Quality Of Life In Retirement

Through the process of developing self-awareness, encouraging exploration and embracing self-discovery, Quality of Life was written to inspire others to enjoy a meaningful retirement life that encompasses family, leisure, self-expression and contribution. Please walk with me from "Pre-retirement", to the "First Year", to "Moving Forward", to "Living Life", to "Leaving a Legacy", ready to grasp the opportunities you will find. Reading from your own perspective, I hope yopu will find yourself looking forward to your future, valuing your past, and enthusiastically living in the present to become the person you truly want to be.

For the first time in human history, the prospect of living a long, healthy and productive life has become a reality for the majority of people What was the privilege of the few has become the destiny of the many. Robert Butler, MD, Gerontologist Choices & Changes is offered as a guide on how to plan to get the most from lifes second halfnot how to plan to get the most from retirement. While you may think this is splitting hairs, you will come to realize how the words we use impact our perceptions, our self-image and ultimately our reality when planning for and experiencing the future. I have attempted to avoid the use of stereotypical terms like retiree, retirement, senior and other mindless terms often used to categorize millions of active, wise and responsible citizens (except when necessary to establish context.) I contend that how you choose to view the years ahead and your role in shaping that view will have a major impact on the quality and quite possibly the quantity of those years. Therefore, before discussing the elements of your life plan, it is important to spend some time talking about expectations, aspirations and the words we use when discussing and creating our plans. In order to communicate with one another, we use words first, to create categories in which we then place people and things; and then, to create criteria with which to distinguish between those categories (age, sex, nationality, race, religion, education, etc). As we do this, the categories ultimately (and often unconsciously) shape our world view. Retirement, for example, is a word stereotypically used to categorize that portion of life that occurs when one quits working and becomes old. As such, we tend to distinguish retirees from productive members of society. We then help others distinguish these people by creating categories to describe places where they gather (senior centers) or dwell (retirement communities, healthcare centers, assisted living communities or 50+ communities.) Retirement is that magical time of life when the focus somehow shifts from who you are and what you doto what you once did and who you used to be, as if all your experience is at once inaccessible to the person youve become How does this type of prejudice occur? Where does it come from? Lets examine the word. Various dictionaries offer multiple definitions of the word retirement: To go away, retreat or withdraw to a private, sheltered or secluded place To go to bed To give ground as in battle, retreat, withdraw To give up ones work, business, or career especially because of advancing age To move back or away or seem to do so You probably have noticed most of these definitions focus on quitting, going away, withdrawing from or giving up. Retirement implies that your self worth and your worth to society are a thing of the past. Such an implication is negative, unfounded and dangerous to ones health. It is fine to retire for the evening; but it is not fine to retire from life simply because of some mindless designation. While retirement may have been an appropriate descriptor of later life during the industrial age, when very few people lived into their 60s and 70s, the term is no longer relevant when applied to todays active, healthy and well-educated older adults. Perhaps it is time to retire words like retirement, retired or retiree when referring to people in lifes second half, just as we have retired other words used to categorize and demean minorities and women over the years. I have been railing a

What Would You Rather be Doing Right Now? How to Retire Happier in not about saving for retirement. It's about how you can enjoy the best life possible after you retire, regardless of your financial resources. The #1 retirement destroyer is not the lack of money, it's boredom. If you believe that after a lifetime of work and sacrifice to meet all of your responsibilities, you deserve to live an exciting, healthy and adventurous retirement, then How to Retire Happier is for you. Learn why you may want to live and travel overseas, all for less than it cost to live in the US. Yes, you can explore enchanting Europe and exotic tropical islands and live a life most people only dream about, on social security alone. You may never have seriously considered it, but how does spending cold winters on a warm sunny beach, and then escaping hot summers staying in the cool comfortable mountains sound? Add in nightly campfires with lots of friends under star filled skies, and you may decide one of the many RV retirement lifestyles may be just perfect for you. Discover why you may want to own more than one home, and how you may be able to afford a lifestyle you thought was only available to the wealthy. You'll never have to live where the weather doesn't suit you again. Tired of cold winters but love where you live? Want to stay near the kids and grand-kids? Learn the advantages, freedom and flexibility of different snowbirding lifestyles. Learn how to winter where it's warm and sunny for far less than a typical tourist would pay, while staying in a home apartment or condo. Is moving for retirement right for you? It may well be, but there are risks. Learn the pros and cons of moving for retirement for full-time living and the best states to retire in today. See what your chances are of being happy with your relocation to any of the fifty states, before you spend the time money and hassle to move there. Learn to use actual quality of life data and resident satisfaction polling to discover the true best place to retire for you. Would retiring-in-place offer you the best opportunity to enjoy retirement? If so, learn how you can make it more affordable and enjoyable. In fact, if you aren't retired yet, you may learn that there is a way your can retire earlier than you thought. Learn how to guarantee your transition from a life of work, to one of leisure, will be a huge improvement in your health and enjoyment of life. You may not want to put retiring off another day, if you're still working. Do you want to retire but you're not sure you can't afford it? Most of the retirement lifestyles covered in How to Retire Happier can be enjoyed on Social Security alone. If you do require more cash, learn how to earn income and generate tax write-offs to make your retirement dreams come true, working when and where you want. Can you really make money while enjoying the shade of a palm tree by the beach in the winter? Discover what people who live the longest healthiest lives in the world, have in common. Read about the latest studies and discoveries that can help you live a longer healthier life. After all, once you discover your ultimate retirement lifestyle, you'll want to enjoy it as long as humanly possible. What Would You Rather be Doing Right Now?

