Dec 31, 2007

About The Joy of Not Working

The Joy of Not Working by Ernie Zelinski is all about learning to live every part of your life — employment, unemployment, retirement living, and leisure time alike — to the fullest. You too can join the thousands of converts and learn to thrive at both work and play. Illustrated by eye-opening exercises, thought-provoking diagrams, and lively cartoons and retirement quotes, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.

The Joy of Not Working is an international bestseller that has sold over 225,000 copies and has been published in 17 languages.

Top 10 Reasons to Read The Joy of Not Working
  1. You are more independent and more creative than most people.
  2. You were born a lover of life and not a workaholic.
  3. You don't want the cheese; you just want to get out of the trap.
  4. You like books that are reader friendly with lots of cartoons, quotations, and exercises.
  5. You like books that make you smile and challenge traditional ways of living and thinking and have a lot of retirement quotes and retirement sayings in them.
  6. You agree with the words of Bertrand Russell: "To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the best product of civilization."
  7. You are receptive to the concept that we can achieve more if we relax, enjoy life more, forget about what the majority in society thinks is important, and focus on the things that really matter.
  8. Your parents and co-workers will not approve of your adopting this book as your lifestyle Bible.
  9. You know a good deal when you see one — if a book has been published in 17 languages in 20 different countries and has sold over 225,000 copies, it must have great value.
  10. You know something important that the hard workers of this world don't know: the secret to a happy and fulfilling life is to work smart and not hard.

One of several free retirement gifts (in PDF format) on the Downloadable Free E-Books Webpage at the Real Success Resource Center, The E-book version of of The Joy of Not Working contains the Table of Contents, the Preface, and Chapter 1.

The Joy of Not Working is mentioned on the Reader's Comments on Steve Weber's Plug Your Book.

Dec 29, 2007

Six Money Quotes

Although money can’t buy happiness, sooner or later you will likely want a measure of financial freedom that adds to your feeling of overall freedom and the feeling of prosperity that comes with it. What will help you acquire a great measure of financial freedom is the golden touch with money. Mastery of money is not something with which we are born. Like creativity, it is something we can learn.

Six Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings on How to Spend Your Money Wisely in Retirement

Better a good dinner than a fine coat.
— French proverb

The money you enjoy spending frivolously to enhance your retirement is money well spent.
— from How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: The World's Best Retirement Book

Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut.
— Daniel S. Greenberg

Don't buy expensive socks if you can never find them.
— Unknown wise person

It's a wise man who lives with money in the bank; it's a fool who dies that way.
— French proverb

Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.
— Jonathan Clements


Note: These Money and Retirement Quotes are Adapted from The Retirement Quotes Café Website and Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings at The Joy of Not Working by Ernie J. Zelinski

Dec 27, 2007

General Retirement Planning Wisdom

Retirement Planning Wisdom — Preparation Is Key

Although retiree Pat O'Brien of East Haddam, Connecticut occasionally misses the stimulation of work, she is as active as she could be. Eighteen months after O'Brien retired from her proofreading job for a law firm in Stamford, Connecticut, she told a U.S. News Reporter, "The biggest surprise is I just don't know where the time goes."


Regardless of the bad press that retirement often gets, many people such as Pat O'Brien don't have trouble filling their days when they retire. O'Brien, 65, is joined in retirement by her husband, Jim, 70. She is active in the local historical society, a church group, a women's exercise club, and the American Legion. "It's been very enjoyable for me," stated Pat.

According to the survey conducted by AIG SunAmerica, the people most likely to enjoy retirement are those who have planned for it. This is borne out by the fact that 78 percent of people who prepare for retirement both financially and psychologically view it as "a whole new life" or a "continuation of life as it was."

If you are not presently retired, it's important to spend many preretirement days thinking about what you want to do when you walk out of your workplace for the last time. All too often, people put off things too long. As 71-year-old Florida retiree Howard Salzmann stated, "If you didn't learn how to live before you reach 65, it's very difficult to teach you how to live afterwards."

