Retirement: Not Working Provides Untold Wealth, Health, and Happiness



Here is the latest e-mail that I received about my retirement books from a couple in the U.S who took early retirement. They certainly are not short of fun things to do in retirement.

From the thousands of letters and e-mails that I have received from readers of both retirement books, this one has to be one of my favorites. It will definitely go into a book called 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement: Advice from Readers of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and The Joy of Not Working.

Dear Ernie:

I am writing to you because my wife said I must. You see, we both read your books (The Joy of Not Working, and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free). In fact, we put much of your wisdom into practice. We both retired early.

While we walked the dog one morning, Karen said that with all the new things we have done since retiring that you might like to hear about some of them. Here they are, in no particular order.

In the first year or so of our freedom:

• I filed a provisional patent, taking the invention to prototype, and began marketing it.
• She started a part time job.
• I started a blog, and built a website.
• She learned belly dancing.
• We hiked, bird watched, and photographed eagles, owls, and wildlife too numerous to list, even an albino fawn with her mother.
• I fly fished Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
• She joined a book-reading club.
• We travelled with our dog Jedi throughout the southern USA.
• She learned to use power tools.
• I began leather working, and developed two new designs.
• She began gardening, putting in both vegetables and herbs.
• We stay up later, sleep in, and take regular naps.
• I study and play the classical guitar.
• She started word puzzles to keep her mind sharp.
• I started a small business delivering health and wellness classes to the public through hospitals, senior living, and community centers.
• We dropped fifteen pounds (each) of weight attributed to job-related stress eating.
• We spent a winter in the Florida panhandle.
• She does yoga.
• We made new friends in several states.
• I resumed fly tying because of much more time on the water.
• We attended classes and seminars, including the Creative Retirement [Exploration Weekend] Workshop (CREW) at the University of North Carolina in Asheville. By the way, they cite your work at the workshop and recommend your book (How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free) .
• I wrote one novel, and ten short stories, which I will submit for publishing after final editing.
• We attended plays.
• She hosted parties, and re-decorated the house.
• I tried and let go of part time work. You see, I am simply too busy.

There are probably many more things but I cannot recall them at present.

Karen and I are thrilled at having time each day for nature walks, bicycle riding, bird watching, and cruising in our classic sports car (we are from Detroit, after all). The time together has strengthened our marriage, too.

We worried about money initially, but now find we do just fine, even spending less than we did while working. In fact, we noticed work requires a significant outlay, even part-time! I believe working consumes more money than most people understand. Not working, on the other hand, provides untold wealth, health, and happiness.

Thank you for writing the books you did. They have helped us along our path. Best wishes for health and happiness,

Jack and Karen C.

I like the mention by Jack about how working in retirement did not work for him. From the letter, you should be inspired to generate your own list of 100 things to do when you retire.

Some retirement quotes and retirement sayings to help you with your list of fun  things to do in retirement:

"Art is one of the few careers without a mandatory retirement age." — Julia Cameron

"My retirement plan is to join the folks with the torches and pitchforks rioting and storming the Bastille." - Jim Jim (ordaj), commenter on a Retirement Article

"You Say You Want to Work Past ‘Retirement’? How's Your Health?" — Joseph F Coughlin

"Like life, retirement can be full of surprises. Take when you retire, for example." — Talbot Boggs

"The top retirement planning strategy today is not to retire." — Joseph F Coughlin

"Result for many Americans When They Punch in Their Data into a Retirement Calculator: "According to your latest data if you retire today, you can live reasonably well until 5 p.m. tomorrow." — Dave Erhard

"Planning to never retire is not a true retirement plan. It, in fact, is a sign of delusion — and of denial about one's inability to save enough for one's retirement." — Dave Erhard

"Elevating your wants to your need list is another way to trick yourself into being broke in retirement." — from "Zen I Got Rich" by E.Z.