Senior Living, Senior Housing, Senior Retirement, And Much More! Get the facts on Senior Housing, Senior Living, and Senior Retirement! A must have book if you or someone else you know is in or nearing their golden years! Take steps now to make an intelligent decision as to where to retire to and what type of housing to choose! Also, learn strategies on how to live intelligently and comfortably in your retirement years. The right decisions made during retirement can dramatically improve the quality of you or your loved ones life for many years to come. Be sure and get this valuable resource! Here Is A Preview Of What You'll Discover... Some of the Best Places in the USA to Retire To Some of the Best Places From Around the World to Retire To Fun and Productive Things to do While Retired Ideas For Living Happily and Comfortably Strategies For Living a Better Life When Retired Much, much more! What are you waiting for? If you are still reading this you are obviously motivated to get all the benefits this book has to offer. Stop thinking and take ACTION. Buy It Now

Retirement is a journey, not a destination. Get ready for life after work! Patricia Lovett-Reid, one of Canadas leading authorities on wealth management, challenges conventional views on retirement by offering a comprehensive, four-step plan that will enhance the financial and emotional quality of your retirement living. While recognizing the different stages of retirementfrom pre-retirement to at-retirement to in-retirementLive Well, Retire Well includes the investment knowledge, investment tools, insurance tools, and tax tools you need to move seamlessly and prosperously into your new life. Full of inspiring real-life success stories and invaluable advice and guidance, Live Well, Retire Well will help you generate enough money and save enough money to retire in style

Are You Ready to Retire? If you are in your 50's or 60's and approaching retirement, this book is a must for you! Within the next two decades, 75 million baby boomers are expected to retire. They are redefining retirement. They will live long than previous generations. This book will help pre-retirees begin envisioning their retirement now. Getting Ready for Retirement will give you insight and answers to a multitude of frequently asked questions such as: - When is the best time to retire? - Should I relocate and if so, where is the best place to retire? - Do I need or want to continue to work during retirement? - What will give me meaning and purpose during retirement? - What travel and senior discounts are available to me? - How can I be assured of a reliable retirement income? This valuable resource guide will help you prepare in advance for a quality of life in this exciting new phase of your life for the rest of your life.

The bestselling guide to the best places to retire in the United States. Completely revised and updated, Retirement Places Rated is an indispensable reference for the estimated 40 million Americans who will be 65 or older by 2010. Dividing the United States into 18 regions and 200 cities, towns, and counties, retirement quality-of-life expert David Savageau draws a detailed statistical portrait of each locale, ranking each for cost of living, climate, crime, services, employment opportunities, and leisure and recreational amenities. A rundown of the top 30 overall retirement places along with assessment tools, easy-to-read graphs and charts, interpretive commentaries by the author, and extensive appendices help retirees evaluate their relocation choices and make the right move. For the seventh edition, new features include: 22 new places A new chapter on housing, with data on shelter choices (homes, condos, apartments, and mobile homes), plus home prices and property taxes An expanded ambience chapter, and new data on age, education, politics, and diversity An expanded services chapter, with new data on air travel, physician specialties, and hospital services Easy-to-use relocation resources, including Web sites, addresses, books, and other information David Savageau Washington DC has traveled throughout the country since 1982, visiting locations that attract older adults. He wrote the "Quality of Life" column for Expansion Management magazine, and has been a featured speaker at the U.S. Department of State’s quarterly seminars on retirement.

Are you ready for retirement? How can individuals plan for the gradual shift from working to retirement? How can they make the psychological transition from working to not working? Many retirees become ill within a year of leaving work because they fail to plan for a gradual shift from working to retirement. Individuals with outside interests are at less risk than people who spend 60 hours a week on the job, but even hobbies and interests have to be refined prior to retirement. For many people, one of the most profound periods of change is their time of retirement. People's needs and attitudes and different, however, no matter what their personal goals, current age and economic circumstances may be, the strategies they employ to plan for a satisfying retirement are crucial to their mental happiness, physical health and general survival. These strategies will either enhance the quality of their golden years or shorten them drastically.