Dec 26, 2007

Fun Ideas for Retirees

The item below was sent to me by George Fulmore, a San Francisco Bay resident who has reviewed many retirement books and loves my The Joy of Not Working, calling it the best retirement book ever written. (I disagree with George. I agree with the BarnesandNoble.com reviewer who called How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free the World's Best Retirement Book.)

Fun Ideas for Retirees

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.

Well, for example, the other day I went downtown and into a shop. I was only there for about 5 minutes, and when I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.I said to him, "Come on, man, how about giving a retired person a break?" He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I called him a "Nazi." He glared at me and wrote another ticket for having worn tires.

So I called him a "doughnut-eating Gestapo." He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he wrote a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him the more tickets he wrote.


Personally, I didn't care. I came downtown on the bus, and the car that he was putting the tickets on had a bumper sticker that said "Guliani in '08."

I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired. It's important to my health.


Dec 23, 2007

The Retiring Life

The Retiring Life
  • 51% of retirees say retirement is better than expected.
  • 26% of retirees say it is about the same.
  • 19% of retirees say it is worse than expected.
Source: Retirement Confidence Survey


Dec 22, 2007

Latest Bio about Ernie Zelinski - Early Retirement Expert

Ernie Zelinski's books have now sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. Ernie has negotiated 94 book deals with publishers in 25 different countries.

He is presently transforming his projects The 777 Best Things Ever Said about Money (Japanese rights sold) and Life's Secret Handbook for Having Great Friends (French and Spanish rights sold) into Creative Free E-Books to be used as viral marketing tools for his other successful books.



Creative Free E-Books from The Real Success Resource Center:

Retirement Gifts from The Retirement Quotes Café:

Dec 18, 2007

Major Retirement Planning Tip:

"Only seventeen more years of misery at my job," you may be thinking, "and I get to experience Pension Heaven." You may be right. There is no doubt that retirement can be the best time of our lives. The good news is that many more people enjoy retirement than those who don't.

Unfortunately, retirement often gets a bad rap from many media people and other individuals who themselves have not been able to successfully cope with their retirement plan. Fortunately, however, people who can't cope with retirement are in the minority.

"Retirement works out quite well for people," states Joel Savishinsky, a professor at Ithaca College. Savishinsky, author of Breaking the Watch, adds, "It is not the kind of trauma it has often been pictured in the past."

To be sure, most retired Americans who have implemented their retirement plans are enjoying themselves according to a survey by financial services firm AIG SunAmerica. Similarly, based on a recent survey conducted by Trimark Investment Management, most retired Canadians have no regrets about being retired. The Canadian retirees taking part in the survey claimed that a drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation since they left the workplace are two big advantages of being retired.

A drop in stress and an increase in intellectual stimulation aren't the only advantages that people around the world get to experience when they retire. "Retirement has been very enjoyable for me," declares Pat O'Brien, 65, of East Haddam, Connecticut. "When it snows, I don't have to worry about getting on I-95 to go to work."

Mr. Yong Khin Chong, 56, of Singapore states that more time with his two grandchildren is the biggest perk of retirement. Indeed, after two years of retirement, he claimed that he still didn't have sufficient time to do the things that he would like to do. His retired wife, Madam Ku Lee Nor, also 56, added, ''I don't feel bored at all. It's only now that we have time to travel, read, do gardening, and exercise more regularly.''

The ability to make many choices is another benefit of leaving the work world. "You're free to rediscover who you really are," states retiree Lynn Nelson Paretta, a volunteer with a community service center in Springfield, Virginia. "You're free to go back and build on those aspects you perhaps did not have a chance to express when you were in the working world."

