The Successful Retirement Guide: Hundreds of Suggestions on How to Stay Intellectually, Socially and Physically Engaged for the Best Years of Your Life

Using your mind and body, and interacting with others are keys to a happy and healthy retirement life. Yes, good genes and money help, too; but you can t pick your ancestors, and your financial situation is whatever you have made it. Successful retirees strive to live each day to the fullest, exercise their minds and bodies, and challenge themselves to continue to learn and grow personally.

The Successful Retirement Guide will assist retirees in identifying activities that will help them remain intellectually, socially and physically engaged with life whatever their financial resources. Readers will discover:

* The importance of being intellectually, socially and physically engaged during your retirement years

* Hundreds of ways to keep your mind exercised and challenged

* How to build a supportive social network while participating in fun and rewarding programs

* Numerous ways to exercise your body that are right for you without the need to join a gym or health club

* How to identify activities that will enable you to live each day to the fullest

* Prescreened books, websites and other sources of information for activities you can pursue in greater depth

* Checklists to help you select the activities that are right for you

Includes 5 Appendixes: Life Expectancy Calculators; Senior Olympics; Collectibles; Veterans Organizations; and Volunteer Considerations and Opportunities.
Successful retirement.

What makes a retirement successful . . . or not?

Financial resources? Health? Friendships? Family? A long life? Time to relax? Time to spend doing things you love? Time to spend trying new things you never had before?

Certainly all of the above factors, as well as others, have a bearing on the quality of retirement. The premise of this book is that the single most important factor in a successful retirement is the extent to which you remain intellectually, socially and physically engaged with life. This introduction explains why this is the case; and the remainder of the book gives you the opportunity to explore ways to make your retirement a successful one.

Average life expectancy has increased dramatically in the last century. For people age 65, it now averages an additional 17 years for men and 20 years for women. If you want to check out how long you might live there are several interactive online tools (see Appendix A) you can use. It can be an eye-opening experience. The author, for instance, (a 61-year-old male in reasonable health), is projected to live until 92. That means I have many years during which I may not be in the traditional workforce. Assuming your life expectancy is not dissimilar to mine, what are you and I going to do with all this time?

To maintain mental/cognitive well being we need to exercise our brains in new and challenging ways. Ballroom dancing, solving puzzles, learning a foreign language are all excellent activities. And it is important to note that research proves that you can continue to learn and develop at any age and stage of life. Don t believe that ancient adage: You can t teach an old dog new tricks, because you can. It may take a little longer, the teaching techniques might need to be modified, but the boom in life-long learning programs and the continuing appeal of Elderhostel all demonstrate the appetite for new and challenging learning opportunities for the mature adult.

A plethora of research demonstrates that to maintain physical well being we need to exercise and live a healthy life. (Have you checked your life expectancy yet?) You can also learn about the physical aging process what is normal and what isn t. It s surprising how little most of us know about what to expect as we age and what we can do to offset age-related declines...