"A happy retirement doesn't require oodles of money, nor should it mean fighting the cat for food." — Shelley Fralic, Vancouver Sun

"The greatest stock market you can invest in is yourself. Finding this truth is better than finding a gold mine." — Byron Katie

Check out this article Dying to Retire: Early Retirement Can Be a Killer in which one of my retirement books is mentioned.

Are You Subject Matter for This Book and Retirement?

I recently came across the Amazon listing for "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America" because the Amazon page for The Joy of Not Working gives a list of the books that cite it.

Here is the publisher's description for the book:

"Couch potatoes, goof-offs, freeloaders, good-for-nothings, loafers, and loungers: ever since the Industrial Revolution, when the work ethic as we know it was formed, there has been a chorus of slackers ridiculing and lampooning the pretensions of hardworking respectability. Reviled by many, heroes to others, these layabouts stretch and yawn while the rest of society worries and sweats. Whenever the world of labor changes in significant ways, the pulpits, politicians, and pedagogues ring with exhortations of the value of work, and the slackers answer with a strenuous call of their own: “To do nothing,” as Oscar Wilde said, “is the most difficult thing in the world.” From Benjamin Franklin’s “air baths” to Jack Kerouac’s “dharma bums,” Generation-X slackers, and beyond, anti-work-ethic proponents have held a central place in modern culture. Moving with verve and wit through a series of fascinating case studies that illuminate the changing place of leisure in the American republic, Doing Nothing revises the way we understand slackers and work itself."

I am curious if anyone else here would admit to being subject matter for this book as well.

If you are, you are likely a great candidate for early retirement and living a life of leisure.

Here are some retirement quotations and other inspirational quotes to put leisure and retirement in proper perspective.

"It was such a pleasant morning that I thought it would be a pity to get up."
— Somerset Maugham

"How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years
gotten enough to eat and escaped being eaten?"
— Logan Pearsall Smith

"He that lives upon hope will die fasting."
— Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth

"How lovely it is to do nothing all day and then to rest afterwards."
— Spanish Proverb

Retirement - What Does Joe Do All Day?

I received this e-mail today about The World's Best Retirement Book: The content proves that early retirement is achieveable and that one does not need a job in retirement to be happy.

----- Original Message -----
From: Maryjo B.
To: vip-books (at) telus (dot) net
Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 7:39 AM
Subject: comments on How To Retire Happy, Wild and Free

Dear Ernie,

I'm only a third into your book but had to write and tell you what a chord you've struck with me. My fiance and I live in Sarasota, FL - we moved here several years ago from the cold north - Wisconsin. We are in our early 50's - Joe is totally retired - he worked hard for many years both with a business he owned and buying a bunch of condo's in the 80's, paying them all off, renting them out, and ultimately selling all of them just before the real estate crash. So now he's living the "Life of Riley." His passion is kiteboarding and any day there is wind you'll find him indulging in his passion on one of the many beautiful beaches we have here. Many of our friends don't "get" how he is retired and I am constantly being asked, "What does Joe DO all day?" We laugh about that question - he is constantly on the go - he buys and sells a ton of stuff on Craigslist, probably spends 2-3 hours every morning on the computer. He works hard to stay fit - he walks (we take hour long walks together most days), bikes, and of course goes kiteboarding. He has always been a very frugal guy which allows him to live this lifestyle even though he's earning practically zip on his investments.

My story is that I'm still working full-time, but with a plan to retire at least to part-time in 3 years when I'll be 55. A divorce 10 years ago and the recent stock market crash slowed my down but I've managed to pay off my mortgage, I have no debt, own my car, and have a really good job so I'm salting away a good chunk of change every month. I've always been kind of a "middle of the road" spender - not a spendthrift, but not always wise about how I spent money either. Joe has taught me alot of his frugal ways. I also recently read "Your Money or Your Life" and am now tracking every penny I spend and make to see where it all goes. Hopefully the real estate market will go back up one of these years, then Joe and I plan to sell the houses we each own individually and buy a small place together to save on expenses. He is originally from Canada and our hope is to get a small place there as well to spend part of the summers - perhaps a mobile home.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I wholeheartedly agree with your life philosophy. I talk to so many people who say, "Oh, I could never retire, what would I do all day?" I feel sorry for those people because they have, as you say, defined themselves by their job. I never bought into the "workaholic" mentality and have always maintained a healthy work/life balance - but I look around at the corporate offices I've worked in and know I am in the minority. Oh well - that's ok by me! I've got my "what I will do in retirement" list all made out and can't wait to get started!

