Here are 97 books that What Retirees Want fans have personally recommended if you like
What Retirees Want.
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I was the ten-year-old child who devoured David Copperfield (and then every other Dickens book), the teenager who began a lifelong love of Russian literature after discovering Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. To this day, my greatest reading pleasure is to lose (and find) myself in the rich, expansive world of a nineteenth-century novel. In my contemporary rom-com, Blame It on the Brontës, my heroine is torn between her literary ideal of love and the reality of losing the love of her life. To paraphrase Keats, she tries to reconcile “the truth of imagination” with “the holiness of the heart’s affections.” As a romance writer, it is my quest, too.
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre follows the format of a romance novel: a governess falls in love with her employer, they overcome impediments, and they live happily ever after. Add a madwoman in the attic, Thornfield Hall in flames, and Mr. Rochester’s voice calling to Jane across the winds, and you have an unforgettable romance novel.
I admire Jane immensely. Her journey from being a suffering student at Lowood School to an independent woman is as relevant as ever. Through every experience, she asserts her autonomy but never wavers in her moral compass.
In Brontë’s world, love involves every fiber of one’s being, not just emotions or desire. Mr. Rochester is a complex, conflicted man who proves himself worthy of Jane’s love. For me, they have set the standard of the romantic heroine and hero.
Introduction and Notes by Dr Sally Minogue, Canterbury Christ Church University College.
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage.
She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order. All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester.
I love humans. My clients and colleagues tell me that my profound love for humans is my superpower—that I make people feel safe and seen. I also understand that loving humans isn’t effortless. I wasn’t always in the loving-humans camp. While I was doing a doctorate at Harvard, I studied with the marvelous Robert Kegan, whose theory and methodology helped me see the fullness of the diverse people I got to interview. Ever since, I have been totally enthralled by what makes us unique—and also connected. If you are a human or have to deal with humans, your life will be much improved if you love them more!
This is the most informative look at behavioral economics that also made me laugh out loud—often embarrassing myself on airplanes because I was reading a non-fiction book that made me actually snort with laughter.
Ariely is a profoundly accomplished researcher himself, and he’s interested in all the quirks of humanity—not to explain them away or make us look more rational than we are—but to really expose us to ourselves. I saw myself more clearly and also with more compassion by the time I finished this book and I loved my fellow humans more.
Why do smart people make irrational decisions every day? The answers will surprise you. Predictably Irrational is an intriguing, witty and utterly original look at why we all make illogical decisions.
Why can a 50p aspirin do what a 5p aspirin can't? If an item is "free" it must be a bargain, right? Why is everything relative, even when it shouldn't be? How do our expectations influence our actual opinions and decisions?
In this astounding book, behavioural economist Dan Ariely cuts to the heart of our strange behaviour, demonstrating how irrationality often supplants rational thought and that the reason for…
I’ve lived in four states because of corporate transfers. My background is college teaching/administration, and for each relocation, I found a new job, house, and social groups. This is what retirement is about, the opportunity to learn, re-invent, re-define yourself, and pursue new opportunities and passions. My biology/psychology/relocation background prepared me to address the non-financial aspects of retirement, and I know CPAs/CFPs willing to share their financial expertise. I’ve authored five retirement books, I’m the “Healthy Living” columnist for a magazine, and I’ve been speaking/writing about retirement for the past 22 years. I have a B.S., an M.Ed., and I’m ABD for my doctorate. I can also speak backwards fluently!
This gem of a book translates the results of Wes Moss’s survey of more than 2,000 happy retirees into ten actionable habits that help you achieve your best “second act.” I love the author’s easy, breezy writing style. Find out how many “core pursuits” are needed to make you a happier retiree!
The bestselling author of You Can Retire Sooner Than You Think and host of Money Matters reveals the 10 essential habits for a rich, rewarding, and blissful retirement.
What does it take to have a truly happy retirement? Is it money? A mortgage-free home? An active social life? A long-lasting marriage-or maybe a new one? Finance expert, author, and radio host Wes Moss asked more than 2,000 of the nation's happiest retirees to find out-and their answers may surprise you. Through a series of revealing surveys, Moss noticed a pattern of distinct, recognizable habits that the happiest retirees shared, from…
As a medical herbalist for over 25 years, I have long been treating people for chronic fatigue, post-viral fatigue, and, more recently, Long Covid. These days, there is so much stress to consider too, and I have recognized that stress has a major effect on the health of our bodies and also our life experience. One of my great interests in life is the wisdom of Nature, spirituality, and metaphysics. I love to combine medical science with spirituality, metaphysics, and Nature to contribute to helping people to feel their best through the wisdom of nature.
