Things To Do When You Retire - A New Retirement Book

I have been asked to write a chapter for a retirement book about fun things to do when you retire called 65 Things To Do When You Retire. This is the e-mail that I recently received:

Hi Mr. Zelinski,

I'm writing to invite you to contribute to a new book we are publishing next spring entitled 65 Things To Do When You Retire, a collection of essays offering advice and reflections on how to make the retirement years fulfilling. We'd love for you to contribute an essay to share your retirement expertise. This book is the ninth in a very successful series we launched five years ago. All royalties from the sales of the books in the series are donated to various charities. The royalties from 65 Things To Do When You Retire will be donated to various local, national, and international nonprofit organizations dedicated to preventing and curing cancer.

The concept behind the book series is straightforward: ask well-known authors, celebrities, businesspeople, physicians, and other experts/public figures to contribute essays about a specific topic on a pro-bono basis, collect their essays into a book, publish the book, and donate all of the royalties to charity.

The series has been successful beyond our wildest dreams. More than 300 notables from all walks of life have contributed essays thus far, including Garrison Keillor, Diane von Furstenberg, Bill Gross, Erica Jong, Muhammad Yunus, Tom Hanks, Ken Burns, Harold Prince, David McCullough, Thomas Friedman, Barbara Kingsolver, and many, many others. Last year our charitable contributions from this project exceeded $100,000, and the royalties are increasing with each year.

For 65 Things To Do When You Retire, we are seeking to collect insightful and inspiring essays about retirement that include firsthand experiences, practical advice, opinions, recommendations, and observations that will help new or soon-to-be retirees make the most of the rest of their lives. We are asking each contributor for an essay of 1,000 words (4 typewritten pages), along with a short bio (100 words) that we can use in the book.

We would be honored to count you as one of the contributors to 65 Things To Do When You Retire. If you don't have the time to write an essay, but have written something previously that is relevant to the focus of this book, please consider allowing us to include it. We will need to receive your essay by October 15, 2011.

Thanks very much. We look forward to hearing from you!

All my best,

Mark C.
Editor-in-Chief, Books

I have been told that other contributors include Gloria Steinem, John E. Nelson, Jeri Sedlar, Rick Miners, Andrew Carle, Ron Manheimer, Mary Bleiberg, and Leigh Anne Jasheway.

Of course, I semi-retired when I was a kid and became very good at it. That's why I now get paid the big bucks for getting up late in the morning and then experiencing true freedom for the rest of the day. This along with the fact that my self-published How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is the best-selling retirement book on Amazon (and in the world) is why I got asked to contribute the chapter, which I already submitted.

Most people think that I am lucky to have gotten to where I am today, earning a better income than 95 percent of wage earners by working only 3 or 4 hours a day. Not true at all. This quote, which someone just posted on F.B., applied when I was writing my books and still apples today as I work on my creative projects that will bring me even more prosperity in the near future:

"I will do today what others won't, so I will have tomorrow what others don't!"
— John Addison

Keep the above quote by John Addison in mind if you want your retirement plan to turn out as good as my retirement plan. If you follow his advice you won't end up like so many American and Canadian baby boomers who have so little money saved for their retirement years.

See the following Retirement Planning Resources on The Retirement Quotes Cafe

Funny Retiremet Quotes

Teacher Retirement Quotes

Best Places Where to Retire for Your Retirement Plan

I received this e-mail the other day in regards to my international best-selling retirement book:

----- Original Message -----
From: Abe Colture
To: success101coach [ at ] yahoo.com
Sent: Tue, May 31, 2011 12:57:17 PM
Subject: Retirement Book How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free

Ernie,

I have just read your retirement book How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free and thoroughly enjoyed it. So many good though provoking points. Many I've discovered or learned over the years but forgot. I have just retired a bit on the younger side for corporate America, 57. There are many opportunities out there and I needed a way to sort through them. I'm looking forward to completely the "Get a Life Tree" exercise. I've also asked my wife to develop her own tree so we can look for common activities. As I read the book, I was thinking this would be a great read for my kids in their mid-20's. I received your book The Joy of not Working. I hope there are some new stuff in there!

We have one major dilemma. We really want to relocate domestically. I have yet to find a good source of material to help with the effort. I saw where your book referenced two other books; Choose a College Town for Retirement and Retirement Places Rated. I plan to look at these. Do you have any other good recommendations besides the annual ratings by various magazines?

I certainly appreciate your material and would appreciate any further advise you may have.

Thanks,

Abe Colture

This was my resonse to Abe:

Hi Abe:

First, thank you for your kind remarks about How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

Regarding books on the best places where to retire, here are three more retirement books that I have listed on one of my websites:

1. Where to Retire, 7th: America's Best Places to Retire and Cheapest Places to Retire by John Howells
2 America's 100 Best Places to Retire Fourth Edition: The Only Guide You Need to Today's Top Retirement Towns by Elizabeth Armstrong
3. Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places to Retire Across the USA and Canada by Warren R. Bland

Can you do me a favor and I will send you one of my other books as a thank-you gift?

