The ultimate hand book for "non-retirees" released

29/02/2008

The annual classic "The Good Non Retirement Guide" is an invaluable handbook for anyone who wants to plan for retirement, manage their finances wisely - and live life to the full in their mature years.

 

The book covers every conceivable area from financial issues, work, leisure and health to holidays and looking after elderly parents. It also includes a list of useful organisations and further reading by subject area.

Right from the opening chapter, The Good Non Retirement Guide is packed with sensible, practical advice. It starts from the premise that:  "The majority of people retiring today are fitter, more skilled and better off financially than any previous generation … As a result, planning for the future has become even more critically important.

 

This Guide’s sole aim is to set you thinking along constructive lines, to indicate what is possible, to advise on the best sources of information and to help you avoid the pitfalls that can trap the unwary."

But it also goes deeper than that, flagging up less obvious things such as retiring abroad and relationships. Writes Frances Kay, editor: "A fairly common mistake is for people to retire to a place when they once spent an idyllic holiday 15 0r 20 years previously ... but such resorts can be bleak and damp in the winter, and pretty dull when the tourist season is over".

And on 'downsizing' she writes: "Many people sell their house and move somewhere smaller, without taking into account the fact that when spending more time at home they may actually need more space, rather than less."

The tricky subject of changing partnership dynamics in retirement is often left out in other retirement guides - but not this one. Kay comments: "Many husbands are puzzled, and sometimes hurt, by their wife's attitude to their retirement. After complaining that she never sees anything of them and that they don't spend time with the family, he then finds her nagging him to go out and find something to do."

Often, if the wife is still in work, some husbands start to harbour dire suspicions about their working wives' work colleagues, imagining romantic entanglements that had never crossed their mind before. And for single people, retirement can usher in a terrible loneliness, because their job has been their companion.

Frances, who is a fellow of the RSA, a member of Women in Property and a business mentor of the Prince’s Trust, coaches, trains and advises on all aspects of business development. Now coming up to retirement age herself, she has both a personal and professional interest in retirement. In addition to The Good Non Retirement Guide, she will be writing two more books in 2008, including One Size Doesn’t Fit Anyone, and Make the Right Choices in Life.
 
The Good Non Retirement Guide 2008 is published by Kogan Page, London and costs £16.99. ISBN: 9780749452216. You''ll find it in your local bookshop or via your usual internet supplier.