2young2retireUK

Welcome to the 2young2retire UK blog

What’s Next?

What comes to your mind when you think about retirement?  Endless days by the pool, on the beach or golf course?  Catching up on your reading and hobbies?  Travel?  Rekindling relationships you've let languish?

We're with you.  Nothing wrong with these, as far as they go.  For most healthy people in their 50s and 60s, that's about 6-18 months.  What then?  We want more out of life in the 20+ years of good health ahead.  Something to live for, like work we enjoy, at a pace we choose.  Like community service on a whole new level of commitment.  Maybe becoming a student again.

2young2retire teleclasses and workshops are a place where you get to explore what's possible for you when you realize how much time lies ahead.  Based on Too Young to Retire: 101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life (Plume 2004) by Marika and Howard Stone, our curriculum covers:

► Work that matters (paid or not)
► Being your own boss (you can do it!)
► Community activism (it's about time!)
► Money control (at last)
► Wellness plan (quit stalling now!)
► Intelligent travel (why to go where)

You'll get together with others eager to explore these issues, in a conversation led by a 2young2retire facilitator [that's me, Ann Harrison].

Click here for course dates...

Great Quotes - About naysayers...

My theory is that whenever we dare to do something different, some benevolent cosmic being sends a whole bunch of people to tell us what a dumb idea it is.  These people actually perform a valuable service.  They come to test our level of commitment.  If you notice, the more tentative you feel, the more pessimistic they sound.  If they succeed in discouraging you, be grateful.  You didn't have the moxie to make it in the first place.  This is good information to have.  It means you need to go back and tune up your intention or let go of what's holding you back.  On the other hand, if you're determined to succeed in spite of these killjoys, then you most certainly will.

Barbara Stanny

Quick Links

From the BBC: Fixed retirement age in the UK to be axed from October 2011

New study shows US and UK exercise guidelines won't stop weight gain for women

A new study which appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that older women who want to avoid gaining weight need to take at least an hour of moderate exercise every day.  (Examples of moderate exercise include brisk walking, leisurely cycling and golfing.) 

The findings are based on a study of 34,079 non-dieting, middle-aged women who were followed for about 13 years.  The women who gained little or no weight during the study started out at a healthy weight and consistently got the equivalent of an hour a day of moderate exercise.  Only 13% of the women fell into this category - the rest gained an average of almost 6 pounds during the course of the study.

The government-recommended guidelines for exercise in both the US and here in the UK are just 30 minutes, 5 days a week. 

These findings come as no surprise to me - it's pretty much what I've experienced in my own life.  When I took my first 'retirement' from my job as a curriculum manager at a further education college and started to work from home, I gained two dress sizes within the space of about 18 months, despite the fact that I continued to exercise every day.  I've lost that weight again now, but it took a while for the penny to drop and for me to realise that the level of exercise I had been used to taking was no longer enough now that I was home-based. 

With hindsight, when I went out to work, I used to be on my feet all day.  Dashing off to meetings, running around managing my teams, walking between the various teaching sites which were scattered throughout the town - I even chose a house which meant that I could walk to and from work each day, which added 25 minutes walking time to my day, and I would often walk to the shopping centre during my lunch hour or take a stroll around the nearby park with a colleague. 

When I retired from college life and started to work from my home office, much of this activity disappeared from my life and the extra weight started to pile on.  

Nowadays, I work out for an hour, at least 6 mornings a week and I know that I will always need to keep a close eye on what I eat. I also know that I could just resign myself to it and accept that, as we get older, we do get thicker around the middle (apparently, during our 40s and 50s, we start to lose 2 to 3% of our muscle mass per year), but, somehow, I just don't feel like me when I'm bigger.  It feels unnatural and I could never get used to what I see when I look in the mirror, so, for as long as is humanly possible, I will continue to get up at 6 am and work out.

You can read more about the new study here.

The London Retirement Show 2010

Pre-registration for the London Retirement Show, which will take place on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 July at Olympia, has opened in the last few days.

When you pre-register, you can gain half-price entry into the show (for £5 rather than the normal £10), and you will receive a free show guide magazine (which would normally cost £2). Entry is free after 3pm each day (but this, too, requires on-site registration).

Features of the show include perennial favourites like the fashion shows, cookery demonstrations and have-a-go dancing and, this year, the organisers have arranged to have a super-safe climbing wall at the show, for more adventurous visitors to try.

In addition to the climbing wall, other new features will include a Motor Zone featuring both classic and modern cars, a Travel Theatre, a DIY Advice Depot for visitors to get advice on their do-it-yourself tasks, and a prize quiz at the end of each day. These new features will run alongside other show favourites, including the free health checks, a major park and holiday home area, have-a-go t'ai chi and yoga, an arts and crafts area and the gardener's question panel.

You can pre-register at http://www.the-retirement-show.com/london/london.htm and receive vouchers in the post that allow you half-price entry.

Are you paying attention?

