Contemporary Retirement Coaching Blog

50 Things I learned about retirement - #3

This is a taster of my brand new '50 Things I Learned About Retirement' eCourse (more details below):

Couples don't always talk to each other about retirement.  For example, a survey of 502 married couples approaching retirement uncovered the fact that wives and husbands often had different understandings of their plans and preparations for life after retirement and found that:

• 61% disagreed on which income source (savings, pensions, Social Security, etc.) would be their primary source of funds in retirement
• 58% disagreed about whom their spouse would turn to for financial guidance in the event of the other spouse's death
• 41% disagreed about whether at least one partner would work in retirement
• 39% differed on the amount of their life insurance/assurance coverage

(Source: Fidelity Investments)

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'50 Things for a Fiver' is a series of low-cost eCourses which deliver information or thought-provoking, self-coaching questions about retirement to your email inbox in 50 bite-sized chunks at 2-day intervals.

Please click here for details

50 Things I learned about retirement - #4

This is a taster of my brand new '50 Things I Learned About Retirement' eCourse (more details below):

Research by Phyllis Moen of the University of Minnesota indicates that the most stressful situation for retiring heterosexual couples is when the man retires first and the woman continues to work.

Tip:  If you would like to read all the blog posts in this series that have been published to date, scroll down to the 'Categories' section in the left hand column and click on the 50 things I learned about retirement category.

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'50 Things for a Fiver' is a series of low-cost eCourses which deliver information or thought-provoking, self-coaching questions about retirement to your email inbox in 50 bite-sized chunks at 2-day intervals.

Please click here for details

50 Things I learned about retirement - #5

This is a taster of my brand new '50 Things I Learned About Retirement' eCourse (more details below):

Even the closest of workmates can disappear from your life once you are out of the workplace and not seeing each other on a daily basis.

If you tend to socialise mainly with people that you work with, start thinking about the people you want to continue to have a relationship with and think about the ways in which you could do that.  

I think it's worth pointing out that, if you want to remain in contact with colleagues and friends from work, you need to be prepared to do most of the work involved in staying in touch yourself - even if it feels like you're the only one making the phone calls and suggesting the meet-ups.  Life moves on and, even though people start off with the best intentions of keeping in touch, it doesn't always work out that way.

Tip:  If you would like to read all the blog posts in this series that have been published to date, scroll down to the 'Categories' section in the left hand column and click on the 50 things I learned about retirement category.

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'50 Things for a Fiver' is a series of low-cost eCourses which deliver information or thought-provoking, self-coaching questions about retirement to your email inbox in 50 bite-sized chunks at 2-day intervals.

Please click here for details

Blogging Boomers Carnival #194

Happy Valentine's Day from the Blogging Boomers!  It's my turn to host today - see the lovely, valentine-y, word mosaic I made for you on the left there?  Don't say I don't show you any love!  As for the rest of my blogging boomer colleagues - they love you too and this is how they're showing it this week...

SoBabyBoomer tells us that Valentine's Day is for the young at heart.   A recent poll indicates that 72% of Boomer respondents are interested in finding a date for this year's romantic holiday.
 
Pink Himalayan salt blocks to cook on, have you ever tried it? Follow the Accidental Locavore as she learns how to cook with them at a class at the Meadow in New York. 

Vaboomer looks at some "hidden history" of America.

Let’s face it.  Being eternally angry at your ex is the great American pastime. Have you ever considered all of the angry, ugly feelings we are surrounded by constantly as half of all American adults decide to end their marriages?  How do we move on after that?  The Midlife Crisis Queen has a few suggestions.

The Boomer Chronicles loves iPhone apps. Here are the Top 15 on her list.

Andrea Stenberg at the Baby Boomer Entrepreneur talks about Three Myths Business Owners Have About Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

And, finally, there's my own offering... last Wednesday I started a 50-part series entitled: 50 Things I learned about retirement.  Here's #1.

50 Things I learned about retirement - #2

This is a taster of my brand new '50 Things I Learned About Retirement' eCourse (more details below):

This 'thing I learned' is closely related to thing #1, in which I wrote about having some 'much-needed chill-out time' immediately after you retire. In fact, you may not have a choice in the matter because, sometimes, it just feels like your energy retired when you did...

Have you ever spent the first week of a two-week holiday or vacation sleeping?  This used to happen to me on a regular basis when I still had my job as a college curriculum manager.  I was so sleep-deprived and stressed out at the start of every holiday that, no matter what intentions I had for how I would spend my time, I knew it was futile to arrange anything significant during the first few days - until I'd caught up on my sleep and restored my energy levels.

A similar thing happened when I took my first 'retirement' and left my job at the college with a view to making my living from my coaching practice.  For months, I had to take a nap every afternoon.  I regularly fell asleep in the cinema.  I nodded off each time I sat in the passenger seat of a car and, although I left work in June, it wasn't until the following January that I had the energy to do anything that remotely resembled business development. 

At the time, I attributed my excessive sleepiness to my own personal burn-out but I've since learned that this loss of energy on retirement is more common than you would think... check out what recently retired women on Women Etcetera! had to say on the subject.

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'50 Things for a Fiver' is a series of low-cost eCourses which deliver information or thought-provoking, self-coaching questions about retirement to your email inbox in 50 bite-sized chunks at 2-day intervals.

Please click here for details

50 Things I learned about retirement - #1

This is an excerpt from my brand new '50 Things I Learned About Retirement' eCourse (more details below):

Many people report that they wasted the first 18 months to 2 years of retirement because they began by (understandably) just wanting to have a rest and some chill-out time before they really got stuck into their retirement.  However, before they knew it, that 'couple of months' of chill-out time had become their modus operandi, their 'bucket list' was relatively untouched and they were left with a vague sense of dissatisfaction because they knew they were capable of so much more...

Of course, if a 'chilling-out', 'pottering about' kind of retirement is just your cup of tea, I'm the last person who will argue with you.  I'm in complete support of you having EXACTLY the kind of retirement you want to have.  But if you know that you want more than that, then be prepared to set a limit on that much-needed, initial period of chilling-out time and put a date in your diary - you could call it RELAUNCH DAY - when you'll start to move forward with all those bucket list plans.

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'50 Things for a Fiver' is a series of low-cost eCourses which deliver information or thought-provoking, self-coaching questions about retirement to your email inbox in 50 bite-sized chunks at 2-day intervals.

Please click here for details