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After all the responses to my request for feedback on writing a new book, you certainly deserve an answer. I did read every suggestion and and thought about every single suggestion. What did I decide? What does the future hold? I am going to write a new book, but not at the expense of the blog. The third book will be a collection of previous posts, organized into chapters of interest and importance. I will not set a deadline for this project. Work will continue as I have the time and interest. I would guess it will be ready sometime early in 2018. I will publish a Kindle e-reader version first. If the response is strong enough, I will make a paperback version available on demand. My primary focus will remain right here. The comments about the blog's immediacy and ability to build on the community we are establishing seems most exciting and important. Our world is changing quickly and the issues that affect us all really require feedback and discussion. Look...

There are over 2.8 million apps for Android phones, 2.2 million for Apple smartphones. Those are incredible numbers. While it may seem that you have a large percentage of those on your phone, our actual use is surprisingly small. The typical person uses nine applications per day, from a core of 30 apps that are clicked at least once a month. Many more may live on your phone, but they are unused. I thought it might be interesting to share which smartphone apps we use most often. Which ones are essential to you everyday? Which ones are part of your regular routine, though not as often? Which one have you tried and deleted because they just didn't fit your lifestyle or they bombard you with too many ads and constant updates? What are the silliest or most unnecessary apps you have seen? How about my phone? There are 40 apps on my Android Galaxy. I am on par with the national average: seven or eight of them I use every day and another 10-15 get monthly use. There are several t...

The devastation of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is very fresh in our minds. The rebuilding of lives and property will continue well into the future; some people and places will never be the same. I feel for these losses and the massive toll on the countries hit and the people fighting to come back. At the same time, floods in Italy, Malaysia, India, just to name a few other locations, have wreaked absolute havoc. Preparation before disaster strikes is essential in a world where nature seems to be running wild. A "what will be will be" attitude may work when it is time to choose a restaurant for dinner, but not when confronting Mother Nature in all her power. Since my mind is a little odd, it occurred to me that preparing for an event like a hurricane or typhoon is somewhat akin to we should do before retirement strikes. Of course, a storm usually passes in a few hours though rebuilding may take weeks or months, even years, to repair.  There may be injuries, even d...

Today, I am assigning you a task. It will not be particularly easy because it requires you to look at some of your preconceptions and decide if each is still valid. To keep things moving I am asking you to complete this challenge in the next two weeks, give or take. In 14 days, give or take, I will ask you to report on your progress. And, yes, I will participate fully.  To begin, let's think about what types of preconceptions might qualify for examination.  How we think about aging This is a biggie. I would guess all of us have certain images in our mind of what getting older means. Physical decline, financial struggles, moving out of our home, or the loss of a partner can certainly part of that preconception. Hopefully, the last 7 years of this blog have added notions like freedom to change and grow or learning to say, "No," and controlling our commitments. Realizing that plans change, life unfolds in ways we never expected, or that the decades we may spent in ...

Over the past year or so something has begun to happen on Satisfying Retirement: people are leaving comments not only for me, but for others. A comment on a post triggers a reaction from another reader who wants to share his or her thoughts with the original commenter.  Suddenly, a conversation begins. A shared community  begins to develop. I couldn't be more pleased. This development is something not all blogs encounter. It only happens when readers sense a shared set of experiences with others. It only happens when there is a trust that comments will be treated with respect. And, it only happens when readers have been visiting the blog on a regular basis over many months, or even years. This short post is really just a way of saying thank you. Thank you for caring enough to interact with not only me, but others. Thank you for being constructive, supportive, and educational. Thank you for helping to encourage a sense of community, of conversations that add something to a...