Don't go through your retirement unconsciously... pay attention to what's going on in your life.

Some of the things I suggest you pay attention to include:

How you feel - What makes you feel good?  What doesn't feel so good? Are you regularly doing more of the things that feel good than the things that don't?

What energizes you and what zaps your energy

How you're spending your days - What activities do you engage in during the course of the day?  Which of those activities bring you joy and fulfilment and which just fill your time?

Who you're spending your time with and how they make you feel

How you feel about your obligations - committees, voluntary activities, etc.  Is this really how you want to be spending your time?

Your health - Are you getting all your regular check-ups/self-checks? Do you exercise daily?

Your mental health - Do you feel stressed on a regular basis?  Do you feel 'down' on a regular basis?  Is feeling down turning into full-blown depression?

Your weight - Is your weight gradually increasing?  Are you happy for that situation to continue?  If not, what are you going to do about it?

Your nutrition - Are you regularly eating a healthy and varied diet?  Do you regularly eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day?  Do you eat regular portion sizes?  Does your diet provide you with the energy you want and need?

Your level of boredom - Do you find yourself feeling bored on a regular basis?  Do you experience boredom too often for your liking?  What could you do to alleviate your boredom?  Get a part-time job?  Start a business?  Do voluntary work?  Take a course?

How much TV you're watching - Is this how you planned on spending your retirement?  If it's not, what are you going to do about it?

Your finances - Are you spending too much?  Are you getting through your nest egg faster than you expected to?  Are you not spending enough?  Are you being too cautious with your money and depriving yourself unnecessarily?  Who could advise you about this?

And finally:

How much you feel you're achieving and how much satisfaction/fulfilment you get out of your days.  Pay attention to how satisfied you feel at the end of each day.  How did what you did today make you feel?  How much satisfaction do you feel on a scale of 0-10?  (0 = the worst day ever and 10 = I can't imagine being more satisfied.)  Then, ask yourself the following questions:

What did I particularly enjoy today?

What would I like to continue or do again tomorrow?

What could have been better about today?

What have I absolutely no wish to repeat?

What one thing would I particularly like to change tomorrow?

Tuning into the above on a regular basis - and taking appropriate action where necessary - can keep you on track for the happy, healthy, fulfilling retirement you deserve!

Quick Links

From Beliefnet: 13 Ways to make new friends and

From PsychCentral: 10 More ways to make friends

I'm not going mad... I'm becoming enlightened

As you get older, do you feel the need to dispose of more and more of your possessions? 

I asked that question as my response to a conversation that's been running on a coaching discussion group that I belong to.  The originator of the conversation was wondering whether, as we get older, 'our systems have an inbuilt need for less rather than more' and I responded as follows:

'I've moved house 10 times in my adult life, and 5 of those moves were within the last 7 years.  Each time I've moved house, I've practically worn a groove between my house and the local charity shop in my attempts to get rid of the number of possessions that I've accumulated in my 51 years.
 
Following my last move, which was almost a year ago, I resisted getting the bulk of my possessions out of storage (in someone's garage) until a couple of weeks ago, when the garage owner said they wanted to rent the house out and asked me to collect them.  I duly hired a van, collected my stuff, took the things I felt I needed into the house and stored the rest (40-50 boxes full!) in my own garage.  I have absolutely no desire to unpack those boxes - many of which are still unopened from a house move 7 years ago.  These possessions are all things that I believed I 'needed' to have when I acquired them, but nowadays, I just want to feel free and unencumbered, and, apart from my beloved books, I want to have as little clutter around me as possible.'

One or two of the other group members responded, saying that they were experiencing much the same thing, and expressing relief that they weren't alone and going 'batty' in their advancing years.  One member, downshifting coach, Sally Lever, explained it:

"According to Eastern wisdom, this is the play of nature's wisdom and a natural progression as we age. "Growth" becomes less about "doing" and more about "being", less about expansion and consumption and more about re-integration and re-evaluation, exchange, evolution and renewal. According to this model, this is the beginning of the Third Stage of Life and, very broadly, these are the themes that I see emerging most often with myself and those of my clients who have entered this arena, whatever their age.

Quoting Lao Tzu: "To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.""

So there you go - I'm not going mad... I'm just becoming enlightened.  I'll look forward to that!  Meanwhile, pass me that incense stick, will you?

Consider Your Accumulated Experiences As a Retirement Asset by Don Seibert

In thinking about the possibility of retiring, we all must, at some time or another, add up our accumulated savings, 401K investments, company pensions, potential social security checks, etc to try to plan a retirement lifestyle that's suitable for us. We have all been through that process and, given the state of the economy right now, may have determined that retirement is more of a future dream than a pending reality.

In doing this 'asset review' no accountant or planner that I know of actually considers one of your most important assets! They cannot possible know how many skills or how much valuable experience, talent, and knowledge you have accumulated in your life until now. By the time they are "Over 50", most of us has had a wealth of experience, whether in a job, a profession, a hobby, a sport or just in the regular family life that we have enjoyed.

