Introduction      1

Part 1 / The Secret to Retirement Happiness      9

1. Handyman (James Taylor)      11

Updating the image of retirement and introducing ‘re-tire’ with a dash.

Definition of the Situation 15

A New Frame of Reference 23

Life Career 24

Life Goal Planning 27

2. Do You Want to Know  a Secret? (The Beatles)      42

Money alone will not guarantee retirement happiness. The secret lies in how you will be spending your time.

Impressions of Retirement 52

Attractions of Retirement 53

Drawbacks of retirement 57

3. Ticket To Ride (The Beatles)      62

Overview of Life Goal Planning.

Develop Your Needs and Skills List 64

Evaluate Retirement Plans 65

How to Create New Plans 67

Guide Your Retirement Career 69

You Can’t Always Get What You Want 71

Ace Up Your Sleeve 73

Part 2 / Other Lifestyle Issues      75

4. A Hard Day’s Night (The Beatles)      77

Working in Retirement. It’s not just about money.

Taking the Easy Way Out 79

Evaluating Work 80

Postponing or Working in Retirement 82

Create a Money Making Venture 86

5. (Money) Can’t Buy Me Love (The Beatles)      88

Integrating Life Goal and Financial Planning. Both planning methods complement and work in parallel with changes in one influencing changes in the other.

Volunteering      93

6. Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind? (The Lovin’ Spoonful)      97

The decision to retire involves more than money.

Spouses Retiring Together 105

7. When I’m Sixty-Four (The Beatles)      109

There is a commonly held but false connection between aging and retirement. This chapter includes a strong argument to redress this potentially self-fulfilling prophecy.

Ageist Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 111

Memory and Aging 112

Mid-Life Crisis Re-defined 117

From Hippies to Yuppies to…? 120

8. With A Little Help From My Friends (The Beatles)      125

Social and spousal relationship in the transition to retirement.

Spousal Relations 125

Communication 127

Respect Each Other’s Territory 128

Friendships 131

9. Our House (Graham Nash)      134

This is not a real estate issue, but a concern with replacing satisfactions lost from work in the context of the housing decision.

Don’t Be Impulsive 138

Satisfy Your Needs in the New Community 139

Don’t Burn Your Bridges 140

If The Decision is Not Mutual 141

10. A Splendid Time is Guaranteed For All (The Beatles)      145

Summary and Conclusions

Part 3 / Self-Help Life Goal Planning Workshop      153

Workshop Instructions 154

Worksheets 171

Table of Contents