Keep up the inspirational writing - the world needs you!

Maryjo B.
Sarasota, FL

Here are some resources to help you retire happy, wild, and free.

Where to Retire

Retirement Jobs and Retirement Businesses

Health in Retirement

Fun Things to Do in Retirement

Saving for Retirement

Retirement Letters from the Happily Retired

Top-10 Retirement Activities

101 Retirement Resources

Early Retirement a Fantasy for Most Americans Except for Mr. Weirdo

Here are some interesting facts about American retirees and their mortgages which reflect why early retirement is a fantasy for most Americans:

• A report by AARP found that 25.5 million American seniors ages 50 and older have a mortgage.
  


• Thirty-six percent of American workers ages 55 and older say the total value of their household's savings and investments — excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans — is less than $25,000, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.


• More than 600,000 American home-owning seniors are delinquent or in foreclosure, according to AARP.

Here is the link to a story about a guy who calls himself Mr. Weirdo in which my retirement book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free was mentioned:

Early Retirement Interview with Mr. Weirdo:

Did you know that the term " Teacher Retirement Poems " is searched more in search engines such as google than " retirement planning "or "retirement" itself?

The World's Best Retirement Book — Who Am I to Tamper with a Masterpiece?

"Freedom comes from seeing the ignorance of your critics and discovering the emptiness of their virtue."
— Ayn Rand


This is my response to an e-mail (see below my response) that I received from a woman criticizing my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

Hello Trish:

I have read your comments and disagree.

Here are the reasons I will not be making the changes that you suggest:





1. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free has proven to be the "World's Best Retirement Book", as a reader called it, by word-of-mouth advertising alone. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising for any product because it is based on people getting a lot of value out of it and telling others about it.




2. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free has now sold over 100,000 copies. Did you know that over 95% of the books published — even by major publishers — sell less than 5,000 copies in their life time? For the record, all 12 of my books published in English have sold over 5,000 copies. So I know I am very good at what I do. I was just at Book Expo in New York and major US publishers and distributors were complimenting me on my success.


3. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is now published in 7 foreign languages, with the 8th (Bulgarian) being done this year. Did you know that only one out of 10 books gets even one foreign publishers, let alone 8?




4. Companies such as Allstate Financial, which purchased 3,750 copies of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free with its name on it (see above image), are purchasing this book by the thousands to give to employess and clients. Companies don't just purchase a book without checking it out to see whether it has great content.


5. Check out the two e-mails out of hundreds that I have recently received from people about the book at Letters from the Happily Retired. As a matter of fact, for every one negative e-mail or letter such as yours that I receive, I receive 50 or 100 positive ones like the ones below. I wouldn't be too bright listening to a negative one like yours, would I, when there are thousands of positive ones stating that the book is just fine the way it is?

Again, regardless of what you say or think, How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is the "World's Best Retirement Book." It has sold 110,000 copies and it will end up selling 500,000 copies.

As one of my mentors, Jack Canfield, says, "Results don't lie."

And as Oscar Wild said, when asked to make changes to one of his famous and successful plays, "Who am I to tamper with a masterpiece?"

If you don't like How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, just send it back to me at the address at the back of the book along with the receipt and I will refund what you paid for it plus shipping. (I can afford to this because the book has already made me over $400,000 in pretax profits).

And I challenge you to write a better book. I bet that you can't! Thinking that you can doesn't count. As the Buddhists say, "To know and not to do is not yet to know!"

In the mean time I have attached two of my e-books, 101 Reasons to Love a Recession and The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement. If you don't enjoy these e-books, then send them to people whom you don't like.

