Product Description

More than 5,000 people retire every day--yet there have been no retirement books that are both informative and motivational until now. 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement encourages and inspires retirees to simplify their lives and pursue their dreams. The authors cover all the essential topics, including health, social life, relationships, financial matters, legal issues, and more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56065 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author

Mary Helen and Shuford Smith are the authors of The Retirement Sourcebook and have coathored a variety of newspaper and magazine articles on everything from computers to travel to retirement.

Customer Reviews

Practical Wisdom
There is a great deal of wisdom in this book by Mary Helen and Shuford Smith. The Smiths cover the practical aspects of retirement as well. The Smiths retired early - ages 39 and 43. They consider their retirement lives extremely rich and provide this guide to fill in a gap that they see in retirement literature. They aren't afraid to tackle issues that many other retirement books don't address, such as the reality of death and sexual changes, while covering the practical aspects of retirement as well.

The construct of the book is in the form of 101 brief essays grouped together in eight categories. The first category, "Make Successful Transitions," is one of the critical sections that make this book stand out. The Smiths discuss the importance of developing a philosophy for life during your retirement years. Many recent retirement books talk about finding jobs, volunteering, travel and relationships, but few acknowledge that we must come to grips with the realities of aging and defining our purpose on earth - our reason for "being," rather than "doing." The Smiths replay this theme throughout the remainder of the book.
If I have one gripe with the book, it's the style of writing. The Smiths have chosen to write in the first person plural ("we," "our"). This can begin to grate if the reader chooses to read from cover to cover, because it begins to sound like a royal "we." Because of this, I recommend reading the book in short bursts, dipping into different essays as appropriate.

In spite of this shortcoming, 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement belongs on the bookshelf of everyone approaching retirement.

Great book for those facing retirement in a few years
This is a much more practical book than some of the "100 things you can do when retired" books that suggest babysitting, dogwalking or other simplistic ideas. Mary Helen Smith lists 101 things you should think about or do, like consider what is "quality of life"--for example, downsizing your house versus staying in an expensive piece of real estate, and listing government programs for retirees, something you may not know about. In addition, she stresses understanding about money. Once you are on a fixed income, and one that is possibly lower than your salary, you must deal with money in a different manner. Now is the time to learn about finances and money, not after you've gotten your first social security check. With many millions of people hitting retirement or near-retirement age from the Baby Boom, this is a really good starting-off point to plan out your coming retirement years. Highly recommended.

common sense, not "secrets"
I bought this book thinking that the "secrets" therein would enlighten me as to things we might be missing in our planning for retirement. The other reviewers on this site made it sound like the book would have advice on little-known health care deals, finding a good place to live, etc. Instead, it is filled with common sense tips, such as "enjoy sex" and "learn to forgive." Gee, thanks. This might be a good book if you're retired and bored, but don't buy this looking for much more.