Contemporary Retirement Coaching Blog

Hello and welcome

Hello, my name is Ann Harrison.  I’m passionate about helping people like you to get the happiest, healthiest, most vital, productive, energetic, prosperous and fulfilling retirement you could possibly have, whilst, at the same time, helping you to balance having the kind of retirement you want and deserve to have, with planning to meet your future needs.

I'm a Retirement Options™ trained retirement coach and trainer and a Too Young To Retire™ facilitator.   I'm also the author of Thought Provokers: Questions You Need to Ask Yourself BEFORE You Retire and The Retirement Detox Programme: 40 days to get your retirement back on track.  You can find out more about me here.  But enough about me.  What about you?

If you're due to retire in the near future, how will you make the most of the freedom, choice and opportunities available to you? How much thought have you given to the life and lifestyle transitions that retirement will bring?  Are you aware of the potential pitfalls associated with retirement and do you have strategies to overcome them?  How will you get the retirement you deserve?

And if you're already retired, is your retirement everything you hoped it would be?  Do you have the retirement you deserve?

Here are some of the ways that I can help you:

The 'Thought Provokers' Ebook
The Association of Retired Single Women (new community - free to join)
Retirement Courses (UK)
The Retirement Success Profile (Worldwide)
Retirement Coaching (Worldwide) 
The Retirement Detox Programme Ebook

Are you in the market for a mini-retirement?

Most visitors to this blog are people close to retirement age who are looking for ideas, information and advice to help them with the process of retirement.  But a growing number of people who haven't reached that stage, are investigating the idea of 'mini-retirements' so they can experience a change of lifestyle NOW, without having to wait years until they're old enough, and can afford, to retire 'officially'.

If that sounds like you, you'll probably be interested in Recipe for a Mini-Retirement Overseas, an article by Michael Manville, which discusses how living abroad can not only save you money but help you create a new stream of income to finance your travels. 

Although the article is written for US readers, the ideas it contains are equally applicable to those of us over this side of the pond and, for currency conversion purposes, 1 dollar is currently worth about 61p (UK) and 68 cents (Europe).

Blogging Boomers Carnival #142

Welcome to the penultimate Blogging Boomers Carnival of the year - hosted this week by one of our founder members, Janet Spiegel of Gen Plus.  Here's the link you need.  Enjoy!

Quick Links

From ZenHabits blog: 48 Fun Ways to Exercise -http://zenhabits.net/2009/12/48-fun-exercises/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zenhabits+%28zen+habits%29&utm_content=Twitter

Do you know your friends on Facebook and Twitter better than you know your neighbours?

I was leaving my house the other day when I saw Lynsey, my next door neigbour, hobbling down her path on crutches, with her leg in plaster.  I, naturally, asked her what had happened to her and it turned out that she'd fallen downstairs and broken her leg quite badly - it had been pinned and plated and all kinds of things.  And she'd had the accident 8 weeks ago!  She'd been hobbling around on crutches for 8 weeks and I had absolutely no idea!

So this article by Hazel Davis - I've got 668 'friends' on Facebook... but I don't know any of my neighbours - struck a chord with me when I read it this morning (ironically, after following a link to it from someone I know on Twitter).

How about you?  Do you know your neighbours and what's going on in their lives?  Or do you know more about your friends on Facebook and Twitter?

Salsa dancing British granny Paddy Jones wins Spain's Got Talent

After the death of her husband, Sarah Jones, known as Paddy, had planned a quiet retirement in Gandia, near Valencia.  But now, at 75, she's become the winner of the Spanish equivalent of Britain's Got Talent after performing a salsa which incorporated 'a dazzling sequence of flips, spins and high kicks'.  Check out Paddy's performance in this video from the Times Online website.

Video guides to packing for a house move

I don't have many talents but I've moved home 8 times in my adult life and have never even so much as damaged a drinking glass during the course of all those moves. 

If you're moving home in the near future and want to arrive at your new pad with all your possessions intact, check out the video guides to packing up your home prepared by reallymoving.com. 

Some of the tips given are only common sense but, if you haven't moved home for a while, the videos might give you some ideas (even if only about the equipment you'll need to stock up on beforehand).

Money for fun

Barbara Winter's Buon Viaggio blog is always worth a read and I thought you might like this article entitled Money for Fun, in which Barbara writes about just that - earning money while having fun.  Sounds good to me!

Blogging Boomers Carnival #141

Blogging Boomers is back after the Thanksgiving break for my colleagues in the US, and today's hosts are two of our newest team members, Jennifer and Mary of Writing Without Periods. Check them out.

Quick Links

From the BBC - Giving old eyes a new lease of life: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8392749.stm

What do retirees do all day?

What do retirees do all day?  According to this US News report, they linger slightly longer over food, sleep, shopping and household chores, and watch 4 hours of TV each day, compared to the 2 and a half hours that the rest of us watches. 

Not exactly inspirational is it?  And will food, sleep, shopping, household chores and TV be enough to keep you feeling happy, engaged, enthused and productive?

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For over 500 questions designed to help you get the happy, healthy, vital, productive, energetic, prosperous and fulfilling retirement you deserve, buy my new, immediately downloadable book: Thought Provokers: Questions You Need To Ask Yourself BEFORE You Retire.