Retire with Joy and Freedom: A Guide to Achieving True Happiness in Retirement

Shirley: Great read!

United States on Dec 28, 2023

Aheb: This book is written well, conversationally, so fun and easy to read. GREAT sense of wit and humor. Such practical steps to seeing beyond the typical "have this much money in your retirement account and you'll be happy" message the typical messages are from "out there" in media land. I am looking forward to making the Get-a-Life tree my own (and I LOVE the more than 300 suggestions he includes to get me started!) In fact, this particular review is one of those 300 - so get the book and find out which one it is! Maybe YOU will be writing a review soon .... AH

United States on Oct 28, 2023

Garrett: This is an entertaining book that encourages people to be brave enough to quit their jobs and gives ideas about ways to spend the time after retirement. The author tells many stories of people who retired on very low amounts of money. One of these gentlemen lived very well on 6 thousands pounds per year twenty years ago. The problem is that the author makes no mention that I found about inflation. I think about the man getting by on 6k pounds a year in his 80s now in the 2020s. I can imagine that he'd make it about 3 months on that amount of money if he's lucky... very dangerous not to take inflation into account.

United States on Sep 26, 2023

Bryan CareyBryan Carey: How do you plan to spend your post- employment years? You may not have given it much thought if you are under, say, fifty years of age. But if you are nearing the traditional age of retirement, this question is likely at the forefront of your thoughts. A book that wants to help guide you on the path to retirement happiness is How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

This book is focused on one thing: Helping you get the most possible out of your retirement years. It devotes its space to talking about the things that really matter; the things that will make your retirement years the best years of your life. And contrary to what you may believe, having a massive amount of money isn’t the key to a happy, fulfilling retirement. What matters most is personal relationships, continued growth, creativity, continuous learning, a healthy body and spirit, and so much more.

The financial side of the retirement equation does matter, but this book doesn’t devote much space at all to this topic. There are already enough books that focus on the financial aspect of retirement anyway. This book instead concentrates on becoming a better, fuller, more enriched person in your golden...

United States on Sep 11, 2022

Hande Z: Some look forward to retirement, others dread it. Zelinski swiftly tackles a practical problem, namely, the ‘life is short and so is money’ dilemma. One cannot retire unless one is financially prepared. Once that problem is taken care of, the rest of this book may be relished. Zelinski is clearly in the camp of leisure, and one suspects that he would, if he could, have retired in his twenties.

This book is well-written, full of light-hearted, cheery snippets of quotations in tiny boxes in almost every page, but it is the main page that has the quality advice. The conquest of boredom is an important aspect of retirement, and boredom is a retiree’s greatest fear. This is where Zelinski is at his best – encouraging, inspirational, and practical. He suggests how one can make a structured plan of how to occupy one’s time in the short and long term – using what he calls the ‘Get-a-Life’ tree plan.

Living, learning, and fellowship, these are not merely axioms but necessities embellished with practical tips. So, the question is, is this really ‘The Best Retirement Book’ there is? Zelinski says that 35 publishers turned it down but it has sold 400,000...

Singapore on Apr 16, 2021

Gaurav Singh: Worth a read

India on Oct 14, 2018

Flamenca: This book is a great tool to traverse this new career of 'retirement', especially when retirement comes earlier than you had planned.

It's an easy read, light hearted in tone but serious in content. Confirms some beliefs and challenges others. I've made so many notes from it that most of the book is highlighted in my Kindle. I am now embarking on the exercises, which will help bring clarity.

I suggest that all financial advisors send a copy of this book when they issue their invoice!

Australia on Oct 03, 2018

Daryl Brak-Dolny: This book helped me decide on whether to retire early or keep working. I am happily retired for the last 2 1/2 years since I turned 59. Looking forward to taking post-grad math courses, learning Mandarin, got a free used piano and hope to learn to play old saloon songs, have worked on my golf game (shot par for 9 holes once and had my 7th eagle - 6rh eagle was 13 years ago), raising 8 chickens and getting lots of eggs, etc.

Could not have done any of this while working in I.T. - stress and free time was limited. Have to curb money expenditures but easy once you sell extra auto not needed, insurance decrease, no more work expenses, etc. Cooking at home beats eating out ... AND i've lost 70 lbs and 8 inches around my waist - from 46" to 38". Hoping to take up biking next summer.

DON'T WORK TO THE DAY YOU DIE... never heard of anybody's last words being "If only I could have worked one more day at my job."

Canada on Nov 27, 2017

G. Thomas: A fairly typical self help book, with lots of examples through letters from the author's fans.
There are not very many new messages in the book. Basically when you retire you need to keep active and involved. Another message is that if you don't have life outside of work before you retire, you will probably not have a successful retirement. I am not sure that is really useful advice.
My advice: Live life well, and it doesn't matter whether you are working or retired.

France on Sep 26, 2014

George Fulmore: This book is quite different than the author's other one that I like so much, "The Joy of Not Working." The format is quite different. In my opinion, the organizational structure is not as good. But in the end, there is a wealth of good, solid, useful, insightful information contained inside, and that would be the point of reading it in the first place.

In short, "Happy, Wild and Free" is another winner by Zelinski for retiree readers, and it can serve as a great "only" retirement book for those who are looking for that. I can't imagine anyone feeling they don't get their money's worth from reading the book.

Just a read of the preface may be worth the price of admission. Here we find a good overview of the subject of retirement, with some first-class comments to boot: "Retirement is the perfect time to become the person you would like to be and do the things you have always wanted to do." "Retirement can be both exciting and demanding, bringing new challenges, new experiences, and new uncertainties." "...retirement is the last opportunity for individuals to reinvent themselves, let go of the past, and find peace and happiness within." "Despite the bad press that...

United States on Nov 15, 2004