Retire Smart, Retire Happy: Finding Your True Path in Life

I've been happy to find the book, "Retire Smart, Retire Happy," by Nancy K. Schlossberg, (APA Life Tools, 2004). I think it gives me valuable insight into the multiplicity of retirement transitions; plus, it gives me tools to use in preparing for, understanding and controlling this inevitable series of retirement transitions. I find the book to be positive and tightly written, doing an excellent job of blending actual retirement scenarios with sage advice. And I'm convinced that the reason the book comes out so well is because the author, herself a retiree, knows of retirement transitions first hand. "There is no one retirement story, just as there is no one single retiree and no single retirement path," she says. "Each story differs." But she also tells us that "Transitions are a process over time" and that "there is a structure that cuts across all transitions that can help you take charge." Part of her advice is to use what she calls the "4 S System" of knowing one's Situation, one's Self, and one's Support as the basis for defining one's Strategies in seeking success via a retirement path. And she defines five general categories of paths retirees take "as they proceed with the task of getting a new life." These are the "continuers," "adventurers," "searchers," "easy gliders," and "retreaters." Each of these categories is expanded upon and brought to life via stories of actual retirees. Data for the book comes from interviews with 100 people and several focus groups, blended, as I've said above, with valuable insight collected by the author from her own retirement trek. One example of the latter comes within her initial retirement transition when she finds that "things finally began to gel for me." At that point she is tempted to increase her load of retirement activities and obligations. But, she says, "I do not want to lose sight of the fact that I am retired. I am here to enjoy the sun, beach, nature, dinners out, theater and more." Here we find the author presumably in a relatively comfortable "resting place" between retirement transitions. And what she is telling us that, when the time comes, she is confidently equipped with transitional tools to use in her continuing quest to "Retire Smart, Retire Happy." "Only for retirees," she adds, "this life long search is grounded in wisdom and experience." The author makes a good argument that the management of transitions is the key to being "successful" in retirement. Certainly, managing the first transition from work to retirement is a big one, and gaining tips and insight into how to manage that one can obviously be valuable for new retirees. But for those of us past that transition and feeling good about who we are in retirement, it gives us tools to deal with the continuing stream of transitions that we inevitably face. Thus, this work takes us further along our way in our quest for a successful retirement phase of our lives. As such, it is a valuable

I read your book with enthusiasm and find it very informative and most helpful in understanding how people from varying backgrounds think about and face retirement. Your book is very timely; there is none other like it. Your book is important because you address real life feelings and concerns in a way that most books do not. You talk about how people feel and think about their past as they face the future and live retirement, how they often discover a self they were not aware of before, how they change, how they cope, how they reinvent and create new fulfilling lives. An important book for all who are retiring or are about to retire.

Monday, November 17, 2003Dear Ms. Schlossberg:I am quick to fire off letters of complaint. I send letters of praise only rarely. But I am sending you a letter of praise now for your book "Retire Smart Retire Happy."I consider it the best of the three books of yours that I read. Is it really a better book? Or, is it because the topic is most meaningful for me? I don't really know. It is most thoroughly researched and well-organized, with a clear road map for the reader. Organizing the case studies must have been especially difficult, but it was done well.I cannot say that it's a "good read," because a read-through is only the beginning. I shall have to go back to complete the questionnaires and ponder some of the responses long and hard.As for carrying out the advice - that will be the hardest part. I feel as though I just completed a counseling course. Now I have to be able to recognize the "true path" or "paths," and attempt to traverse it/them.You did a great job. This book should get wide dissemination. I certainly plan to talk it up.Best,Mildred K. Glazer

This book is a must-read for anyone whose retirement looms large. It's written in a down-to-earth style, with lots of apt examples to bring it all home. The Transition Tips and Internal Audits at the end of each chapter help the reader track his/her own situation, and as a result utilize the results under the author's skillful tutelage. You will recognize yourself in this pithy book, and learn a great deal in the process.

Dr. Schlossberg's book "Retire Smart, Retire Happy" describes transitions retired people face. Her hip style is infectious, her tips for navigating unknown channels astute. Dr. Schlossberg answers your questions before you ask them, before you even knew you had them. Harry Belafonte says, "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life . . .." I say read this book. It works.