The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

Design Your Future. Embrace Your Freedom. Early Bird discounted registration is now open for our next  Designing Your New Life Group Program - with a Thursday group and a Friday group beginning in January. Each group is limited to 10 participants and only four spots are still open in each group. Learn more ____________________ Who wouldn't sign up for more joy? Steven Petrow, author of The Joy You Make:Find the Silver Linings–Even on Your Darkest Days, rejoins us to share what he's learned about joy - and how to cultivate more joy (and gratitude) in your life. Steven Petrow joins us from North Carolina. ____________________ Bio Steven Petrow’s new book is The Joy You Make: Find the Silver Linings–Even on Your Darkest Days. He first joined us in 2021 to discuss his book Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I Get Old. Steven Petrow is an award-winning journalist and book author who is best known for his Washington Post and New York Times essays on aging, health, and civility. He’s also an opinion columnist for USA Today,  where he writes about civil discourse and manners. Steven’s 2019 TED Talk, “3 Ways to Practice Civility” has been viewed nearly two million times and translated into 16 languages. He is the author of five other books, including Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners. He’s a much sought-after public speaker, and you’re likely to hear him when you stream NPR or one of your favorite  —  or least favorite  —  TV networks. Steven also served as the host and executive producer of “The Civilist,” a podcast from Public Radio International and North Carolina Public Radio WUNC. He is the author of five other books, the most recent of which is Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners. He’s a much sought-after public speaker, and you’re likely to hear him when you stream NPR or one of your favorite  —  or least favorite  —  TV networks. Steven also served as the host and executive producer of “The Civilist,” a podcast from Public Radio International and North Carolina Public Radio WUNC. _______________________ For More on Steven Petrow The Joy You Make: Find the Silver Linings–Even on Your Darkest Days Website _______________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode Helen Dennis podcast conversation Successful Aging - LA Daily News Three Good Things -  Gratitude practice - Martin Seligman __________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Are You Living Gratefully? – Kristi Nelson My Last Bad Day – Michael O’Brien Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman _____________________ Wise Quotes On Joy "And as I did research and talked to experts and scholars and regular people, I came to understand that joy manifests in many different ways and has broader ways to show up in our lives. And so that helped me to see that joy can be serene, joy can be loud, and can be beautiful. It can coexist with sorrow. But the intrinsic thing that I think defines joy is that it is about connection and gratitude. And so you can be happy. You can be happy by yourself in a way. You get a new car, I'm happy. You get a job promotion, I'm happy. It's fleeting, but you get the dopamine hit at the time. Joy kind of requires this interaction with others to make that connection, to sustain a connection. And in that way, joy is a state of being rather than a reaction to something else. I say happiness is about you, - and joy is about you and me. So that's a real important part of it. And then the other is that it just shows up in different ways in our lives, other than in the big ways that we think." On Learning to Cultivate More Joy "Lady Gaga said, you're born this way or not. But fortunately, neurologists and other scientists have been showing that many of these emotions can be learned. We're not stuck in our default settings for our lives. In a sense practice makes perfect.