Bill Kalmar of Lake Orion, Michigan shares his love of retirement: "I am thoroughly enjoying retirement! The best part is observing my neighbors drive off to work in the morning knowing that that their day will be filled with jerks, brainless and endless meetings, jerks, vendor lunches where you hold your breath just waiting for the sales pitch until you regurgitate your pasta, more jerks and the eventual company reorganization of the section that was just reorganized last month!"

Clearly, retirement can be the best time of your life. Always keep in mind that you are not retiring from life, just a job. The key to a happy retirement is to make retirement the beginning of life, not the end!

and

Dec 17, 2007

Your Retirement Years

"Never think oldish thoughts," stated James A. Farley. "It's oldish thoughts that make a person old." Indeed, thinking young can help you to stay busily and happily involved in your so-called retirement years. Being productive well into your later years will enhance your self-esteem plus give you intellectual stimulation and social interaction. It is also a way to enrich the lives of others while enriching your own life at the same time.

Dec 7, 2007

Retirement Planning Tip - Rethink Your Retirement Plan for a Slower Life on the Coast

New retirement research released not so long ago from Queensland's Griffith University in Australia suggests that a move to the coast may not help retirees realize their dreams or retirement plan. Research team leader Michael Davies says city dwellers, adjusting to life after work, can find it difficult to relocate to a quieter place on the coast.

Dr Davies claims that people do not understand the shock that can come from leaving a busy work schedule and a network of friends to move to the beach. "Generally when you're looking at a transition like retirement you need to think a bit about what that change will mean for you," Dr Davies said.

"I guess for those who don't think long and hard about how they want to retire to maximise their opportunities and to maximise their lifestyle and well being, then I think there can be some problems."


Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings on Where to Life in Retirement

Dec 6, 2007

Retirement Planning for Japanese Housewives Made Just a Little Easier

The last year or two heralded the start of an era that Japanese housewives were dreading due to the lack of variety in the retirement plans of Japanese men according to the Australian. "The first wave of post-war baby boomers turns 60 next year and a huge generation of salarymen will be retiring. Women who have grown used to serenity of days without their noisy, smoking, hobby-obsessed husbands are now desperate for ways to maintain tranquility."

So Yamaha designed a wooden box that will help Japanese housewives with their retirement plans insofar as how to deal with their husbands when the husbands retire. No doubt retirement planning is important for housewives who don’t want their husbands in their hair all the time. The box can sit in a corner of the average-sized lounge and contain a husband or relative. MyRoom is 27 square feet, completely soundproofed, and can hold a desk, audio system or hobbyist workbench.

Dec 4, 2007

The Best Country to Take Early Retirement

Have you wondered which country is the best one for taking early retirement? The most generous country has to be Brazil, where the average resident retires at 49, and many people retire with benefits of 100 percent or more of their salary.

What makes Brazil's government pension plan so generous is that it is based on the notion of "time served" with no minimum age for retirement. (Brazil along with Iran and Iraq are the only three countries in the world that don't have a minimum retirement age for collecting a government pension.) Thus, two-thirds of Brazilian civil servants retire younger than 55 and 14 percent retire before they turn 45.

If you satisfy certain conditions, however, you can retire much earlier than 49 with a generous life-time government pension. Take, for example, a farmhand who recently hung up his work clothes at the age of 33. Having satisfied government auditors that he had started working at 3 years old, he will receive a nice pension until he dies, even if he gets another job and retires again.

All told, the great benefit for work-detesting Brazilians who take early retirement is that their retirements can last much longer than their careers. Moreover, they collect a nice pension to help them live in style.

Don't wait for retirement to be happy and really start living. Invariably, people who try this find out that they have waited much too long.
— from the best-selling book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free by Ernie Zelinski

Note: Adapted from the Free E-Book The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement by Ernie Zelinski available on the Creative Free E-Books Webpage at the Real Success Resource Center.

