Till now. "Looking Forward" is such a pleasure to read, you'll be eagerly anticipating your retirement. It makes the golden years sound wonderfuly attractive and chock-full of things you can't wait to do. Best of all, you'll feel as if nothing about senior living is daunting. Not taxes, not health, not filling all those hours. You handled it as an adult, why wouldn't you be able to handle it as a senior? I'm only 48, but after reading "Looking Forward," I was ready to hand in my letter of resignation!

This is a "must" read for anybody who is thinking about retirment options for their future. It is also a "must" read for anyone over twenty who has never thought about retireing.The book is a home-run, it covers all the bases. The book is fun to read and filled with helpful information. I recomend it as "required" reading for anyone over twenty.

Good insight into things to do to get ready for retirement. Humorous but insightful.

It's hard being old and set out to pasture. Some folks just give in and accept their lot of being pushed into a corner to live out some twenty or more years doing nothing, just existing. Why retire when you are not ready? There is no set age now for retirement. Keep on doing what you enjoy and make that money as long as you can! You will have time to enjoy it when you are ready!

If you haven't had any social life or spiritual training before the age of 65, it's a little late to start now. Oh, it is good to go to dances and church, but alone -- that is as bad as not going at all. Who wants an old, decrepit man to take you places and to tell you what to do? No one needs that!

If you don't know yourself by now, it's just plain too late to start finding your inner self through workbook studies or seminars telling you how you should think and live. No one can live your life for you. Only the losers go to Florida! Stay where you know the terrain and enjoy being yourself. Now is the time! With the white or gray hair, you are invisible to most of the populace anyway, so get out there and have fun! Raise a little hell! You will find that finally after all these years, you CAN be yourself. Perhaps young, inexperienced males will look on you as 'over the hill,' but hey! what do they really know -- they haven't been there yet and cannot judge the elderly. Their time will come sooner than they wish and they, too, will be invisible and on their own in a hostile world.

Don't hide away and wither! And, for God's sake, don't waste time volunteering. We have only a limited time to enjoy being who we are and who God created, a unique individual. If you like traveling and have the money, by all means, do so. It is never too late to learn. What we see will be temporary as there will be no one to share the experience with, so why buy postcards. That is a waste of money. Take your own pictures!

Hobbies are time-consuming and who has the time now. Get out and live. And the world will be rosier and you will be happier and more fulfilled for the day when you go to the Great Beyond. There are no 'caregivers' especially family, as they tend to desert and abandon you when you are a drag on them. So, don't be a drag! Be independent. Go places, and be yourself, warts and all. No one really cares about the old unless you have a fortune to leave them. Don't be so stupid. Spend it on enjoying life, as they will not thank you after you are dead.

Move where you want to when you want to. You have to suvive where you find yourself and if the place is bad and a prison to you, move on. Save a little money to pay the young men to move your things and life will go on as normal, more or less. It is always a challenge to move from one town to another, but it can be done. Just be sure you know someone there, or the town itself so that you won't feel lost and alone. You are never alone as long as you have God in your heart. No one can harm you when your spirit is strong. Don't let someone make you feel weak when you're not.

Retirement is a drag. It is a retirement from life not work. Don't ever give up. Always keep your chin up and look forward. Every cloud has a silver lining, and you can find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, if you just believe.