I read this easy-to-read book a long time ago, and it still has a positive influence on my life. Dr. Wayne Dyer gently explains the uselessness of negative thoughts such as guilt. He encourages self-empowerment by letting go of seeking the approval of others or pleasing people.
By stepping away from these exhausting, restrictive, and destructive negative thoughts, the reader learns that they can break free to be the real version of themselves, embracing all the wonders that life has to offer and creating the best version of themselves.
Dr Dyer is keen to encourage self-actualization, which is a psychological term whereby the reader achieves their full potential. Because of this book, I learned that I could be so much more than I ever believed I could, and I am.
THE RECORD-BREAKING, #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – OVER 35 MILLION COPIES SOLD
The first book by Wayne Dyer, author of the multimillion-copy bestseller Pulling Your Own Strings and national bestsellers There’s a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem and Wisdom of the Ages, a positive and practical guide to breaking free from the trap of negative thinking and enjoying life to the fullest.
If you're plagued by guilt or worry and find yourself unwittingly falling into the same old self-destructive patterns, then you have "erroneous zones" – whole facets of your approach to life that act as barriers to your…
As a wealth advisor for over 37 years, I find many people reach retirement lacking clarity and confidence. Traditional financial advice often focuses on things that are unknowable, uncontrollable, and frankly don’t matter that much. While sound technical investment, estate, and tax planning are critical, the soul’s need for meaning and purpose are as important as sound financial plans. The path to true financial peace may be simpler than you think. These books can help you focus on the fewer, more critical things so that you can thrive in retirement and free yourself from financial media which is not in business to support your vision of a meaningful life.
If you could only read one book on retirement planning (other than mine of course!), this is the one I’d recommend.
It covers a wide range of financial planning and investment topics: life-planning, goal-setting, investment strategy, financial stress-testing, spend-down strategies, tax-management, social security, Medicare, annuities, insurance, reverse mortgages, estate planning, elder abuse, and more
However, while comprehensive, it also does not get too “deep” in the weeds and is filled with wise counsel.
This is your one-stop, definitive resource as you prepare for a secure and comfortable retirement.
Investment and personal finance experts Larry Swedroe and Kevin Grogan present uniquely comprehensive coverage of every important aspect you need to think about as you approach retirement, including:
Social Security, Medicare, investment planning strategy, portfolio maintenance, preparing your heirs, retirement issues faced by women, the threat of elder financial abuse, going beyond financials to think about your happiness, and much more.
These topics are explained with the help of specialists in each subject. And everything is based on the…
I’ve been writing about birth for decades – how it became a medical process, managed by a surgical specialty in a factory-like setting. I’ve worked with contemporary midwives who are trying to reclaim birth, to move it back home, back to physiological and loving care. And over and over again, I see the similarities to the other gate of life – how death and dying also left home and went into the hospital, where people die, as they birth, pretty much alone – with perhaps a ‘visitor’ allowed. Covid made it worse – but in birth and death, it allowed the hospitals to return to what medicine considered essential: medical procedures, not human connections.
There was a death in my family years back, and somehow after a long and wrenching day at the hospital, we were sitting around my dining room table at a late-night long-delayed dinner – and we were laughing. My brother came into the kitchen, worried about the children present: what were they learning? I answered: They’re learning how to bury us. Death, even death – and I am heavily grieving a loss right now – can be a moment for laughter, the sheer absurdity of life, the grief and sorrow expressed in crying and in laughing. There are other good books that do this, that take a more intellectual approach – but honestly, I admire the chutzpah of Greenberg editing a book of cartoons on death.
The range is from the silly, the grim reaper at the door introducing the fat lady, ‘here to sing for you,' to ones that…
A volume of previously unpublished cartoons by top industry names celebrates the wayward experiences of the baby boomer generation with contributions by such artists as Leo Cullum, Jack Ziegler, and Lee Lorenz. 50,000 first printing.
As a life coach and author of two dozen self-help books, I’ve spent the past twenty years helping people prepare for, plan, and go through major life changes, such as the transition to retirement. I’ve interviewed dozens of retirees about the challenges and opportunities they’ve experienced during their retirement. I’ve designed this guide so you can be strategic in choosing your path, overcome challenges, and make adjustments to make the most of this chapter of your life.
