Retirement Living Requires Experiencing The Joy of Not Working

I received this letter about The Joy of Not Working from Wayne M. (he did not give his last name like most letter writers) of Williamsport, PA, in August 2008.

Dear Ernie:

I just finished reading the revised edition of The Joy of Not Working and it has really helped me to "slow down" and appreciate the simpler things in life.

The Get-a-Life Tree has also helped me out a lot because I now always have ideas of what to do with all of my spare time. I have been unemployed for awhile. I used to get bored and depressed because that's the way that society wants unemployed people to be, but I now have a renewed purpose — to enjoy life!

I just wanted to thank you for this wonderful book before I return it to the library. Maybe sometime I will buy The Joy of Not Working so I can have it handy all the time.

Thanks again for being there for all of us.

Sincerely,

Wayne M.

The Joy of Not Working is all about learning to live every part of your life - employment, unemployment, retirement, 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 quotations, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.


Purchase The Joy of Not Working on BarnesandNoble.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on BarnesandNoble.com

Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com

See More Letters from Readers at:

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Retirement Planning without the Help of Healthcare

Robert Wilks from Austin, TX sent me an e-mail regarding living without a real job without healthcare on August 1, 2008.

Hi Ernie:

I'm reading The Joy of Not Working and am getting inspired with ideas of ending my 13-year career in financial services (which I hate) and moving into part-time, meaningful, or creative work.

However, we in the U.S. have one obstacle which you don't have in Canada. Private health insurance is prohibitively expensive here. Most people have to get it through their employer, and that means being forever tied to a full-time job. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Robert Wilks
Austin, TX

This was my answer to Robert which is also can be used for addressing the issue of retirement planning without the help of healthcare:

Hi Robert:

First, thanks for your interest in my book The Joy of Not Working.

You, in fact, are not the first person to bring up the issue of how expensive healthcare is in the U.S.

I agree that it is a big problem.

Actually, it's becoming a problem in Canada as well. Even though we have public healthcare, a lot of people are being forced into using private facilities if they can afford it. One of my uncles wound up in acute care in a hospital and the hospital has been trying to get him out even though he is too sick to leave and there is no one available to take care of him. These types of cases are going to become more and more common in Canada. A lot of people here don't even have a family doctor anymore. The problem in Canada is the aging population and a shortage of doctors and nurses (some of which have been trained in Canada with our tax dollars and leave Canada to work in the U.S. for much more money.)

So, the only way around this is to take a big risk and try to make a lot of money so one can afford private healthcare. That is my intention but it is more likely for me to have money set aside for an emergency because I don't get trapped by buying material possessions and services that are simply wants and not needs - and over 50 percent of things that people - even low income individuals - buy are wants and not needs.

I have attached a special E-book version (in PDF format) of my recent book Real Success Without a Real Job made especially for you with excerpts from Chapter 1 and Chapter 3.

Go to the bottom of Page 85 and you can read what I say about the healthcare issue.

As I indicate, I have the same problem with disability insurance which a lot of corporate workers get from their employer. I never purchased disability insurance because I couldn't afford it particularly when I was making $15,000 a year. Even though I was totally broke just a few years ago, I now have enough money set aside so that I could live comfortably for at least 10 years even if I didn't take a cent of income during those 10 years.

Anyway, I really don't have much more of an answer.

Interestingly, a good friend of mine, who I went to school with for many years, has lived in the U.S. (Delaware) for many years and is visiting back home for two weeks. Interestingly, he was telling me just the other day how he was against public healthcare in the U.S. because it would be abused. (I don't agree with him because there are abuses by both the providers and the users in a private system.)

You say you are in the financial services industry. How about doing me a favor and sending the other two attached E-books to all your friends and colleagues, including the E-book with over half of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Incidentally, one of the cool things that is happening with How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is that even financial organizations are buying the book (despite the subtitle). Nettworth Financial of Atlanta, Georgia, recently purchased 1,200 copies for its sales reps and clients. Another prominent U.S. financial organization has ordered 1,700 copies with its company name on the cover to test with its baby boomer clients and will be purchasing 10,000 to 50,000 copies for its clients if the test proves positive. This organization has asked me not to disclose their name until they have completed their marketing test.

Take care.

So long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 95,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
Featured at The Retirement Planning Wisdom Blog
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)
Featured at The Joy of Not Working Website

The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked by Ernie J. Zelinski

The Joy of Not Working is all about learning to live every part of your life - employment, unemployment, retirement, 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 quotations, The Joy of Not Working will guide you to enjoy life like never before.


Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com

The New Retirement - A Gruesome Retirement?

A recent survey shows that baby boomers haven't progressed too far from that Stone Age point of view when it comes to retirement planning. Some 61 percent have less than $150,000 in savings, and an astonishing 28 percent have less than $10,000. Not a great retirement plan, wouldn't you say?

Some baby boomers claim that to compensate for their lack of savings they intent to work until they die. The "work till I die" strategy may be a fool's retirement plan because eventually our bodies or minds or both will render us incapable of full time employment.

What's more, many organizations don't want older, uncreative, stuck-in-the-mud thinking older workers (anyone over 60).

Another survey found that 35 percent of Canadians plan to carry up to $100,000 in debt into retirement. Not a great move given that Canadian retirees are already affected by higher fuel and food prices.

In the United States, things are even worse. According to reports, "Rising gas, food and utility prices are forcing many senior citizens to give up medicine, healthy food, social outings and communication. Some are looking for work.