Dec 3, 2007

Two Retirement Quotes

And here are the two retirement quotes for the day to help you with your retirement planning:

I have made enough faces.
— Greta Garbo (refusing to perform again)


By the age of 65, most of us have accomplished whatever work-related goals we are going to reach. If you haven't done it by then, chances are you aren't going to do it. Take the retirement, take the pension, take the Social Security, and sail off into the sunset.
— Sue Lasky


From The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement by Ernie Zelinski

Dec 2, 2007

Five Great Reasons in Support of Taking Early Retirement

Retirement planning for a meaningful life after your work ends should start as early as possible. "Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens," declared Arthur E. Morgan.

If you are presently contemplating early retirement, it's important to spend many pre-retirement days thinking about what you want to do when you walk out of your workplace for the last time.

Here are 5 more reminders why retirement can be the best time of your life.

  1. It’s easier to be spontaneous.
  2. You don’t have to work through lunch hour.
  3. You don’t have to take tedious business trips involving being away from home, overbooked flights, and being alone.
  4. Life is less predictable from nine to five.
  5. You can take a nap when the urge hits.
Again, retirement can be the best time of your life. Always keep in mind that you are not retiring from life, just a job. The key is to make retirement the beginning of life, not the end!

Retirement Quotes in Support of Early Retirement

Nov 30, 2007

Retirement Planning on a Low Income — Retirement Life Can Still Be Fun!

There is a lot of misinformation coming from financial institutions and the media about how retired people with low incomes can't have much enjoyment in retirement. Perhaps these "experts" on retirement should check out some research performed by Claritas, the organization that classifies American neighborhoods demographically for marketing purposes.

One of the groups classified according to the Claritas PRIZM system is called the Hometown Retired. There are just over 1,200,000 Hometown Retired households (1.11%) in the U.S. They have an annual household median income of only $26,000, much lower than the national median income. Almost a third of these households are renters. If they own their own homes, their houses are aging – half were built before 1958. The value of their houses or condos is a far cry from the national median value of houses and condos.

Because most never made it beyond high school and spent their working lives at blue-collar jobs, Hometown Retired households’ retirements are extremely modest from the financial point of view; typically they get by on social security and modest pensions. Despite being below the national average in income and assets, most Hometown Retired households don't consider themselves poor, however. One of the reasons why this group is relatively comfortable financially is because the majority live on the fringes of large cities. Here it costs less to live than it costs to live in the cities themselves.

Hometown Retired households are comprised of retirees, two-thirds of whom are over 65; nonetheless, don't assume that these people don't do much more than hang around the house and watch TV all day. On the contrary, the typical retirees comprising Household Retired households are just as busy as when they were working full-time. Best of all, they are enjoying retirement.

How do these retirees get by financially and enjoy themselves on their low incomes? According to Claritas, Hometown Retirees shop at Woolworth's or a reasonable substitute such as Wal-Mart. They use lawn maintenance services, belong to a veterans' club, drive a Chrysler Sebring car, eat Wheaties, and own a microwave oven. They buy Firestone tires, heavy rock music, and rechargeable batteries. They dine at the places such as Golden Corral.

Hometown Retirees spend a portion of their time vacationing on bus tours, trying to quit smoking, bowling at least 20 times a year, and partaking in karate or martial arts. They are also collecting stamps, playing cards and chess, volunteering for political causes, shopping on the Internet, and drinking low-alcohol beer. Hometown Retirees are reading True Story, Discover, Audubon, Field & Stream, Hunting, Soap Opera Weekly, and Ladies Home Journal magazines. They are listening to easy-listening, nostalgia, and soft-contemporary music on the radio. And when they find time for it, on TV they are watching soap operas, the Montel Williams Show, the CBS Sunday Night Movie, the NCAA swimming and diving championships, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the NBC Nightly News.

The real gem of information that Claritas gives us is that the large majority of Hometown Retired households isn't complaining about not having enough MONEY to do the things they want to do. Indeed, their biggest complaint in life is not having enough TIME in the day to do all the things that they want to do. Above all, hometown retirees prove that just because you are a retired person with a low income doesn't mean that you can't have fun in life.