Money is the biggest concern for most people thinking about retirement. Suze Orman is the queen of straight-talk about how best to manage your finances during this chapter of your life. She explains practical steps you need to take to make sure you have enough money to last your lifetime. I love that she is ruthless about making readers consider the long-term effects of their purchases and financial decisions.
THE PATH TO YOUR ULTIMATE RETIREMENT STARTS RIGHT HERE
When you think about planning for retirement - whether it's years in the future or just around the corner - you're bound to have questions. Can I ever afford to stop working? Will Social Security be there for me when I need it? How can I make my money last? Have I waited too long to start saving?
Suze Orman, America's most recognized expert on personal finance, answers all the questions that keep you up at night - starting with the biggest one: It is never too late to start planning…
My mom was an anthropologist, and when I was two, she took me to Sri Lanka, the island off the tip of India. After years of insisting that I wanted nothing to do with any social science, let alone anthropology, I ended up in graduate school studying… anthropology. Long story. Having taken up the family mantel, I returned to the village where I lived as a child and asked what had changed in the intervening years. Since then, my Sri Lankan interlocutors have suggested book topics that include labor migration, the use and abuse of alcohol, the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the challenges of aging.
Immigrants often try to reunite their families once they settle in their new home countries. This book looks at the experiences of elder Cantonese parents who have followed their children from China to the US. Newendorp’s sensitive ethnography reveals the joys, strains, and tensions as reunited families renegotiate the rules around family support, filial duty, and the rearing of Chinese-American grandkids.
The 21st century has seen growing numbers of seniors turning to migration in response to newfound challenges to traditional forms of retirement and old-age support, such as increased longevity, demographically aging populations, and global neoliberal trends reducing state welfare. Chinese-born migrants to the U.S. serve as an exemplary case of this trend, with 30 percent of all migrants since 1990 being at least 60 years old. This book tells their story, arguing that they demonstrate the significance of age as a mediating factor that is fundamentally important for considering how migration is experienced. The subjects of this study are situated…
I’ve been rather fixated with money and finances since I was a kid beating my friend's parents at Monopoly. I majored in economics and had a few rough years financially graduating into the depths of the great recession in 2010. In 2013 I completed my Master’s in finance and economics, took a day job in economic research, and have been moonlighting as a finance writer for the past five years.
This books takes the opposite approach to The Simple Path To Wealth; it covers a vast range of financial topics and historical figures while diving deep into the mathematics of a rational retirement plan. This book can be a challenging read at times, but it will make you smarter. Consider this a graduate school-level education in retirement.
The 800 years of scientific breakthroughs that will help salvage your retirement plans
Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Biology; every field has its intellectual giants who made breakthrough discoveries that changed the course of history. What about the topic of retirement planning? Is it a science? Or is retirement income planning just a collection of rules-of-thumb, financial products and sales pitches? In The 7 Most Important Equations for Your Retirement...And the Stories Behind Them Moshe Milevsky argues that twenty first century retirement income planning is indeed a science and has its foundations in the work of great sages who made conceptual and…
My obsession with decision-making books began in elementary school, when I read tons of Choose Your Own Adventure books. When I realized they wouldn’t prepare me for life (turns out, dragons are rare), I began reading others. I got an MBA at Stanford, where I took a class taught by labor economist Myra Strober that changed my life by helping me navigate the money and love decisions I encountered while climbing the corporate ladder at Gap Inc. and raising two young kids with my husband. My former professor and I wrote Money and Loveto empower more people to live more intentional lives and feel more confident about their big life decisions.
I love books about trends that make predictions, and Gratton and Scott’s book lays out very compelling evidence about how the increase in life expectancy will – and should – change the way we live. First, they lay out why the three stage model of life (education, work, retirement) doesn’t work as we live longer. Then, they draw on their complementary backgrounds in psychology and economics to tell us what we should do instead. From how to handle our money, to how to think about our careers and relationships, this book offers a recipe for making our extra years fulfilling and meaningful.
What will your 100-year life look like?
Does the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with dread? Or can you see the potential for a more stimulating future as a result of having so much extra time?
Many of us have been raised on the traditional notion of a three-stage approach to our working lives: education, followed by work and then retirement. But this well-established pathway is already beginning to collapse - life expectancy is rising, final-salary pensions are vanishing, and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers. Whether you are 18, 45 or 60,…
