Retirement: Different by Design: Six Building Blocks Fundamentally Changing How Life After Work is Viewed, Planned For, and Lived

by Rick Steiner Ph.D.

Overview

Plan for retirement with confidence and ease, using this essential guide for envisioning and creating a post-work life filled with meaning and purpose
 
Retirement is more than the absence of work—it’s a different way of life requiring new vision, new purpose, and new life perspectives. You see, retirement is too important to leave to luck or circumstance; we have to plan and make them happen—our way.
 
Your bridge to the “other side of work,” Retirement: Different By Design presents two dynamic and innovative templates for moving seamlessly into retirement and beyond—“Retirement’s Ages and Stages” and “Retirement’s Six Fundamental Building Blocks.” Providing practical strategies and answers, not more questions, each chapter delivers insights, tools, narratives, and models for making retirement the best years of the rest of our lives. And, it’s not always about the money.
 
Indeed, we all can live socially rich, emotionally balanced, intellectually nourishing, healthful, and physically active retirements no matter the size of our bank accounts—this is the new retirement reality that Retirement: Different By Design offers the soon-to-be and the already retired.
 
RETIREMENT’S SIX FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS
 
• Physical and Emotional Health and Well-Being
• Financial Security and Continuity
• Life Transition and Acceptance
• Intergenerational Life Engagement
• Intellectual and Physical Pursuits, Interests, and Activities
• Spirituality, Meaning, Family, and Legacy
 
“Any book on retirement planning that does not begin with a discussion of money is off to a good start, at least to our thinking. And so it is with Retirement: Different by Design.” —The Wall Street Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578265572
Publisher:	Hatherleigh Press
Publication date:	05/26/2015
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Rick Steiner, Ph.D. is a recognized university leader, organizational and management expert, consultant, and author. He has worked with US and foreign governments, foundations, and corporations to make communities and nations better custodians of their peoples’ futures. A recovering workaholic, Dr. Rick is now retired and keeping himself happily occupied by working as a professional ski instructor, writing, consulting, sailing, riding his bicycle, and always seeking his next adventure; and, most of all, enjoying the ride wherever it takes him.

Read an Excerpt

This book seeks to see retirement as a journey, not a destination—a road to travel, with lots of adventure along the way. First, we have to find that place they call retirement and, second, we have to figure out what we are going to do when we get there, what will be waiting for us when we arrive. Think of it as a personal journey of discovery and consider this book your travel guide to retirement.

The book identifies and examines three major retirement themes. First, it explores one of life’s most profound “Pivot Points,” moving from the world of work into the world of retirement; a transition that is perhaps easy for some and difficult for others. Retirement, while appearing to be a no-brainer, is anything but, and whether it ultimately succeeds or fails depends on understanding five critical concepts: (1) life as we know it will be different, and hopefully “good” different; (2) retirements don’t just happen, we have to make them happen; (3) retiring from work is easy, it’s living in retirement that can sometimes be troubling; (4) the behaviors and dogmas that served us well at work will not necessarily serve our best interests when retired; and (5) when we retire from something we have to retire to something—we must not view retirement as an opportunity to do nothing, but rather as an opportunity to do different things.

The second theme goes on to identify and define “The Retirement Life Cycle,” and how each “Stage” and “Age” is different from the other, requiring different responses, behaviors, and mindsets; and, most importantly, full acceptance of our aging selves. It describes how we can build and shape our own retirements, keeping in mind Retirement’s Six Fundamental Building Blocks, which are identified, defined, discussed, and analyzed to provide an understanding of how each Building Block contributes to the overall success and cohesiveness of our retirements, and how each Building Block is positioned one on top of the other to form an integrative whole in the form of a virtual pyramid. You will be the architect, builder, and resident of this virtual pyramid. If the design is poorly conceived or realized, the pyramid might collapse around you, and we don’t want that to happen, now do we?

The third theme focuses on each of the six Building Blocks individually, describing how every layer connects to the one below and the one above, forming an almost indestructible monolith and creating what I like to call “sustainable retirements.” A chapter is devoted to each of those six Building Blocks.

Retirement’s Six Fundamental Building Blocks
1: Physical, Psychological, and Emotional Health and Well-Being
2: Financial Security and Sustainability
3: Retirement Transition, Adjustment, and Acceptance
4: Intergenerational Life Engagement
5: The Intellectually Curious and Physically Active Retiree—Discovery Adventure and Challenge
6: Spirituality, Meaning, Family and Legacy

I ask you all to join me on one of life’s most exciting journeys, a trip to this place we call “retirement.” And, whether or not I ultimately succeed in my mission is up to you. If I positively impact even one life, then I have succeeded; if I transform one retirement from dull to daring then I have succeeded; if I give new hope to someone struggling with retirement then I have succeeded; and, if I make one new friend then I will have exceeded my greatest expectations.

—Excerpt from the Chapter 1 - Our Real Wonder Years, "How to Use This Book" by Rick Steiner, Ph.D.

Editorial Reviews

Any book on retirement planning that does not begin with a discussion of money is off to a good start, at least to our thinking. And so it is with Retirement: Different by Design.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“With its specifics on psychological, financial and lifestyle changes, there’s no better book to give the nearly-newly retired than Retirement: Different by Design; it’s about making the most of change and accepting the attitude adjustments that come with it. [The book] explains and explores the entire process and offers many concrete keys to making the most of this end result, and should be read by any who contemplate making this big change.”
—Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Reviews

“Whether you are a war baby late to the retirement table or a baby boomer anticipating retirement, Retirement: Different by Design provides very useful guidelines to consider. [The book] inspires the reader to take and maintain a positive attitude towards this important phase of life, and to develop an agenda that will make these years meaningful. The writing is filled with good humor and wisdom.” 
—Dr. Risa Palm, Georgia State University

From the Publisher