A study by Stanford and Encore.org found that the majority of older adults want to give back in some way. Jim Ansara, an AARP 2024 Purpose Prize winner, is making a big difference in his retirement with his organization Build Health International. How might you redirect your skills and experience to make a difference? Jim Ansara joins us from Beverly , Massachusetts. ____________________ Bio Jim Ansara is a retired general contractor who founded Shawmut Design and Construction in Boston in the early 1980’s and led it to become one of the top 25 construction companies in the US. While at Shawmut he led several volunteer teams of employees to build low-tech, clean water systems in Nicaragua with the organization, El Porvenir. After retiring as Chairman of the Board, Jim redirected his energy to the developing world. In 2009 a trip to Haiti with Dr. Paul Farmer led to an invitation to build a small community hospital with Partners in Health (PIH) in Haiti’s Central Plateau. The process took a major turn when a massive earthquake struck the country on January 10, 2010. For three-and-a-half years after the earthquake, through the outbreak of cholera and political unrest, through hurricanes and unbearable heat, Jim, his partner Dr. David Walton of PIH, and hundreds of Haitian and Dominican workers persevered to build Haiti’s new 340-bed National Teaching Hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. Since its completion, the mission to build and equip global health care infrastructure has continued via a new non-profit, Build Health International, based in Beverly, MA. The BHI team has undertaken projects in low-resource settings across 22 countries with PIH, the Kellogg Foundation, Cure International, Direct Relief International and numerous other NGOS. For Jim’s philanthropy he has received Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from Amherst College and Salem State University, as well as distinction from Partners in Health, Health Equity International, The American Red Cross Northeast MA Chapter, the Political Asylum and Immigration Representation Project, Summer Search Boston, and more. He serves on the board of Health Equity International, and in years past on the boards of Salem State University, the Boston Children’s Museum, Youth Build, and City Year. _____________________ For More on Jim Ansara Build Health International (BHI) Health Equity Humanitarian Delivers Hospitals for the Poor ____________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Changing the World One Small Act at a Time – Brad Aronson Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller The Best Day of My Life So Far – Benita Cooper Why People Make a Career Change with Purpose Top of Mind – Chris Farrell ____________________ Wise Quotes On Learning and New Challenges in Retirement "I'm passionate about tackling challenges and solving problems. And one of the things that really excites me in life is learning, not necessarily learning in traditional methods, but learning by sort of immersion, where I'm trying to keep my nose and mouth just above the flood tide. And I need a level of sort of challenge and the accompanying freneticism in my life to really be happy. I'd like it to be different. I'd like to be a more relaxed and easy-going person, but at 67, that's not going to change probably. So it's really a combination of those two things. And I found, and this is an area, Build Health International, where I could really exercise both of those things. It's informative about who I am and who I'm not." On the Transition to Retirement "I'd like to say that I got to where I am by lots of self reflection and and and that kind of thing, but it's not true. I really fell into it. But I kept sort of trying to figure out what was next for me. And I was also clear on what I didn't want to do. I knew some people who had sold companies and made some money, and many of them manage their money and got into business, either as consultants or advisors.

What's the future of aging - and how could it impact your healthspan and longevity? Lauren Dunning of the Milken Institute shares her insights on this topic and key trends in innovative housing options and technology for older adults. Lauren Dunning joins us from Santa Monica, California. ________________ Bio Lauren Dunning is a director on the Future of Aging team at the Milken Institute, where she develops initiatives and strategic partnerships that advance healthy longevity and financial security across the life course. In her role, Dunning oversees the Future of Aging Advisory Board, a group of global leaders across sectors that provides advisement, expertise, and collaboration to maximize the impact of the Institute's work on aging. Before joining the Milken Institute, Dunning served in key policy leadership roles over ten years at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, most recently as the director of Government Affairs. She has written and presented on a variety of issues spanning health and aging, and is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Dunning holds a JD from Georgetown University Law Center, a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a bachelor's degree from George Washington University. She works at the Milken Institute's Santa Monica office. ______________________ For More on Lauren Dunning Website Milken Insitute Report: Innovative Financing and Care Models to Scale Affordable Housing Solutions for Middle-Income Older Adults _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Age Tech Revolution – Keren Etkin Thriving in Place – Lisa Cini Where to Retire – Silvia Ascarelli The Mutual Benefits of Intergenerational Volunteering – Atalaya Sergi _______________________ Wise Quotes On Healthspan "We have four major practice areas where we work to promote healthspan, advance integrated care solutions, improve dementia care and accelerate financial longevity preparedness. Now, those four practice areas are kind of a shorthand for where are there opportunities, but how do we overcome challenges associated with them? So just looking at, for example, healthspan. So healthspan is the number of years an individual lives in good health. And normally we compare this to life span and we've seen incredible gains in life span over the past hundred years. And that's an amazing opportunity. More time to enjoy time with our families to contribute, to build, to be part of our society and communities. Those are incredible opportunities. But in order to realize them fully, we have to think about healthspan. We need to get our healthspans to match our lifespans. But healthspans globally, they've lagged, with sources putting that gap up to 10 years. That's a big gap that people might spend living in poorer health than they might want. And we're not quite going in the right direction with that, the health span lifespan gap is actually widening. So we need to reverse this trend...But the thing about healthspan is there's so many levers that people have available to them to work on their healthspan, and to work on their years lived in good health. As a society, we have so many ways to promote health span. And then as individuals, we can look at our chronic disease risk, social engagement and purpose and promoting well being." On Intergenerational Volunteering "Intergenerational connections are good for us. There's important benefits for participants on both sides of the age spectrum, but also for society. And maybe that gets us to another misconception, which is that intergenerational connections or relationships are about just one age group giving to another age group, right? So it's this picture that somebody is giving their time and it's intrinsically tied to volunteerism. There can be intergenerational programs and initiatives that are focused on building intergenerational connect...

