Are you investigating retirement locales, looking to explore a new culture, or researching new business opportunities? This book is packed with practical and useful information as you start the next stage of life, with solid documentation on managing investments, real estate, the cost of living, medical care, and safety, whether you are relocating, traveling, or investing in Costa Rica. Six maps help you situate yourself. And as you tour or get settled, this resource offers tips on where to dine as well as guidance in exploring the beautiful coastal areas and activities special to Costa Rica.

This affirming, positive, and practical book will better prepare retirees and their families for the changes and challenges of retirement in an uncertain economic, social, and political climate. A Simple Guide to Retirement: How to Make Retirement Work for You is a book for older Americans planning for retirement. It is also for people who have left work before they were ready and are now experiencing anxiety, depression, and/or financial weakness in their new role as retirees. Written to be at once affirming, positive, and practical, the book covers all of the many topics that will help retirees better prepare themselves for a positive, fulfilling, and satisfying retirement-beginning with financial security. These topics include saving for retirement, working part time, staying healthy and fit, dealing with the emotional and financial burden of health care, cultivating optimism, and much more. Case examples and vignettes will help readers apply the principles to their own lives. 10 illustrations

Everyone says they would like to retire early, but Rodney Rothman actually did it -- forty years early. Burnt out, he decides at the age of twenty-eight to get an early start on his golden years. He travels to Boca Raton, Florida, where he moves in with an elderly piano teacher at Century Village, a retirement community that is home to thousands of senior citizens.
"Early Bird" is an irreverent, hilarious, and ultimately warmhearted account of Rodney's journey deep into the heart of retirement. Rodney struggles for acceptance from the senior citizens he shares a swimming pool with and battles with cranky octogenarians who want him off their turf. Before long he observes, "I don't think "Tuesdays with Morrie" would have been quite so uplifting if that guy had to spend more than one day a week with Morrie."
In the spirit of retirement, Rodney fashions a busy schedule of suntanning, shuffleboard, and gambling cruises. As the months pass, his neighbors seem to forget that he is fifty years younger than they are. He finds himself the potential romantic interest of an aging femme fatale. He joins a senior softball club and is disturbed to learn that he is the worst player on the team.
"Early Bird" is a funny, insightful, and moving look at what happens to us when we retire, viewed from a remarkably premature perspective. Any reader who plans on becoming an old person will enjoy joining Rodney on his strange journey, as he reconsiders his notions of romance, family, friendship, and ultimately, whether he's ever going back to work.

Discover Your Unique Gift

"Creative aging is a choice . If we remember that transition always begins with endings, moves on to a wilderness period of testing and trying, and only then do we reach the beginning of something new, then we can embrace this encore period of life with hope and curiosity, remembering always that it is our true nature to be creative, to be always birthing new ways of sharing our planet together." from the Epilogue

In a practical and useful way, Marjory Zoet Bankson explores the spiritual dimensions of retirement and aging. She offers creative ways for you to share your gifts and experience, particularly when retirement leaves you questioning who you are when you are no longer defined by your career.

Drawing on stories of people who have reinvented their lives in their older years, Bankson explores the issues you need to address as you move into this generative period of life: Release Letting go of the vocational identity associated with your career or primary workResistance: Feeling stuck, stagnant, resisting changeReclaiming Drawing energy from the past, discovering unused giftsRevelation Forming a new vision of the futureCrossing Point Moving from stagnation to generativityRisk Stepping out into the world with new hopeRelating Finding or creating new structures for a new kind of work"

Set yourself up for a successful transition. Retirement is perhaps the greatest and most deeply personal career transition you'll ever make. Will you switch gears, slow down, or stop work entirely? Will you have the money, the good health, and the companionship you need to enjoy it? The HBR Guide to Designing Your Retirement provides the practical tips, research, stories, and advice you need to take stock of your skills and interests and define retirement for yourself. You'll learn how to: Assess your readiness to make the transition Craft a plan to slow your pace—or stop working altogether Experiment with possible future selves Find new ways to apply old skills Communicate your plan to key partners Bridge your old identity to your new one Stay connected Arm yourself with the advice you need to succeed on the job, with the most trusted brand in business. Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

An estimated seventy-eight million baby boomers will hit retirement age in the coming decades. It's an exciting time, but many retirees miscalculate their retirement readiness before leaving their jobs and seeking a more carefree life. In "Don't Eat Dog Food When You're Old " author Roger Roemmich-who has more than forty years experience in the field of finance-presents a big-picture look at what you need to know to plan for your retirement or to better manage the various components of your financial life if you already are retired.

In this guide Roemmich first looks at whether you can afford to retire and then discusses retirement planning and financial management. He introduces his unique CAMP score methodology-considering cash flow, aging, medical needs, and purchasing power-that both provides a basis for quick evaluation of retirement readiness and serves to identify remedies for inadequacies. He also identifies the most important aspects of six key areas and helps show how they factor into having excellent cash flow throughout retirement.

You can calculate your retirement readiness accurately if you know the right questions to ask. Roemmich's guide-which assumes little or no prior knowledge but a keen interest in doing the right thing-helps you move forward carefully and confidently so that you can enjoy financial peace of mind during your golden years.