Retirees on fixed incomes have cut back on making family visits and going to community events. This growing isolation usually leads to less physical and mental activity and threatens a senior's independence, advocates say."

Looks like the new retirement that baby boomers have been talking about is going to be a gruesome retirement for many.

The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement - An Illustrated E-book with Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings in 40 Different Categories

Organized into over 40 categories for easy reference, “The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement” by international best-selling author Ernie Zelinski is the ultimate guide about retirement for the professional speaker, journalist, author, career advisor and retirement life coach. It also makes great reading for any connoisseur of great quotations and just about everyone who is contemplating retirement.

This illlustrated E-book (in PDF format) has it all: Wisdom. Ridicule. Irony. Sarcasm. Paradox. Nonsense. Comedy. Mockery. Social commentary. Valuable insight.

You can share “The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement” with all your friends, colleagues, and co-workers.

You can even place “The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement” on your website as an important retirement resource for your readers and clients.

All told, this E-book contains the 237 best things anybody ever said about retirement.

Download the Free E-book The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement by Ernie J. Zelinski at:

The Retirement Quotes Cafe

Retirement Planning Not the Forte of Canadians

1. According to a recently released Statistics Canada study, almost half of Canadian households spend more than their pretax income in a given year. That's up from 39 per cent in the early 1980s. From 1982 to 2001, the study found, per capita debt doubled, because of sharp increases in both mortgages and consumer debt.

2. 67 percent of Canadians say money is their most frequent worry.

3. Only 40 percent of Canadians know how many millions are in a billion.

4. Still worse, only 25 percent of Canadians know the difference between the National debt and National deficit.

5. According to Desjardins Financial security's latest retirement study, many Canadians are not prepared for the challenges retirement can bring. They are failing to consider a variety of factors and risks that can have an impact on the yield and longevity of their savings, such as inflation, rising life expectancies and healthcare costs. Nearly 60% of those surveyed are not concerned about having a large enough nest egg to sustain their standard of living in retirement. More than 80% have not eliminated their consumer debt in retirement and even more are not concerned about paying off their mortgages (88%). And more than half are not worried that inflation will erode their savings.

The New Retirement for Baby Boomers Means a Gruesome Retirement

Up until a few months ago, a lot was being written about how the baby boomers were so cool and how they would be creating a new retirement. Although I am a baby boomer myself, I have always found baby boomers thinking of themselves as so special and so cool as pathetic — quite revolting as a matter of fact!

So, now I actually get a great deal of pleasure when I read the latest headlines regarding retirement, particularly those relating to baby boomers and how many of them have to delay retirement — or may never be able to retire. Here are some of the headlines I received on Google Alert in the last week: (My favorites are in bold.)

• The middle class can expect big retirement troubles
• Slow economy forces seniors out of retirement
• Study Warns 'Near Retirees' of Need for Frugality
• Middle Class? Dreaming of retirement? Forget it!
• Baby Boomers: retirement may be a mirage!
• Baby Boomers Face Longer Lives with Fewer Assets
• Retirees Could Face Final Years in Poverty
• Study: Retirees should live frugally
• Longer lives, not enough savings
• Your retirement isn't looking so good, according to a new study from Ernst & Young. ...
• Most Americans Struggling to Afford Retirement
• Most Florida retirees must lower standard of living, study says
• Americans Dipping into Retirement Funds Early
• Americans Tapping In to Retirement Worries Idaho Senator
• Workers Raid Retirement Funds During Tight Times
• More Raiding Retirement Funds Amid Economic Woes
• Returnment — the new retirement
• The middle class can expect big retirement troubles
• Study: Retirees should live frugally
• The Worst News Yet for Your Retirement

It appears that the new retirement for baby boomers means a gruesome retirement. Fact is, if most baby boomers weren't so spoiled and so irresponsibile human beings, they wouldn't have a problem with their retirement. In other words, if you are a baby boomer, it's all your fault can't retire at 55 or 60. Don't blame the government or the economy or anyone or anything else.

I semi-retired when I was 35 and had a net worth of minus $30,000. Even though I have worked less than half of my adult life and have never made a penny in house appreciation (simply because I rented for all these years), I can remain semi-retired quite comfortably.

If you would like to be able to do the same, I recommend this well-titled book for which I have adapted a short review from two other reviews:




You're Broke Because You Want to Be: How to Stop Getting By and Start Getting Ahead, by Larry Winget. The author is a no nonsense guy and a master of tough love. This book will tear down every excuse you can think of and show you that it's your choices that are making you broke. Warning: You have to quit blaming all of your financial problems on outside forces and circumstances. The author is harsh. So if you get upset about that, maybe you should pass on this one, continue to blame your problems on someone else, and end up broke in retirement — like a lot of baby boomers are likely to be.

To be sure, there's no sweet talk in Winget's advice, who summarizes money management to these points: Get off your duff and start doing the hard work necessary to make financial success happen. His advice includes: Give up cable TV. Get a cheaper car. Move to a more-affordable home. Live on what you earn. This guy pulls no punches, and points his finger right where it belongs — at YOU — the person who created your financial mess.


Another reason that I was able to semi-retire at an early age is that I have followed the financial philosophy that I advocate in my books How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and The Joy of Not Working.




Purchase The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com with this direct link:

The Joy of Not Working on Amazon.com