So long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 100,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)

Featured at http://www.retirement-cafe.com/

Here is the e-mail from the reader:

----- Original Message -----
From: Patsy Carpenter
To: vip-books (at) telus (dot) net
Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:13 AM

Hello Ernie,

My husband and I have been retired for several years, and we are having a reading session every day with How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free. This appears to be for people thinking about retiring, not so much for those already retired. I am just at page 50, so I may be wrong there.

We have lived all over the world for many years working for the U.S. Department of Defense. My husband worked with Colin Powell in Stuttgart, Germany in the 1st gulf war. My husband was the senior DoD logistician at the European Command Headquarters, and Mr. Powell was a general then. That doesn't mean he knows how to "retire," as you point out. It also doesn't necessarily mean he is/we are...morons.

I read on page 50 of your book that, "Putting purpose into retirement is only unattainable to uncreative and unmotivated people who are unable to think and act on their own. Not only was this very depressing, we were insulted and wondered why we would buy a book on the subject seeking ideas and "help," which we obviously would not need if we were intelligent, creative, and motivated! Some people might just toss your book at that point...really. They buy your book seeking help. So far, we have heard the same thing repeated over and over in slightly different ways...why one possibly should, and could retire early. Of course, you are trying to convince folks they can do this, but we're wondering how many more times we'll hear the same thing.

I also noticed it's assumed that the career one had obviously had no real significance...as far as connecting with who you really are. For some, their career is who they really are...artists, missionaries, humanitarian workers, etc. There are more than "suits" with careers. My husband was a suit. I was not. I was very involved in "spiritual" work. It was a passion, and one I will continue eventually.

I'll let you know what I think of your book once I've read it all. If you revise it some day, I'd advise you to leave out the sentence making people sound like idiots for buying your book...for a little help!!! We are enjoying the little cartoons. Well, back to your book!

Trish

More Americans Taking Early Retirement Instead of Delaying Retirement

In a poll sponsored in December by CareerBuilder, 60 percent of American workers over 60 stated that they plan to delay retirement.

A larger than expected number of American workers are retiring early, however, many of them believed to be laid-off workers, according to report in the Los Angeles Times.

Early retirement claims are up 25 percent from last year with more people choosing to retire at age 62 instead of 66, said Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary for the U.S. Social Security Administration.

The surge in younger American retirees dispels expectations that older people who suffered financial losses in the recession would delay early retirement and work longer to rebuild their assets.

Here are three retirement resources to help you retire early.

• Prosper During a Recession
  
• The Friendship Café
  
• The Money Café
  

Baby Boomers Ain't Going to Retire in Style

The serious decline of house prices, the stock market crash, and the economic recession (could be upgraded to a Depression) have ravaged the wealth, or net worth, of Americans near the traditional retirement age of 65.

Indeed, a survey in February 2009 gives some sobering numbers:

Families headed by people 55 to 64 years old have seen their net worth — assets such homes and savings minus debts such as mortgages and credit cards - plunge by 38 percent in the past few years, the Center for Economic and Policy Research says.

Their net worth fell from a median of $226,000 to a median of $140,000 from 2004 to 2009, according to the estimate, and that includes their declining share of home equity, which is the value of what they have left in their property after first and second mortgages and home equity loans are deducted.

Keep in mind that this $140,000 is for households headed by a babyboomer, so if the household includes a man and woman, the median is only $70,000 per individual.

This study found that the loss of wealth due to the collapse of the housing bubble and the plunge in the stock market will make the baby boomers far more dependent on Social Security for Retirement and Medicare than previous generations.

What's more, the study found that Houses and Money don't necessarily go hand in hand. Baby boomers renters in two quintiles are actuallly being better off than homeowners. In other words, these baby boomers were further ahead by renting a pad than by buying a home.

