Skip navigation
What Color Is Your Parachute? For Retirement
Book

What Color Is Your Parachute? For Retirement

Planning Now for the Life You Want

Ten Speed Press, 2007 more...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Like most aspects of modern-day society, retirement is not what it once was. In the past, workers could count on generous pensions from the companies where they spent their adult lives. They supplemented these funds with personal savings, along with Social Security payments that kicked in much earlier than they do today. How things have changed! In today’s harsh, dog-eat-dog world of corporate downsizing, pensions seem almost archaic. Americans’ overall savings rate is an embarrassing negative figure and Social Security is going broke. People who are planning for retirement have little leeway for error or indecision. Now, more than ever, you need good, solid information, including this selection of criteria and checklists, to plan your retirement adequately. Richard N. Bolles and John E. Nelson can help. getAbstract rates their book highly for its comprehensive, thoughtful overview of the particulars of retirement planning, especially concerning financial matters. Read their book to learn what a serene, intelligent retirement requires. For the majority of today's workforce, few personal or lifestyle planning topics will ever be more critical.

Summary

One Day You Will Retire

Like every other working person, one day you will retire. Are you ready for this looming eventuality? If not – and most working adults are not – you should know that modern-day retirement and retirement planning have changed considerably over the past few decades. Indeed, your retirement in the 21st century will definitely not be the same retirement that your parents or grandparents planned during the 20th century. Today's seniors (and juniors) expect much more from their retirement years than their parents ever did. Modern retirement presents a wealth of options:

  • Beginning a new career in a different field and never actually retiring.
  • Becoming an entrepreneur in your golden years.
  • Renegotiating your employment so you work only on tasks you truly enjoy, and then retiring much later than your peers.
  • Segueing from full-time to part-time status at your job.
  • Establishing a “revolving retirement,” where you return to your job periodically.
  • Formally retiring and then becoming a consultant for your employer or other companies in your industry.

In the past, retirement planning was all about financial...

About the Authors

Richard N. Bolles is the author of the bestseller What Color Is Your Parachute? He is an influential leader in the career-planning field. John E. Nelson is an expert in retirement planning.


More on this topic

By the same authors

Learners who read this summary also read