If you have a spare moment, it would be a great help to me if you could post a 5-star review of it on Amazon.com and let other potential readers know why you liked it.

It's not necessary to write a lengthy, formal review — a summary of the comments that you sent me would be fine.

Here's a direct link to the Amazon page for How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

Also, if possible, can you place the review on the BarnesandNoble.com Webpage for How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

If you place this review, I will send you an autographed copy of my latest book: Career Success Without a Real Job: The Career Book for People Too Smart to Work in Corporations. This is not strictly a retirement book but it is a great book for retirees who want to continue working, but not in a corporation.

Career Success Without a Real Job may also be a book that your kids would like to read.

Once you place the review, send me your address so that I can send you one of my other books.

Many thanks and so long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Best-Selling Author, Innovator, and Unconventional Career Expert
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 140,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 250,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)

Check out Half of Retirees Have Nothing in Retirement Plan to Pass On:

Here are two new retirement quotations:

Planning not to retire is simply not a viable retirement strategy.
— Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies

If we wait until retirement to enjoy ourselves, there may not be enough of ourselves to enjoy it.
— Mike Hammar

Best Places to Retire for Low Housing Costs

One of the many questions that arises for baby boomers about to retire is where to retire.

Of course, low house prices can be a factor for retirees who plan to choose from the best places to retire happy and move to a different city.

How does a "cute 2 bedroom, 2 bath bungalow" for less than $50,000 sound?

Heck, if I could sell my half-duplex in Edmonton for the $325,000 that the City just assessed it at, with the money I could buy 5 of these cute 2 bedroom, 2 bath bungalows for 5 of my friends — and still have enough to purchase one for myself along with $25,000 of spending money.

See the e-mail below from a woman in Florida that I received last week and note what her husband and her paid for such a retirment home.

----- Original Message -----
From: Theresa C.
To: vip-books
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 4:02 PM
Subject: RETIRING HAPPY, WILD AND FREE

Ernie,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed your book HOW TO RETIRE HAPPY, WILD AND FREE. I just ordered your other book THE JOY OF NOT WORKING. You really have made me look at things in such a different light. I even did a flow chart with my OPTIONS FOR RETIREMENT/ACTIVITIES, ETC. I keep adding to it and hopefully will live long enough to complete it.

While I was reading it, Chapter 6 Your wealth is where your friends are - page 151-152, we have been going to Sun City Center, Fla, since 2003 because we had friends that retired there, every year we would go down and the prices started skyrocketing. Well, 2009, there was a really cute 2bedroom 2bath that was $134k in 2006 which was way too much at the time so we passed.

IT's a good thing we did because in 2009, the same house was down to 49k, a guy died and the daughter was just giving the house away. We offered 45, they countered at 47, and we got it for 47k.

We choose Sun City Center for just the reasons you stated in your book, the friends, social activities, clubs, etc. And I even have another friend who came to visit and her and her husband bought a beautiful house and are living there all year long. It's such a great community.

If you have a blog or send out e-mails, I hope that you add me to your list.

Your a great writer!!

Take care and Best Wishes to you and your family for 2011.

Theresa C.

Here are some quotes about houses and homes to help you choose the best places where to retire.

The property boom has made us all feel wealthy, but unfortunately it has lulled many of those nearing retirement into a false sense of security.
— Noel Whittaker

It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home.
— Edgar A. Guest

He who builds to every man's advice will have a crooked house.
— Danish proverb

We give people a box in the suburbs, it's called a house, and every night they sit in it staring at another box; in the morning they run off to another box called an office, and at the weekends they get into another box, on wheels this time, and grope their way through endless traffic jams.
— Caroline Kelly

Houses and money are hard to come by if you are not prepared to work for either.
— Dave Erhard

The stately homes of England!
How beautiful they stand,
Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O'er all the pleasant land!
— Felicin Dorothear Hemans, The Homes of England


A house is a machine for living in.
— Le Corbusier

Top 25 Places to Retire in Canada or the United States in 2008

Here is the 2008 list of Top 25 best places to live in retirement in North America or Canada according to Topretirements.com:

With me being Canadian, it's interesting to see Halifax, Nova Scotia on the List.

1. Asheville, NC
2. Sarasota, FL
3. Prescott, AZ
4. Paris, TN
5. Winston-Salem, NC
6. Athens, GA
7. Green Valley, AZ
8. San Diego, CA
9. Austin, TX
10. Phoenix, AZ
11. Halifax, Nova Scotia (CAN)
12. Charlottesville, VA
13. Fort Myers, FL
14. Venice, FL
15. Oxford, OH
16. Sedona, AZ
17. Gainesville, FL
18. Flagstaff, AZ
19. San Luis Obispo, CA
20. Old Saybrook, CT
21. San Antonio, TX
22. Mount Airy, NC
23. Beaufort, SC
24. Tucson, AZ
25. Crossville, TN

Where to Hang Your Retirement Hat (Best Places to Retire) in 2008

“Go and live somewhere else,” advises John Osborne,,a resident of Victoria, B.C.“ Try doing what you think you’ve always wanted to do.” Osborne, a retired psychology professor from the University of Alberta, moved to Victoria after he found retirement living left a lot to be desired in his old hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.

