Winning at Retirement offers the inside information you need to seek happiness in retirement.

If you are worried about retirement, maybe you shouldn’t be. About half of American retirees describe their post-work years as the best time of their life. Here you have a step-by-step guide to ending up in that happy half. Authors Pat Foley and Kristin Hillsley take a practical, inspirational, and entertaining look at the process of seeking happiness in what should be your most enjoyable years.

Consider Social Security: it’s complicated and has many rules.  But it can be pretty straightforward if you understand the basics of the decisions you need to make.  Also, there is a common mistake that married couples should avoid.  Winning at Retirement explains it all, in plain language.  It has been lauded as one of the clearest guides you’ll find to Social Security claiming strategies.

Likewise investing is infinitely complex, but conceptually straightforward: set some of your money aside and let it grow.  Start by recognizing that no one really knows what’s going to happen next in the economy and the market.  Accepting uncertainty is the foundation of good investment practices, and can help you avoid being among the majority of investors who experience poor results over time.  Winning provides guidance on this, including “Five Money Maxims”… a set of principles that help simplify investing.

Medicare is a maze of rules, decisions, and changing prices.  The book will help you understand the structure of the program, explain the choices you need to make, and tell you how to get help with enrollment.

Winning also provides advice on maintaining health and wellness.  After all, it’s much harder to enjoy life if you struggle to move, or are living with pain.  Information about diet and exercise can be confusing and conflicting, but wellness and aging can be boiled down into key concepts that you can (should!) put into action.

Beyond addressing practical considerations like money, health, and where to live, Winning challenges you to ask “who am I going to be in retirement?”  Retirement is an opportunity for reinvention, or as a popular quotation from the book says “a blank sheet of paper”. But far too many people plan for the financial aspects, without recognizing the importance of seeking a meaningful, impactful identity.  A purposeful life is a happy life! 

Today’s retirees are plugged-in. They have smart phones, are internet savvy, and follow their grandchildren on Facebook. Winning takes a thoroughly modern look at the subject, describing web tools, apps, TED talks, and the vast world of resources that are at your fingertips in your quest for financial stability, health, and purpose.  In the end you will learn about the Retirement Happiness Map, a simple but powerful way to organize your retirement decisions.

Step inside, you won’t be disappointed.

Featuring the cartoons of Randy GlasbergenGreat for book clubs