I am not sure I have ever written about this subject before. Satisfying Retirement is not a financial blog, but our monetary resources are an important part of how well we live, so it is not a subject I ignore. If you search the archives there are plenty of blog posts about preparing yourself for retirement, managing your money, budgeting, and all the basic steps that help keep us financially afloat. But, what about after retirement...are we done investing new money? Do we take what we have and figure that is what has to last for the rest of our lives? I can only speak for me, but, yes, that has been my assumption. After all, I don't work anymore. I have no "extra" income do I? What would I use to invest? Actually,  the more I thought about it, the more obvious became the fact that I do have money to invest. Maybe my days of making fresh financial decisions are not over. Here are some of my thoughts: 1) In an earlier post I mentioned that my wife will begin receiving spo...

Which why to go? ....from my grandfather when I was 12 years old, my life would have been totally different. It is likely I would have not developed an intense interest in radio that led to a 40 year career. Without that decision I would have not been in a particular town to meet a particular woman who would become my wife.  The backstory is simple: at the age of twelve I had been selected to become a counselor in training at a YMCA camp an hour or so from my home. I was too young to have much authority, so my job was to help the 16 year old counselors manage the young boys in our dormitory, make sure they got enough sleep, made it to breakfast, and spent their two weeks having fun. Apparently, I was a rather "young" twelve. I didn't know how to motivate the younger kids. I allowed cliques to develop that targeted certain boys for bullying. Within four or five days I was homesick and wanted to leave. My parents suggested I give the experience another few days to see ...

The concept of working after retirement is not new. Over the years many folks have found their resources insufficient to maintain an acceptable  satisfying retirement  lifestyle. Others have planned well, but a catastrophic medical situation has devastated their retirement accounts. Some have found themselves paying for the care of aging parents. More than half of all retirees have debts when they stop working.  Whatever the reason, having a new source of income after retiring from a career or life-long job has become a part of life for many.  Retirement does not mean the end of producing income through some form of work. But, what is happening is a noticeable shift in the percentage of those over 65 working at least part time.  The most recent figures show that almost 20% work full or part-time. That is the highest level since the recession of 2008-2009. Consider that the average life expectancy was 63 years when Social Security was first created. Tod...

I have started writing a new book about retirement. This would be my third. Sales of the first two continue but the latest one is over four years old so now is the time.  At this point I have finished a rough draft of two of the nine chapters I envision. But, the last few days have given me pause, and I'd like your feedback.  There are a lot of books about retirement. I receive information about a new one on this subject at least once a week. Some are good, some not so much. But, the bottom line is there are thousands of books about retirement covering every aspect of this important subject.  I am asking myself now, before I put several months into this project, whether the world needs another book about having a satisfying retirement. Is there any part of retirement finances, relationships, passion-building, travel, time management, and volunteering that need covering again in a book format? Blog posts about retirement are different. 700 words can be read ...

Even though only a small percentage of folks decide to move shortly after retirement, it remains a topic of real interest to many blog readers. Part of the image we carry into retirement is a move to a beach side cottage or mountain chalet. We leave behind cold weather or the desert heat and live out our years of freedom in a place that keeps appearing in our dreams. One of my most emphatic cautions to someone who has recently retired is to not move right away. There are so many adjustments retirement requires that to add the stress of a relocation is dangerous to one's health and happiness. Certainly, after careful consideration and time, moving to a place that would make someone happy is encouraged.  Even then, there are five key questions that need to be asked. If living with someone, his or her responses are just as important. To move when only half of a couple agrees can lead to an unhappy environment.  1) How much will you miss the familiarity of wher...

First question, what's a passion pile? For purposes of this post, it is what I need to enjoy a hobby or interest. For example, to enjoy playing a guitar I need an instrument, music books, and a place with good light and space. A passion pile contains what I need to make the most of the time I have set aside to do something I like. Since one of the most-asked questions is "what do you do all day after retirement," I thought you might find some answers based on what I do. In one of my file drawers are materials and inspirations I need for this blog. After 7 years I can write one of these articles pretty quickly. What takes the time is deciding on a topic. As you might imagine, after nearly 1,000 posts virtually all the topics that relate to a satisfying retirement have been covered, and covered again. To keep readers coming back I have to find new ways of presenting the same information. Or, I have to find a fresh approach to a common problem: a good example is the ide...