Latest Postings By Me:

The Money Cafe on Launch Your Product

The Art of Seeing Double or Better in Business:

Early Retirement May Not Be a Matter of Choice

Do you think that you will be able to work in a retirement job because you have to now that your net worth has declined due to your losing money in your stock investments. Think again!

In my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free which I released in 2004, I stated, "Reasons for why people retire at any particular age will reflect both voluntary and involuntary circumstances and can be influenced by individual, family, and corporate factors. Some people retire early by choice; others are forced into it."

"Rising income levels, changes in government pensions, early retirement packages, corporate downsizing, and a declining retirement age are all contributors to early retirement. A person’s own health or that of a partner can also play a part."

Fast forward to 2008. According to a new survey this year from McKinsey and Co. of 3,000 retirees and pre-retirees, more than half of recent retirees retired early. The majority did not do this out of choice, however. Most did so due to adverse circumstances, such as job loss, caring for an ailing spouse, or their own health problems.

On average, these people are retiring in their mid-50s. With life expectancy for a healthy 65-year-old in the U.S. around 85 for men and 88 for women, that means some will need to fund their living expenses for 30 years or more.

In short, don't count on being able to work until you are 75 or 80. You may have to take early retirement whether you like it or not.

The Spoilers - Countries Against Early Retirement

Many of the news reports indicate that retirees will be retiring later than they had expected.

Some governments in certain countries are helping this trend by increasing their retirement age and hindering early retirement:

The Spoilers - Countries Against Early Retirement

1. Britain plans to gradually raise its age of retirement at which full
state pensions will kick in. By the year 2044, the U.K,'s retirement
age will be 68.

2. The U.S. and Germany also plan to raise their retirement age to 67.

3. Italy and Belgium have already raised their age of retirement to 60


T-shirt about Retirement
I'm retired: Leave the relaxing to me.

Coming Soon: The Joy of Being Retired: Why Retirement Rocks (and Work Sucks)

Retirement Income Should Be Adequate for Most Canadian Retirees

"A life spent making mistakes," stated George Bernard Shaw, "is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."

On that note, perhaps you are doing nothing at your job aside from putting in time.

Then it's time to retire.

But you are afraid to make a mistake because you may not have enough retirement income.

This information comes from Statistics Canada:

About two-thirds of "near-retirees" anticipate that their retirement income will be adequate or more than adequate to maintain their standard of living once they have left the workforce.

Individuals who receive advice are more likely than others to express confidence in the adequacy of their retirement savings to maintain their standard of living in retirement.

While most Canadians approaching retirement receive financial advice, including advice about retirement planning and programs, almost 3 in 10 do not.

Individuals who do not receive financial advice are less likely to expect their retirement income to be adequate than those who do receive advice. This relationship remains even when other characteristics such as income, pension coverage and registered retirement savings plan assets are taken into account.

Of the 7.2 million Canadians aged 45 to 59 in 2007, about 80% or 5.7 million were actively or recently employed and had not previously retired.

Of these 5.7 million near-retirees, 71% received financial advice from at least one source, and 50% received advice from at least one source in the financial industry. Almost 3 in 10 (29%) did not receive financial advice from any source.

While most individuals approaching retirement said they understood Canada's public retirement income programs, such as the Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Pension Plan and Old Age Security, one-quarter said they did not understand these programs at all.

A number of factors are associated with the likelihood of receiving financial advice and understanding public programs related to retirement preparations. These factors include an individual's proximity to retirement, financial resources, and demographic characteristics.

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:

• Free E-Book (in PDF Format) — 1001 Best Things Ever Said about Work (and the Workplace)
• Free E-book (in PDF Format) — 17 Chapters from 101 Really Important Things You Already Know, But Keep Forgetting
• Free E-book (in PDF Format) — Sample Chapter from Real Success Without a Real Job
  

Retirement Gifts from The Retirement Quotes Café:

• Retirement Gift #1 — Over Half of How to Retire Happy, Wild, & Free
• Retirement Gift #2 — The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement
• Retirement Gift #3 — Sample Chapter from The Joy of Not Working

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.

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

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

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."

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