It may be time now to begin to cash in on your accumulated experience. Many people have been able to carve out very fun and rewarding second careers just by leveraging on the skills, talents and knowledge that they have between their ears! And with the global advances of the Internet, it doesn't really matter just how particular or specialized a niche that your expertise is in.

If you were to simply take a pencil and paper and a few minutes, I'll bet that you could list out 20-25 experiences that you have had that other people could learn or benefit from. Whether it's dealing with a difficult disease with a member of your family or a technique or procedure that you learned in your employment, knowledge of these things and how to make the best of them can be truly beneficial to other people. If fact, if you could find a way to capture and transfer this information to others, they will be happy to pay you for your time and trouble!

It won't cost you a thing to take this little inventory and to spend some time thinking of ways that you could write a book (e-book or hard bound), create a video or CD, or perhaps build a website on your special topic. Many thousands of people are doing just that today and are earning from $1,000 to $30,000 per month by simply leveraging their experience and knowledge.

You know, we can be mesmerized by all of the 24/7 bad news coverage and we can listen to the 'talking heads' prophets of gloom on the Television and in the press - or - we can take it upon ourselves to actually do something positive for ourself! This is not dependent on any government bailout program or handout or even on our ability to raise money to start a company. You already have the most important ingredient for your success - right between your ears! Now go put that to use!

Resources: Don Seibert is a retired business executive who, as an Expert Author, writes timely articles and books on many issues concerning accumulated knowledge. Having retired three times, he now writes a blog concerning this topic. Visit the site for a complete discussion of Retirement Income Options

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Don_Seibert

Make time for an everyday adventure

Two of the potential pitfalls of the 'Routine' stage of retirement are becoming set in your ways by having too rigid a routine and leaving no time or scope for fun and spontaneity in your life. 

With that in mind, here are my top ten ideas for bringing more everyday 'adventures' into your life:

1.  Start by being open to new ideas and opportunities.  Look out for them.  Write them down in a diary or journal so that they don't evaporate into the ether.

2.  Do your very best to try something new every day... something small like trying a new drink or taking a different route home, or something bigger like jumping out of a plane or arranging a house swap with someone from another country.

3.  The next time you're arranging a day out, ask someone else to plan it for you.  Let them have control and just go with the flow. 

4.  For even more of an adventure, ask your grandkids to plan your day out with them. Let them be the leaders and make the decisions.  The only time you're allowed to step in is if things get dangerous!  See the world through their eyes...

5.  Let something that you 'should' or are 'supposed to' do go and do something unexpected instead... Do the things no-one expects you to do! If you're always the one who gets up early and makes sure everything is ship-shape, stay in bed all morning and let them sort themselves out!  If you're always the sensible one, suggest something crazy for a change.  If you're used to luxury hotels, try a camping trip.  Try a different way of being!

6.  Go out and get purposefully lost. Just drive around with no destination in mind or follow a road until it ends.  See where you end up.  I KNOW I don't need to tell you this, but I'm just covering myself: Obviously you need to be more careful and have a bit of common sense about this one - you don't want to end up in a neighbourhood that's notorious for its drug deals, gang clashes and drive-by shootings!

7.  Treat your city or town like a visitor would. Go to a different park, cafe, residential area or shopping centre. Go to that museum you haven't been to since the kids were small.  See what's new.  See who's there. Explore. See things from a different angle.  (Again, exercise a bit of common sense and do your due diligence before visiting different parks and residential areas!)

8.  Choose one of your senses and find something new to intrigue it - a piece of music by a new-to-you composer or artist.  A just-released perfume or aftershave.  A type of food that you've never eaten before.  A film that you never would have chosen, normally.  Next day, choose another sense to indulge...

9.  Shake up the order in which you do things.  If you usually start off your shower by washing your hair, wash your feet instead!  Change your routine.  Clean your teeth with the other hand.  Shop at a different supermarket or shop your usual supermarket in reverse order.  Have your hair done/cut at a different salon or barber.

10.  If you're always in the habit of going places with another person in tow, go somewhere alone instead. Take a day trip and make the effort to meet some new people whilst you're out.  Go to the cinema or for a meal by yourself.  If that feels like too big a step, just go to a coffee shop but make eye contact with people and smile.

What are your best ideas for shaking things up and introducing more fun and spontaneity into your life?  Inspire us by leaving your comments below...

What are you waiting for?

First you were waiting until you were bigger/older

Then you were waiting until you finished school/college/ university

Then you were waiting until you got your first job

Then you were waiting until your career was established

Then you were waiting until you met the right person 

Then you were waiting until after the wedding   

Then you were waiting until the kids were off your hands

Then you were waiting until you'd built up your savings/retirement fund

Then you were waiting until you retired

What are you waiting for now?

And how much longer can you keep putting it off?