Arriving when I am personally about to retire from all professional activities in the career development field, this lively and engaging book was particularly timely for me. It raises all the questions which have been in my mind, and others besides, and provides a rich resource for exploring them carefully, systematically, and creatively. It will be of great value to anyone involved in later-life career transitions, helping them to design the next stage of their lives.
Welcome to the life you love!
Retire to the Life You Love is a fresh, energizing approach to the next chapter of your life. It’s a how-to book to gain inspiration, clarity, and confidence for living true to who you are as a unique human being and it’s an invitation to be intentional about your choices for doing what is most joyful and important to you.
With increased life expectancy, the retirement landscape has changed with new and enriched potential. Retire to the Life You Love is about exploring the possibilities and defining the direction you want to move in for a personally meaningful next chapter.
Right here, right now,
you are your future self in the making.
What a wonderful toolkit for folks contemplating retirement as well as those who are already retired, but craving a richer experience! Grounded in the “six circles of life” model, Retire to the Life You Love offers a comprehensive integrated approach to life planning that acknowledges the interconnections between all of our life roles and activities. Written by a credible and compassionate author who walks her talk, this readable, engaging, and inspiring book shares compelling case examples and offers holistic tips and strategies for customizing a satisfying and purpose-filled retirement lifestyle. You’ll want to keep this book on your bookshelf, returning to it again and again to fine-tune retirement plans as new challenges and opportunities come your way.
In Retire to the Life You Love, Nell Smith puts the actual quality of your retirement front and centre. The spotlight is not on ‘how much’ I will have in retirement but rather, ‘how well’—emotionally and physically—I will be living my retirement. Retire to the Life You Love invites the reader to look inward and to examine what is truly important to the individual and how he or she would like to spend the next phase of their life. The book also contains hands-on, intuitive exercises and analytical tools to help the reader arrive at answers to the truly important questions: ‘What are you going to do when you retire?’; ‘Who am I when I am no longer identified by my work role?’; ‘How do I find joy and passion in my life?’ and ‘What will give my life new meaning and purpose?
Combining the lifestyle concepts raised in Retire to the Life You Love with traditional quantitative retirement planning, this book is a must for anyone that is truly looking for a robust, all-encompassing and fulfilling roadmap for their later years.
ABOUT THE BOOK
"Retire to the Life You Love is a comprehensive approach to reframing retirement from an outdated model to an energizing and designed phase of life."
Rich Feller, Life Re-Imagined Program, AARP
Retire to the Life You Love is like having a lively and engaging conversation with a life coach. It is packed with ideas, inspiring real life examples, stories (including Nell’s own story interwoven throughout the chapters), PLUS the practical models and tools to help you answer personal questions like these:
- Who am I when I am no longer identified by my work role?
- What if I want or need to work?
- How do I get off the treadmill and live more simply, calmly, and peacefully?
- How do I stay active, productive, and keep my vitality for living?
- How do I stop myself from stagnating, and keep learning, growing, and developing?
- How will I stay healthy?
- How do I create a new routine and social network?
- How will my partner and I function together?
- How do I stop feeling scared about retirement?
- What will give my life joy and meaning?
- Is it too late to make a difference?
With the Six Ways to Love Your Life as an operating framework, Retire to the Life You Love invites you to explore and discover answers to these important questions and embrace the opportunities a long life and long health offers. You have the freedom now to choose to be the change you wish to see in yourself, your family, community, or society with Retire to the Life You Love as your personal guide.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
Will I retire?
What do I want to do when I retire?
Support for employees and their partners to address their questions about the next chapter of life and start to strategically navigate the way towards the fulfilling retirement of their dreams. This workshop provides practical tools to explore options and design a meaningful future. It is based on the book Retire to the Life You Love which is included in the workshop to support the creation of a robust, all-encompassing roadmap towards and for a meaningful retirement.
This workshop
- Explores the possibilities retirement can provide
- Reconnects participaants with or generates a sense of purpose in life as they look towards their future
- Increases awareness of and confidence in skills and abilities and where these can now lead
- Understand what fits and why, at this point in the life journey
- Reconnect with and generate new dreams, ideas and directions for retirement life
- Provides the tools to develop a strategy to support navigating in the direction wanted for retirement
The workshop is available for groups and companies and is facilitated over 2 full days, F2F or online. It includes a copy of the book and a participant workbook, and if desired the Retirement Dimensions online assessment.
Facilitator:
Colleen Reichrath empowers and equips intentional career transitions at all life stages. Book author and workshop developer Nell Smith is Colleen's mentor and mother.
Retire to the Life You Love reads like a conversation with a life coach. Nell deftly guides you with examples, stories, and practical tools to show you the opportunities a long life can bring for inner peace, enriched relationships, and evolving wisdom to contribute to the greater good of society.
Retire to the Life You Love is a book of wisdom. If people spent only 10% of the time they spend planning their finances on planning a meaningful future, our society’s happiness index would increase exponentially.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Nell Smith
I believe life is a journey of exploration and discovery, not a destination. The challenge is what direction to take on your personal journey. There are so many options, so much potential, and so many opportunities. It’s exhilarating stuff! How exactly do you choose what could be a good fit for you?
Since the 1980’s, I’ve helped facilitate the career and life choices of thousands of men and women in career planning and retirement preparation workshops. Participants came to explore new ideas, new options, or confirm a tentative choice. Some came tired, depressed or fearful. All left with renewed hope and energy to explore and take action on the options they discovered...
The Story behind the book
When my husband was offered an exit package by his employer and wasn’t sure what he would do if he accepted, I created the first Retire to the Life You Design© workshop for him and others like him, the start of a wave of pre boomers and boomers that followed. After 30 years he is continuing to work part time in the choice he made in that workshop.
I have now made the choice to move into a phase of full retirement. As a result, I'm passing this body of work with complete confidence on to my daughter Colleen Reichrath-Smith, an experienced, passionate, and enthusiastic career coach and consultant.
I am enjoying the life balance I have created and continue to adapt what works for my energy level, interests, and the values that are important to me at this moment in my life. This balance embodies the six ways to love your life: to be true to who you are; to be physically, mentally and spiritually well; to be compassionate with yourself, family, friends, and society as a whole; to be a contributor to the greater good through meaningful work or volunteer options; to be curious and keep learning; and to just be through restorative and joyful leisure activities. In short, to express who you are on the inside through intentional choices in the outer world for a personally meaningful present and future.
I wish you the same as you navigate your way intentionally through the choices ahead.
NELL SMITH