Four Retirement Quotes to Help You with Your Retirement Planning

Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money.
— Jonathan Clements

Your best purchases in retirement will turn out to be the ones that you never made.
— from How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Retirement is when the living is easy and the payments are hard.
— Unknown wise person

The question isn't at what age I want to retire, it's at what income.
— George Foreman

Nov 28, 2007

Early Retirement Means a Well-Earned Casual Lifestyle

Betty Sullivan, 69 at the time, was one of the Miami Beach retirees featured in Marian Marzynski's PBS documentary My Retirement Dreams. Unlike some retirees, she has had no major problems dealing with retirement.

Before Betty retired, she was an administrator at the Department of Animal Pathology at the University of Miami for 17 years. Prior to this, she and her husband owned an appliance and sewing machine store in Amherst, Massachusetts. To Betty, retirement was a liberation from years of tedious responsibilities associated with work and family. "Before I left," Betty stated, "some of my co-workers had warned and joked about the perils of retirement: boredom, imaginary health problems, lack of purpose, and possible depression. None of these things has happened to me. Why? I exchanged a grueling 9-to-5 routine for a well-earned casual and carefree lifestyle."

Like the other self-actualized retirees of this world, Betty found that retirement can be an enjoyable time in life. She added, "Do I miss the challenge of the workplace that had once been so much a part of my persona? Heavens, no. My days are filled with healthy activities — swimming, working out at the gym, shopping, bicycling, taking classes such as writing, art, and yoga. In the evenings there are movies, concerts, dining and dancing. Soon, I may do a little traveling. And you know what? If I don't feel like doing anything at all except lounge around my apartment, I'll do that too."

"There are lots of good programs on late night TV," Betty continued. "In fact, I feel like having a snack. Maybe I could hop in the car and scoot over to the 24-hour diner for a hamburg. You know what: This is actually a good time to catch up on my laundry. Who would be using the washing machines in our building now? And after the clothes are cleaned and dried I'll put a ton of cold cream on my face and nestle down in a soothing bubble bath for a half hour or so. Maybe I'll be sleepy by then, but if I'm not, it's OK. No problem."

Nov 26, 2007

10 More Great Reasons to Take Early Retirement

Here are 10 more reminders why retirement can be the best time of your life.
  1. You can spend winter in Florida, Arizona, or Hawaii.
  2. You don’t have to wait for a bus on a subzero January morning.
  3. You get to set your own agenda.
  4. You have fewer headaches because life is simpler.
  5. You can have a lot more variety in your life.
  6. You don’t have to report to a boss about your actions.
  7. You can go on a vacation when you want to go and not when your employer says you can.
  8. You have more time for more friends in your life.
  9. You can put more time into creative pursuits.
  10. There are no co-workers to get envious of your accomplishments.

Clearly, retirement can be the best time of your life. Always keep in mind that you are not retiring from life, just a job. The key is to make retirement the beginning of life, not the end!

Retirement Quotes of the Day

A gold watch is the most appropriate gift for retirement, as its recipients have given up so many of their golden hours in a lifetime of service.
— Harry Mahtar


A happy retirement: Research reveals it's how you manage your time and money that counts, not just how much you've got.
— Walter Updegrave, MONEY Magazine senior editor


Nov 23, 2007

Retirement Planning Based on Leisure

Most people feel that there will be no shortage of things to keep them busy in retirement. Although many people have difficulty filling their days with activities, others, indeed, end up just as busy in retirement as they were in their career days. Surprisingly, a few people even succeed in being busier.
The time available for marital, personal, social, creative, and family activities expands considerably when the hours previously taken up with full-time employment cease. Even so, it's all too easy to end up with a less than satisfying mix of this extra free time. How you manage this time is just as important as when you are in the workforce.