Resources for you to EXPLORE.

The Encore Career Handbook – How To Make A Living and a Difference In the Second Half Of Your Life

Maria Alboher
2013 Workman Publishing

“Until recently, most Americans equated the end of a successful career with the beginning of retirement. No more. Now they want to stay in the game (or better, change the game). They want to leave a mark. Make a difference—and continue to make money. From Encore.org, the leading organization in the field, comes a road map to every step of the encore career journey. Here’s how to plan the transition. How much you need to make. The pros and cons of going back to school. When to volunteer, and when to intern. How to network effectively and harness the power of social media. Who’s hiring and for what jobs? (Check out the Encore Hot List of 35 viable careers). A comprehensive, nuts-and-bolts guide, filled with inspiring stories and answering—in extensive FAQ sections—the concerns of its readers, this book is everything you need to help you strike a balance between doing good and doing well–in a way that will sustain you through this new stage of life.”

I think this is one of the best books on the topic of retirement and encore careers.  It is well-researched and logical.  It has reasonable processes and excellent insight.  Like all of these books, there tends to be a point at which they say—“and now you know what you want” and that always feels like a little bit of a stretch.  On the other hand, at some point we have to take a plunge.  Iris

Fire Up Your Life in Retirement- 101 Ways for Women to Reinvent Themselves

Catherine DePino
2014 Paragon House

“Women want to be fulfilled in all areas of their lives and at all stages. They want to love and be loved. They want freedom from conflict and a peaceful existence. And when life doesn’t meet these expectations, they want to be able to deal with their disappointments with strength and courage. It’s that simple. What would it be like if women could realize all of these goals in retirement? This book helps women retirees fulfill their dreams by motivating and firing them up to live their best lives now, even if they weren’t able to realize this level of joy and contentment in the past. Fire Up Your Life in Retirement: 101 Easy Ways for Women to Reinvent Themselves calls retired women to begin living the best years of their lives by working, playing, and interacting with family and friends in ways they never thought possible. All they have to do is resolve and start now. The rest will surely follow.”

Happiness Curve- Why Life Gets Better After 50

Jonathan Rauch
2018 St. Martin’s Press

“In this warm, wise, and witty overview, Jonathan Rauch combines evidence and experience to show his fellow adults that the best is yet to come.” ―Steven Pinker, bestselling author of Enlightenment Now

“This book will change your life by showing you how life changes.

Why does happiness get harder in your 40s? Why do you feel in a slump when you’re successful? Where does this malaise come from? And, most importantly, will it ever end?

Drawing on cutting-edge research, award-winning journalist Jonathan Rauch answers all these questions. He shows that from our 20s into our 40s, happiness follows a U-shaped trajectory, a “happiness curve,” declining from the optimism of youth into what’s often a long, low slump in middle age, before starting to rise again in our 50s.

This isn’t a midlife crisis, though. Rauch reveals that this slump is instead a natural stage of life―and an essential one. By shifting priorities away from competition and toward compassion, it equips you with new tools for wisdom and gratitude to win the third period of life.

And Rauch can testify to this personally because it was his own slump, despite acclaim as a journalist and commentator that compelled him to investigate the happiness curve. His own story and the stories of many others from all walks of life―from a steelworker and a limo driver to a telecoms executive and a philanthropist―show how the ordeal of midlife malaise reboots our values and even our brains for a rebirth of gratitude.

Full of insights and data and featuring many ways to endure the slump and avoid its perils and traps, The Happiness Curve doesn’t just show you the dark forest of midlife, it helps you find a path through the trees. It also demonstrates how we can―and why we must―do more to help each other through the woods. Midlife is a journey we mustn’t walk alone”.

This book is listed on a number of blogs and websites, being highly recommended. Monica

Retirement: Different By Design: Six Building Blocks Fundamentally Changing How To Live After Retirement Is Viewed, Planned For and Lived

Dr. Rick Steiner
2015 Hatherleigh Press

”Transforming Retirement One Building Block at a Time

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.

Retirement: Different By Design, your bridge to the “other side of work,” 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

Leaning Out: Why Do Women Retire Earlier Than Men?

HuffPost
Phyllis Moen, Professor, University of Minnesota
Huffpost, Dec 6, 2017