|
||
|
|
Reviews for Too Young to Retire (Plume 2004) From Publishers Weekly Fred Brock, The New York Times "This
little gem of a book offers sage advice." Tomorrow's
retirees are going to be anything but on a permanent holiday, and two recent books aim to
provide some emotional and psychological guidance for a time of life that for many may
become known as a postwork career. The first,
"Too Young to Retire," by Marika and Howard Stone, is an offshoot of a
Web site the authors run for retirees and those with aspirations to retire. The site,
www.2young2retire.com, includes stories about ordinary people who, instead of accepting
traditional retirement, have made transitions to new and what they consider more
interesting careers and lives. This little
gem of a book offers sage advice on everything from downsizing to diet and exercise. One
of my favorite chapters — "101 Opportunities for the Open-Minded" —
contains a list of new career opportunities that includes activities as diverse as
astrology, dog walking and teaching. In many cases, a Web address is provided to help you
start. The Stones practice what they preach. Mr. Stone, 68, left a marketing career at a publishing company to start the 2young2retire Web site in 1998; Mrs. Stone, 61, is a former freelance business writer who now teaches yoga. Anne
Fisher, ASK
ANNIE, Fortune.com Dear Not
Ready: The Stones would like to see the word "retirement" expunged from the language. "Look it up," they write. "It means 'withdraw' or 'retreat.' Doesn't 'renaissance' or 'graduation' or 'transition' better describe your post-career life?" They note that retirement as we usually think of it "is a relatively new concept.... A few generations ago, before Social Security and full-time leisure became embedded as the 'norm,' elders remained productive members of society." And at almost 56, with life expectancies what they are today, you're not even really an "elder" yet, are you? Both Too Young to Retire and the website are loaded with ideas that may spark some of your own—including dozens of case studies of people who have built great second careers doing what they love. One example: Danielle Bernstein, 55, after a long career in computers, started a new life based on her passion for hiking. She founded a nonprofit organization called Hiker to Hiker that encourages wilderness conservation. J. Leonard Hornstein, a former juvenile-court judge, stepped down from the bench in 1992 at age 62 and has since had two new careers: first as a law professor, and now, after getting the necessary certificate, as an elementary-school teacher. How can you get started down the path of identifying what you'd like to do next? The authors recommend these four initial steps:
After 34 years with one company, it may
be hard for you to do what car designers call "blue-sky thinking," letting your
imagination run where it will. Keep at it until you envision something that really gets
your motor running. And at this point in your life, with a financial cushion to fall back
on, you don't need to play it too safe. As hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky once told a
reporter, "I miss 100% of the shots I don't take." James A. Cox, MidWest
Book Review Motivational speaker Howard Stone and yoga teacher Marika Stone team up in Too Young To Retire: An Off-The-Road Map To The Rest Of Your Life to present readers with a down-to-earth instructional guide which is drawn from the authors own lives as a couple, their research, and several assorted case histories in order to present practical and effective alternatives to retirement -- including stimulating work and community service. From opportunities to earn money or participate in business, to volunteering one's time, to traveling for fun and profit, Too Young To Retire is an exciting and dynamic self-help instructional guide for charting new possibilities for the future and highly recommended reading -- especially for anyone over the age of 62 and not ready for the rocking chair/nursing home slide into oblivion. Warren Boroson, Daily Record " ... an easy-to-read, lively book, with
plenty of fresh, useful advice." A new book by Marika and Howard Stone, called "Too
Young to Retire" (A Plume Book, 2004), argues persuasively against retirement - even
for people with sunny dispositions. Retirement, they maintain, is "a social experiment
that has outlived its promise." They recommend that people older than 50 continue
working - ideally in their dream job but even volunteer work will do. The couple urge people to choose "daring adventures
over the risk-averse monotony their parents settled for." Work as we have known it "is gasping its last, which
means that retirement in the sense it has been understood since 1935, is most certainly
defunct." In their short (157 pages) book, the Stones give case
histories of people who shucked boring, high-paying jobs to follow their bliss … they
provide all sort of pep talks … they argue that you need far less money to retire on
than you think, if you live more simply … and they even castigate certain types of
vacations: "The problem with a luxury cruise or exclusive resort is that it can
insulate you from the experiences you travel for." A few years ago, they were worried about their retirement. "Could we idle away the hours making small talk,
puttering around the garden, decorating or redecorating our condo, and waiting for visits
from our (yet unborn) grandchildren to break the tedium of a life that was without
direction or purpose?" Howard had been in international advertising and magazine
publishing; Marika had been a journalist, English teacher and so forth. Today, she's the director of a Web site,
www.2young2retire.com, and a certified Kripalu yoga teacher. Howard is a certified life
coach. I would have liked the book even more if the authors had
provided more financial advice (such as: consider a no-load life-cycle fund) and engaged
in less sermonizing ("Think lovely thoughts. Adopt an attitude of gratitude. Seek out
laughter every day"). But it's an easy-to-read, lively book, with plenty of
fresh, useful advice. Author Bios
Interview or book Howard to speak about:
Contact: howard@2young2retire.com
Interview Marika on the following:
Contact: marika@2young2retire.com
Home |
Copyright
2007 2Young2Retire.com, All Rights Reserved |
|
A Community of Purpose
Howard
Stone is co-founder of 2young2retire and its spiritual center. He ended a
long career in international advertising sales and publishing and became a life coach at
age 64. Rejecting the idea of retirement -- a great place to visit but who would
want to live there -- he built a coaching practice on helping other mature people discover
their own later life callings and passions. Motivational speaking, coaching, writing
and 
Marika Stone, co-founder of
2young2retire and its editor- in-chief, has been a teacher of English and writing,
journalist, PR account executive, and small business owner with clients that included
Eastman Kodak and Sony. Her work has been published in Forbes, Careerjournal.com (Dow
Jones), Neatwomeninc.com, Seniority.co.uk., the Sunday Times (London), and scores of trade
journals. She intended to "retire" and write a family history. That plan
is on hold while she pursues the mission of retiring retirement, ending ageism in the
workplace, and helping people -- especially women of a certain age -- achieve their full
potential. She has three avenues for this: Too Young to Retire (the
book), the website