2young2retireUK

Swap-a-dog

Do you intend to travel more frequently once you retire?  If you do but the thought of putting your dog into boarding kennels is throwing a spanner into the works, here's a potential short-term, pet-sitting solution: www.swapadog.com - available in both the UK and the US.

The Ultimate Guide to Conquering Your Clutter

This is it.  Everything you need to know: Living Simply.

Great Quotes: On reading

People who have stopped reading base their future decisions on what they used to know. If you don’t read much, you’re dangerous.  Jim Trelease 

Good news for peanut butter fans

Great news if, like me, you love peanut butter.  Adults in a recent study who ate this childhood fave at least five times a week reduced their risk of type 2 diabetes by 27 percent.  Find out more.

Some ideas for that retirement business

Here are some retirement business ideas that might appeal from the author of Making a Living Without a Job, Barbara Winter.  (And, if you already have the skills or the know-how, most of them won't cost an arm and a leg to start up.)

 

Ever thought of writing a memoir?

Many people don't realise that the legacy you leave behind doesn't necessarily have to be a financial one - it may include such things as the values you've passed on to your family members, organ donation or leaving your body to medical science, the copies of the crumbling documents you spent hours transcribing for the town's historical society or the family tree you compiled so that future generations would know their roots.

Writing a memoir is another good way of passing along details of family events and bringing to life photos of, otherwise, long-forgotten family members.  Later, you may want to take things a stage further and try writing a biography of some family luminary or 'personality' whose life deserves remembrance, long after they've gone, such as your war hero uncle or grandfather or that intrepid great-aunt who was always in some scrape or other... (Maybe someone in your family has already sprung to mind?) 

However, if you're not quite at the 'biography' stage yet, the good news is that anyone can write a memoir or autobiography with just a little help.  Here are a few tips from Dorothy Sander to get you started.

Do you want to work after retirement?

Are you one of the estimated 7 out of 10 people who wants or needs to carry on working (in some capacity) once you reach the traditional age for retirement?

Or maybe you’ve always secretly harboured the desire to own your own business but never had the time, resources, confidence or opportunity to ‘go for it’… until now?

There is much evidence to suggest that the people who have the most successful retirements are the ones who keep themselves active and engaged.  There is also much evidence to suggest that many people nowadays don’t actually want to retire at all.  They just want to do something else and they want to do it on their own terms – for example, they want to be able to choose when they work and for how long.  Or they want to do something completely different - such as voluntary work in a different field to the one in which they made their living. 

So the question is:

Do you want, need or feel that it would be beneficial to continue to work after you ‘officially’ retire?

And, if you do, the following thought provokers will, hopefully, help you to determine what type of work will meet your needs. 

1.  Which of the 5 main benefits of work are you hoping that your post-retirement work will provide for you?  Is it:

a)  financial stability?
b)  time management?
c)  a sense of being useful?
d)  socialization and companionship?
e)  status?

2.  How much will you want or need to earn from this work?

3.  Which of the following types of post-retirement work are most appealing to you?  Which would have the potential to provide you with the income that you want/need?

a) Full time   b)  Part time   c)  Voluntary work   d)  Running your own business

4.  Using the categories of work you have determined to be most appealing, list the different types of work that you would consider that spring immediately to mind.  For example, under the ‘Part time’ heading, you may be willing to consider:

• Using your D.I.Y. expertise by working in the plumbing section of a D.I.Y. superstore
• Clerical work in a small, family-run company
• Seasonal work (such as delivering the new edition of the Yellow Pages or Thomson Local)
• Parcel delivery as part of a courier network

Under the ‘Running your own business’ heading, you may be interested in:

• Setting up a ‘handyman’ (or woman) business
• Writing a ‘How to’ ebook on your chosen specialist subject and selling it via your own website
• Becoming a consultant in your field of expertise
• Helping people declutter their homes
• Setting up a dog-walking service
• Becoming a fitness trainer for folks aged 60+
• Selling affiliate products online via your own website

TIP: If you would like to start a business but don’t know what kind of a business that will be, keep an eye on www.Springwise.com for a few weeks.  (Springwise and its network of 8,000 ‘spotters’ scan the globe for smart new business ideas, providing inspiration to both budding and more established entrepreneurs.) 

5.  Next, consider what the essential components of your ideal post-retirement work would be.  For example:

• Working 3 days per week
• Working with people (or not, depending on your preference!)
• A salary of at least £5000 p.a. (or per month, if you can get it!:-))
• Allows me to continue to use the skills, knowledge and expertise that I’ve spent a lifetime acquiring
• Allows me to use a completely different range of skills, knowledge and expertise than the ones I’ve spent a lifetime acquiring
• Keeps me physically active

6.  Then consider what the desirable components of your ideal post-retirement work would be.  For example:

• No early morning starts
• No weekend work
• No office politics to worry about/get involved in
• Gets me out and about, meeting new people every day

7.  What new challenges would you like to set yourself in this new phase of your working life?

8.  What are your skills?  Jot them down.  Cross off any of the skills you have that you don’t enjoy having/using.  Jot down a list of the jobs you could get/businesses you could start with those skills that you enjoy.  Add them to the list you started in answer to question 4.

9.  What are your interests/passions?  Jot them down.  Then make a list of the jobs you could get/businesses you could start using those interests/passions.  Add them to the list you started in answer to question 4.

10.  If you think you might like to go down the retirement business route, what would your perfect retirement business look/feel/be like? 

11.  Who could help you discover what is involved in becoming a business owner?  Who could advise you about the legal requirements of starting a business?  Who could help you make an informed decision about whether business ownership is right for you or not?  Who could help you to set your business up?  Who do you know who already owns a business who would be willing to discuss their experiences with you?  Who do you know who could provide you with ongoing business support and advice?

12.  What additional skills would be useful to you? 

13.  What new skills would increase the likelihood of your success?  For example, if you intend to start your own business, some book-keeping skills might be useful until you become successful enough to be able to pay someone to do your book-keeping for you.  If you would like to do some part-time office work, an IT refresher course might be useful to make sure that your skills are up-to-date and relevant.

14.  Based on all of the above, what do you think your perfect post-retirement work might be?

The magic number that keeps weight off

If you've lost weight recently, your most pressing concern right now might just be how to avoid becoming one of the (almost) 50% of 'losers' who regain their lost weight within 6 months.

Today, however, I have good news!  Researchers have discovered that the magic number to keeping weight off is 275!  '275 what?', I hear you ask...  Find out here.