But What Now?

I am reading a very good book by Marika and Howard Stone, Too Young To Retire. The thrust of the book is that retirement is an outdated concept. This is because we’re working longer, living longer and with more leisure time, strive for more meaning in our lives than ever before.
Retire the word Retirement
AARP disassociated […]

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In the March 9th edition of Parade Magazine, Frank McCourt wrote a two page article called We All Can Have Second Acts (& Third!). I read it and hung onto it and read it again.
Mr. McCourt came to this country as an Irish immigrant. He initially earned his money picking up garbage. Knowing he […]

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I feel so busy, I spend so much time taking care of work business, I work at night, I work on the weekends and never seem to get it done. People depend on me to take care of certain things and I feel a responsibility to follow through.
Looking Forward to Retirement
Many people look forward to […]

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A retirement study released today by Transamerica reports that
“The majority (65%) of working Americans aged 50+ are becoming more comfortable with change and uncertainty as they grow older.”
As someone over 50, this doesn’t surprise me. In fact, when I read or hear that it’s something new that people in the workforce today will change […]

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I have countdown clocks in a few places, including my work Outlook calendar. My Google countdown clock reports that as of today I have 298 days until my earliest possible retirement date. As the number goes down, the dreams in my head go up.
A Facebook friend wrote that I am too young to retire, that […]

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What
Social Bookmarking

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I’m smiling at my title because I’m not supposed to actually answer this question. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please read my last post here.
I bought an iPod nano last weekend so that I can listen to audiobooks while I walk. Carrying that bulky CD player was becoming a drag. So, […]

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My partner and I saw Eckhart Tolle today at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. We were mesmerized for 3 hours (minus the 20 minute break in the middle) by his disarmingly honest and real presence. I read The Power of Now years ago when it first came out. Then I listened to mp3s during my long […]

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This is it, you wake up in the morning and you don’t have to go to work. This is not just another day off, this is the real thing. You’ve turned in all of your equipment, including that pesky Blackberry and pager. There is nothing and no one you need to respond to. You are […]

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Thinking and dreaming about my own impending early retirement is one of my favorite things to do. I have so many reasons guiding me towards this decision that I thought I’d share a few here. This list applies to anyone thinking about retirement at any time, though, not just early retirement. One of my favorite […]

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Someone who worked in my office a couple of years ago retired at the end of 2006. First of all, it’s amazing to me that that much time has passed, but that is not why I bring him up. I remember when he had a year to go and we would talk about it regularly. […]

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Some of us are retiring earlier in life than others. We have good reasons for taking an early retirement. Speaking for myself, I want to retire early so that I can pursue a new vocation. I’m not even entirely sure what it is yet! Now, that doesn’t sound much like retirement, does it?
Really, though, […]

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Sometimes I think what I want to do when I retire is to be a full time parent to my two cats. I learn so much from my cats, I watch them and they’re so content with themselves.
Cats don’t have self esteem problems. They don’t have difficulty with body image.
And even my old cat […]

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Time is a funny thing. I can remember stuff I did 3 years ago as though it was just yesterday. When I see the date 2003 on something I am amazed sometimes that it was now practically five years ago!
But now that I am anticipating my last day at work at my current job, […]

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I’ve been working on and off (mostly on) for someone else for nearly 40 years. Most of my energy has been funneled into my jobs and as I’ve moved up the proverbial ladder, more of my emotional energy has also been tapped and some days fully exhausted. So, when I try to think about what […]

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I spend my days doing a job that feels like it is taking me away from who I really am and what I really want to do. I feel closer to my source today, and I know that I am getting close to being in a situation (i.e., my life!) where I can choose what […]

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Retirement, because it is such a life change, can put a strain on relationships and it can enhance relationships. How many people have you heard say that their retired spouse drives them crazy?
Control Over Your Own Space
Each person needs, as Virginia Woolf so elegantly wrote about, a room of one’s own. My partner is semi-retired […]

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Many of us haven’t had the luxury of thinking about any of this for most of our adult lives because we have been, in essence, living for others. Now that you’re retired, you can have some fun rediscovering yourself.

Childhood Dreams
When you were a child, before the reality of adulthood set in, what did you […]

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Here I will be discussing vision as being what drives us to our own greatness. Greatness does not necessarily or even normally imply celebrity or being famous, but rather being in our own groove. I truly believe that being in our own groove, or being true to ourselves, makes us great in the world we […]

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The purpose of this post is to begin to explore what transitions are and different views we can apply to the big transition in our lives we call retirement.

Managing the Transitions
Retirement is a big transition. It changes what you do on a day to day basis. It changes how you see yourself and it changes […]

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2008 is finally here. I know everyone laments how quickly time flies, including me, but when we want something badly, time just feels way too slow. Once I retire, of course, I want time to be less meaningful. In other words, I hope not to think of it much at all and only enjoy my […]

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Everything I read about creating a future I desire and creating prosperity tells me I need to visualize specifically what I want. I stumble here because I don’t usually have something specific in mind other than no longer being at my current job. I talked with my sweetie about this tonight at dinner over pizza. […]

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Twas the night before Christmas Eve and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a wireless mouse. The pager was hung by the chimney with care, with a blazing fire beneath to catch it on fire when it falls. Sorry, Santa.
Cut… away from fantasy. Actually that was my Blackberry hanging there. […]

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I am working at an offsite location this week. I’m doing something I enjoy, which is building servers and working on technical projects. It takes me away from just management activities and constant conference calls. But I am very clear in my decision to leave this job as soon as I am eligible.
Why? I don’t […]

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My sweetie, who took an early out retirement at age 50, has been retired since 2001, and now a very good friend who has been a co-worker for the past 7 years is also retiring. I am jealous!
Ok, I’m happy for both of them and I know that my retirement date will arrive in a […]

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I may have a number of posts with the title “Things to do,” but this is my first. It’s surely not the first time I’ve thought about or even acted upon “things to do,” though!
I had lunch with one of my dearest friends today who is retiring in a very short amount of time. It’s […]

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Ernie Zelinski asked us to answer important questions in his book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won’t Get from Your Financial Advisor.
So often, I read books that ask me to think about things and answer questions, and I just put the book down and walk away because I’m just […]

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One of the best ways to stretch our retirement dollars is to move to a less expensive location. This is especially true for those of us who live on either coast where the cost of living is the highest.
San Francisco, Boston and New York will probably always top the list or sit very near the […]

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I have a younger sister named Ernest, who likes to go to London and spend all her money, but when I retire Ernest will have me living as a pauper.
The importance of being Earnest - save, save, save and save some more.
I began putting money away for my retirement at the ripe young age of […]

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And restless days, for that matter. I wonder if when I actually retire from my job if I will be able to tame the restlessness inside of myself.
I wake up in the morning with job thoughts racing through my head. Thoughts of being not finished with a project, not having made the right connections with […]

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