Retirement? Hill Country or City Life? Read Supercharged Retirement.

  

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Make the Most of Your Retirement

Super-Charged Retirement, "Ditch the Rocking Chair, Trash the Remote, and Do What You Love", by Mary Lloyd www.mining-silver.com is quite an appropriate title and dead on for the majority of people who are contemplating retirement in 2010.  If you are thinking about retirement, there are many things to think about besides your financial portfolio. That's not to say that money is not important, but it is not your ONLY consideration. 

Lloyd states, "This book is designed to help light that new path. It's here to help you affirm who you are now---who you've become over all these years--so you can make retirement decisions that keep you vibrant and energized."

Review

The book is a quick read, but it requires you to do a little bit of homework to fully benefit from her advice.  First, Lloyd wants you to understand who you are, not who you think you are or the person others think you are.  It is critical that you find your authentic self.  At first, I was put off by her questions and homework, but after some thought I realized that you might find out things about yourself that were not self-evident or find out that what you have known about yourself all along is true.  Either way--it is a win.

Physical, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Aspects

Other chapters deal with looking at physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects in helping you decide what you believe in and where you want to go next. The last thing you want to do is buy the home in the mountains that you have always wanted only to find out that you hate the upkeep of a home during the winter. Your idea of fun does not include shoveling the driveway for sixty days!  Another scenario-- lose your friends of 30 years in the old neighborhood to buy a home in a different part of the country to be closer to your children and grand-children only to find out that they are so busy with their lives that they don't have the time to include you as much as you would like. This can be a disaster.  With Lloyd's help-those scenarios might not happen. She has you explore and answer questions about different parts of your life, even those you would prefer to remain hidden, to prevent you from making a poor choice.

My Family Story

Anecdotally, my family experience was very positive, although my parents had not done an extensive analysis of who they were and what they wanted.  Eighteen years ago, they decided to retire to a different community to be closer to their youngest grand-children and to live by a lake in hopes to lure their kids to visit more often.  The move from Midland, Texas to Canyon Lake, Texas was a huge success! The lake was/is beautiful with crystal blue water surrounded by rolling hills deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. My father bought a boat and began to enjoy a new aspect of his life. For several years after they moved, you had to book in advance in order ensure a room at their home. They succeeded in getting visits not only from their kids, but from old college roommates and extended family members who had never ventured out of Louisiana.  It was a great way to bring family and friends together.

Small Hiccup

My only negative of this book is that Lloyd at times comes across as a superwoman. She uses herself as the example throughout the book and sometimes you just want to say, "Enough-we understand you are a wonder woman and think highly of your brain and  energy level.  Do we need to know about all of all your various business and civic accomplishments?"  It can make you feel a little inadequate.  The book would have been more balanced and interesting including other people's life stories as examples.

Although this is not the perfect book or the only book you should read before deciding upon retirement, I do think it is worth the read.  "Choose Your Own Adventure", the title for her last chapter, sums things up: "Things are going to happen in your life whether you step up to the decisions or not.  But if you choose--choose according to who you really are now, it's going to fit you a whole lot better . . . think about what you want to do and what's needed to do it ... there is a lot of fun yet to be had.  A lot of good yet to be done.  Your personal piece of that is waiting for you to figure it out. Welcome to the grandest of all life's adventures."