Best Books on Retirement

June 26, 2019 6:03 PM

What are the best books/resources on what to do in retirement? (looking for something that covers the joys and the downsides, the big questions and how to resolve them). Not looking for the financial side of things or financial planning etc.
posted by storybored to Work & Money (3 answers total)

This comes up every once in awhile on r/financialindependence. The consensus seems to be along the lines of "money won't solve all your problems", and "if you're not happy now, financial independence and quitting your job won't make you happy." So the advice is build the life you want, then save for it, though this can be somewhat at odds with lean FIRE (esp. if you plan to radically downsize once income disappears to retire early). Don't know if that helps, but I think the take away is essentially, retirement and no longer having the obligations of a job won't magically make you happy -- it will change some things -- remove some stressors, but remove some good things as well, like daily interaction with other humans working towards similar goals (your co-workers) -- so you kind of need to figure out how you're going to be happy before you retire (which is probably why you're asking this), but the specifics of the answers are going to be different for each person, and may change over time anyway. (And of course, eventually, it will all end in a health related disaster, as it does for all living things, there's just no avoiding that. All the more reason for retirement ASAP to at least get some free time before the disaster.)
posted by smcameron at 6:55 PM on June 26, 2019

I was given a book called 70 things to do when you turn 70. Most of the advice is pretty predictable but reading it can get you thinking about and focusing on what you really want to do.
posted by beagle at 6:00 AM on June 27, 2019

Best answer: So I work for a financial planner but we are often preparing people for the emotional and lifestyle shift of retiring. Some books we recommend are:
Retirement: Different by Design
Life Reimagined
Purposeful Retirement
Hello Someday

The last one is different in that it's a self guided journal.
posted by jennypower at 6:06 AM on June 27, 2019 [2 favorites]