Perhaps, like many retirees, you too yearn for a change of scenery, new experiences, and a changed set of circumstances. Moving to a new location within your own country is one way to satisfy these yearnings.

Going abroad is another option. Indeed, as many as two million American retirees currently live abroad, according to David Warner, professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.

If you need guidance on where to retire abroad, one of the best sources is International Living magazine. The editors of this magazine evaluate the best places to retire in the world using the following criteria with the respective weighting.

• Cost of Living — 20 percent
• Health Care — 20 percent
• Special Benefits — 20 percent
• Real Estate — 15 percent
• Entertainment, Recreation, and Culture — 10 percent
• Climate — 5 percent
• Safety and Stability — 5 percent
• Infrastructure — 5 percent

Surprisingly, Panama which had been at the top of the list for six straight years has fallen to fourth position this year as the best place to retire. Here are the top three best places where to retire according to International Living magazine.

1. Mexico
2. Ecuador
3. Italy

In short, Italy in the number 3 spot has great weather, beautiful cities, and many historical sites. Ecuador in the number 2 spot offers an extremely low cost of living, great weather, beautiful landscapes, a vibrant economy tied to the US dollar, and a stable political environment.

Insofar as Mexico, it wins the top spot due to its Senior Citizens Benefits program, the quality of life that expat Canadian and American retirees can enjoy, investment opportunities, and the fact that it is relatively convenient for Americans and Canadians.

See Where to Retire Quotes and Best Places to Retire Information

The Best "Where to Retire" Books

Retirement Without Borders: How to Retire Abroad in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, and Other Sunny Foreign Places (And the Secret to Making It Happen Without Stress) by Barry Golson with Thia Golson and the Expert Expats.

Product Details
Scribner, December 2008
Trade Paperback, 432 pages
ISBN-10: 0-7432-9701-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-9701-1

Besides the retirement books about where to retire listed below, there is another retirement book that you may want to consider reading and recommending.

Beth Wateham, a Vice President at Simon and Schuster, just sent me a galley copy of Retirement Without Borders: How to Retire Abroad in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, Costa Rica, Panama, and Other Sunny Foreign Places (And the Secret to Making It Happen Without Stress) by Barry Golson. This book with the Scribner imprint is for those retirees who want to consider retiring abroad. The book will be released in December 2008.

Retirement Without Borders is the best book that I have read about retiring abroad and I will be giving a testimonial for the back cover which Beth Wateham (she claims she is a big fan of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free on Amazon.com) wants from me.

More Where to Retire Books and The Best Places to Retire Books

• Choose Costa Rica for Retirement 8th: Information for Travel, Retirement, Investment, and Affordable Living by John Howells
• Choose Panama . . . the Perfect Retirement Haven by William G Hutchings
• Choose a College Town for Retirement: Retirement Discoveries for Every Budget by Joe Lubow
• Retirement Places Rated: What You Need to Know to Plan the Retirement You Deserve by David Savageau
• Where to Retire, 6th: America's Best and Most Affordable Places by John Howells
• America's 100 Best Places to Retire, Fourth Edtion: The Only Guide You Need to Today's Top Retirement Towns by Elizabeth Armstrong
• Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada by Warren R. Bland
• 50 Fabulous Places to Retire in America by Arthur Griffith(Editor), Mary Griffith (Editor)
• America's Best Low-Tax Retirement Towns, 3rd Edition: Where to Move to, and From, to Slash Your Taxes in Retirement! by Elizabeth Niven

100 Places Where to Retire

These Are the Criteria Used for Choosing The 15 Best Places to Reinvent Your Life by AARP Magazine

• Availability of jobs, since many in this group will work beyond age 65.
• Affordable housing-many cities have costs on par with or below the national median price of $161,600.
• Culture and entertainment (from museums and opera to shopping and sports events).
• Access to outdoor recreation, from skiing and biking to walking and hiking.
• Safety-personal and property safety, and a generally secure feeling.
• Colleges or universities (for continuing education and a multigenerational vibe).
• Sense of community (often places with a vital and walkable downtown).
• Proximity to comprehensive, well-regarded health care facilities.
• Good public high schools, since many boomers still have teens at home.
• Ease of getting around (public transportation, traffic, access to an airport).
  
  

Sources for lists of the 100 best retirement towns

You can also consult one of the many widely available "Top 100 places" or "Best 10 places to retire" lists on the Internet.

NOTE: All "Best Places to Retire Books" are available at either your local bookstore or Amazon.

Retirement Quotes - Where to Retire

Note: See The Best Places to Retire in the World on Squidoo for information on where to retire in California, cheap places to retire in Callifornia, and the best places to retire in Mexico.