101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life!
More than 5,000 people retire every day--yet there have been no retirement books that are both informative and motivational until now. 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement encourages and inspires retirees to simplify their lives and pursue their dreams. The authors cover all the essential topics, including health, social life, relationships, financial matters, legal issues, and more.
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101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life! Reviews
IF YOU HAVE ZERO IDEAS FOR WHAT, HOW,AND WHEN, ITS ALRIGHT.IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE SOME HOMEWORK FOR A WHILE SKIP IT.
The first category, "Make Successful Transitions," is one of the critical sections that make this book stand out. The Smiths have chosen to write in the first person plural ("we," "our"). They aren't afraid to tackle issues that many other retirement books don't address, such as the reality of death and sexual changes, while covering the practical aspects of retirement as well. The construct of the book is in the form of 101 brief essays grouped together in eight categories.
There is a great deal of wisdom in this book by Mary Helen and Shuford Smith. Many recent retirement books talk about finding jobs, volunteering, travel and relationships, but few acknowledge that we must come to grips with the realities of aging and defining our purpose on earth - our reason for "being," rather than "doing." The Smiths replay this theme throughout the remainder of the book. They consider their retirement lives extremely rich and provide this guide to fill in a gap that they see in retirement literature.
If I have one gripe with the book, it's the style of writing. The Smiths retired early - ages 39 and 43. The Smiths discuss the importance of developing a philosophy for life during your retirement years.
This can begin to grate if the reader chooses to read from cover to cover, because it begins to sound like a royal "we." Because of this, I recommend reading the book in short bursts, dipping into different essays as appropriate. The Smiths cover the practical aspects of retirement as well. In spite of this shortcoming, 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement belongs on the bookshelf of everyone approaching retirement.
The other reviewers on this site made it sound like the book would have advice on little-known health care deals, finding a good place to live, etc. I bought this book thinking that the "secrets" therein would enlighten me as to things we might be missing in our planning for retirement. This might be a good book if you're retired and bored, but don't buy this looking for much more. Instead, it is filled with common sense tips, such as "enjoy sex" and "learn to forgive." Gee, thanks.
This is a much more practical book than some of the "100 things you can do when retired" books that suggest babysitting, dogwalking or other simplistic ideas. Highly recommended. Now is the time to learn about finances and money, not after you've gotten your first social security check. Once you are on a fixed income, and one that is possibly lower than your salary, you must deal with money in a different manner. In addition, she stresses understanding about money. Mary Helen Smith lists 101 things you should think about or do, like consider what is "quality of life"for example, downsizing your house versus staying in an expensive piece of real estate, and listing government programs for retirees, something you may not know about. With many millions of people hitting retirement or near-retirement age from the Baby Boom, this is a really good starting-off point to plan out your coming retirement years.
Your approach is positive, encouraging, and realistic. Caring ways to honor yourself and others are gently and directly suggested. I'm impressed by how much information is packed into the conversational style of this book. Maslow and intuition are acknowledged. Thank you for writing a helpful book that will positively affect the lives of those who read it. An abundance of practical information is available without it feeling tedious.
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