Are you ready to retire? Take this retirement quiz.
We are so ready. To live our dreams in retirement, that is.
No surprise to us, but we hit the top of the “readiness scale” in a 20-question online retirement readiness quiz at www.yourretirementyourway.com
Results range from “not ready,” “time to start getting ready” to “ready, only finetuning necessary.”
For some disclaimers: The Web site with the quiz is commercial, designed to promote the book Your Retirement, Your Way (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).
Before you submit your answers, you are asked to give your name and e-mail address.
(We value our privacy and made ours up.)
But we like this quiz — and can recommend the book — because of the focus on the all-important lifestyle issues that people neglect in their obsession with finances.
The first question in the quiz, for example, asks you to choose which one of six statements is closest to your current vision of your retirement.
Statements range from “I am dreading retirement, so I am giving it as little thought as possible” to “I have a clear idea of my retirement lifestyle, which will be a balance of a number of activities, and I could write it down right now if you asked me to.”
This last statement reflects a major emphasis on planning for retirement beyond the money part.
“We all spend so much time and effort preparing for our careers, doesn’t it make sense to spend some quality time preparing for what comes after?”
say the book’s authors, Alan Bernstein, a psychotherapist and career counselor in New York, and John Trauth, a management consultant in San Francisco who specializes in financial services.
To probe how much preparation we’ve done, the quiz asks us not only whether we are confident our money will last but also what we want to accomplish in retirement, how we want to spend our time day to day, and how we are planning to replace the social and intellectually challenging activities associated with work.
These issues are explored in depth in the book, which carries the appropriate subtitle Why It Takes More Than Money to Live Your Dream.
But most books on retirement planning focus way too much on finances and neglect other areas.
Many people, regardless of how much they have, struggle because they have not adequately prepared for their new life.
“Jobs create structure, community and purpose for your life, and you need to add these back in your retirement,” the authors advise.
Through the use of a brief version of the Birkman Method personality-assessment tool used by many corporations and government agencies, the book helps readers explore their interests and motivations, and prepare for a more fulfilling life in retirement.
First, stop feeling sorry for yourself, Bernstein and Trauth say. Then find a new challenge or interest that will add purpose to your
life. If this includes helping others, then you have the best chance of
finding fulfillment.
Lifestyle issues deserve emphasis in planning (The Columbus Dispatch)
We are so ready. To live our dreams in retirement, that is. No surprise to us, but we hit the top of the “readiness scale” in a 20-question online retirement readiness quiz at www.yourretirementyourway. com.
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