Your Retirement, Your Way: Why it takes more than money to live your dream

by Alan E. Bernstein, Alan B. Bernstein, John Trauth

Book Overview

Create a new life plan to thrive in your retirement

"In Your Retirement, Your Way, Alan and John lead the way to a new and dynamic definition of retirement. They begin with this exciting premise: the more you clearly identify your own personal style, the more you will experience a powerful and fulfilling next chapter in your life. With the variety of guides and road maps they provide, including a sample version of the Birkman(R)...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071467874
• ISBN13: 9780071467872
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Successful Retirement Depends on More Than Money

It seems to me--and I admit the possibility that I may be wrong--that when I retired back around the turn of the century (1999, to be exact), retirement planning books were mostly about money. Yes, financial planning is very important, but it always seemed to me that by the time you reach retirement, you've done it or you haven't. I'd planned in my own conservative way, so I never read those books. Today, thanks to the self-help book craze, the scope and number of retirement guides seem to have expanded. I'm not a fan of self-help books in general, and I've been retired quite a while, but I still decided to take a look at one of the retirement guides for the new age. Your Retirement, Your Way, by Alan Bernstein and John Trauth, is subtitled, "Why it takes more than money to live your dream." In thirteen chapters, including "Preparing Psychologically for Change," "Creating Your NewLife Master Plan Summary," and "Determining How You Want to Be Remembered," Bernstein and Trauth cover many of the retirement concerns I've faced, and they provide common-sense guides for coming to terms with these issues. The authors of this book invite you to create a "personal, customized NewLife Master Plan . . . through a structured process that will give you the power to take your future life into your own hands and create the best possible retirement lifestyle unique to your own interests, personality, relationships, and situation." A lofty goal, indeed! I especially like Bernstein's "Who Were You? Who Are You? Who Can You Become?" chapter because the author suggests writing down things such as "What I was doing when I was at my best," "Situations in which I've been at my worst," and many more. I promote the same strategy in a less structured way in my own book, Seniorwriting: A Brief Guide for Seniors who Want to Write (Infinity, 2007). "Writing to Discover," as I call it, is a great idea! I'm glad to see it included here. I was also happy to be introduced to the "Birkman personality profile" (copyright Birkman International, Inc.), a somewhat complex but very interesting strategy used by some psychotherapists "to better understand people negotiating complex transitions." I tried the included "Birkman Interest and Style Summary" to discover my interest and lifestyle colors: Red (Implementer), Green (Communicator), Yellow (Administrator) or Blue (Planner). My result was blue all the way. That means I like to plan activities, deal with abstraction, think of new approaches, innovate, and work with ideas. It also means that I appear perceptive, agreeable, conscientious, reflective, and creative. Blue means that my interests include abstracting, theorizing, designing, writing, and originating, and that my fields include writing a book, joining a spiritual commuinity, teaching, and volunteering. My style is insightful, relective, selectively sociable, creative, thoughful, emotional, imaginative, and sensitive, and my preferred environment is cutting edge, inform

A Personal Retirement Consultant

To look upon this extraordinary work as a "how-to" book about retirement is to miss the point. Once the reader gets into it just a little way, it becomes apparent that Your Retirement, Your Way, is a tool, potentially immensely useful, for giving thoughtful consideration to the "third chapter in our lives", and then building a personalized `Master Plan'. The plan is comprehensive, in that it includes not only the financial side of things, but also the psychological preparatory work that makes the transition to "retirement" a rewarding experience. In short, this book not only makes you think, but also engages you in a rich, complex and in-depth process which goes far beyond what professional financial advisers will tackle. The authors recognize that financial planning is only a part of retirement planning. The genius of the book is that it integrates the financial side of things with the personal, psychological issues that merit--but seldom receive--acknowledgement and attention. The reader performs exercises that reveal his or her individual personality profile. This leads to careful consideration of life goals, and the preparation of a meaningful "New Life One-Year Action Plan." There is an explicit recognition that one's retirement plan is going to involve costs quite different from those that are a part of pre-retirement life. Every aspect of financial planning is covered in clear English. As with the psychological side, the financial parts of the book can easily be understood by anyone. I mentioned that Your Retirement, Your Way, is `potentially' immensely useful. That's because the reader really must follow through with the exercises that are essential to the process. If you are looking for a quick read to get some facts about retirement and its challenges, this is not your book. If you want a trusted adviser who will help you develop your own, personal approach to retirement over a few weeks, then get the book, and get to work!

An eye-opening perspective!

This unique book combines psychological self-testing to better know oneself, (ones needs, interests, dislikes, what one is good at, & less good at,) with a personal strategic planning process resulting in a personalized & updateable action plan to fully live the 50% of ones life ahead that one may have in today's world if we're in the 60 yr old range. Absolutely great for baby-boomers who believe in themselves & taking charge of their own future!

Mandatory Reading Not Mandatory Retirement

If you are 35 years old, this book will make you think hard. By the time you are 45, this book will be truly important. By the time you are 55, it will be more significant than the rate of inflation, the Dow Jones and the size of your nest egg - combined. By the time....you get my drift. Most books on Retirement (indeed most self-help books) are prescriptive - and fail to satisfy their readers because of it. Bernstein and Trauth have written a book that provides the reader with a journey of self-discovery, and the means and mechanisms for continued personal growth. Concurrently easy-to-read and deeply thought-provoking, its contents and wisdom will resonate and rumble inside you until you listen - and act.

How to avoid stepping on a banana peel

Alan Bernstein and John Trauth have prepared a fine book that encourages the reader to take a long and truthful look at the most anticipated (and dreaded) phase of life: Retirement. Rather than solely emphasize financial stability as many retirement planning books do, the authors have included self-analysis and critical thinking guides to carefully consider what satisfies and encourages intellectual, spiritual and physical well-being. The book is right on!