There's a lot more to retirement than financial planning. If you're planning for retirement and thinking about how to retire, you'll need to consider both sides of the equation. The new  book by Christine Benz, How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement, leverages insights from 20 experts on the financial and non-financial aspects of retirement planning. Christine Benz joins us fro the Chicago area. ______________________ Bio Christine Benz is the author of How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement. She is Morningstar's Director of Personal Finance, a position she has held since early 2008. In that capacity, she writes and edits a monthly newsletter, Practical Finance, which advises do-it-yourself investors on every aspect of the financial-planning process. She also writes a weekly column, "Improving Your Finances," on Morningstar.com, and was the creator of Morningstar's "The Short Answer" column, which is geared toward investors just starting out. She is widely quoted in the media, including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and MarketWatch, and has been a frequent guest on CNBC, PBS' Nightly Business Report, and Fox Business News. Since joining Morningstar in 1993, Christine has been a central part of Morningstar's effort to deliver quality financial investment information to Morningstar's 6 million-plus clients. As an analyst and editor, she has served as Morningstar's director of mutual fund analysis. Prior to assuming that position, she was editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds and Morningstar FundInvestor. Christine co-authored the company's first book, "The Morningstar® Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success," a national bestseller published by John Wiley & Sons in 2003, and was the lead author of the book's second edition. Christine's book, "Morningstar's 30-Minute Money Solutions," provides readers with the necessary guidance in tackling money challenges and building a comprehensive financial plan in easy-to-manage increments. Christine holds a bachelor's degree in political science and Russian/East European studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg. She is an avid cook, a political junkie, and a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan. _____________________ For More on Christine Benz How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement Morningstar _____________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like The Good Life – Marc Schulz, PhD The Power of Reinvention – Joanne Lipman The Retirement Savings Time Bomb – Ed Slott Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD _____________________ Mentioned in This Podcast Episode The Key Decisions for Retirement Success – Wade Pfau What Are The Keys To A Successful Retirement? Fritz Gilbert Taking Stock – Dr. Jordan Grumet _____________________ Wise Quotes On Purpose in Retirement "Definitely get your in retirement bucket list for keeping yourself entertained and happy. But ideally you would also have some things that are giving you a sense of purpose, some things that you're relaxing from. And I think most of us, even while we're working, have reference points for this, that the vacation that you had after that time when you were really, really busy is just all the sweeter because you feel like you really earned it. And I think the same holds true in retirement, that if you can bring that balance, that sense of your accomplishing things, and it doesn't really matter what it is...It's very individual specific, but just something that is purpose that is not pure relaxation, I think you'll enjoy your relaxation that much more. " On Sabbaticals and Phased Retirement "Laura Carstensen in the book, she's a researcher at Stanford. I love that conversation that she and I had, but I also love her body of research because it's about real human beings.

A lot changes when you retire. That can be daunting, but it also presents valuable opportunities. It gives you a window to recreate a new approach to life now that you'll have the time and freedom to pursue what you'd like to do. Teresa Amabile, co-author of the new book Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You, joins us to discuss the key lessons from over 200 interviews with 120 people and their experiences in retiring. Teresa Amabile joins us from Massachusetts. _____________________ Bio Teresa Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emerita and a Director of Research at Harvard Business School. Originally educated as a chemist, Teresa received her doctorate in psychology from Stanford University. She studies how everyday life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Teresa's research encompasses creativity, productivity, innovation, and inner work life - the confluence of emotions, perceptions, and motivation that people experience as they react to events at work. Teresa’s work has earned several awards: the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Management’s OB Division (2018); the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2017); the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israel Organizational Behavior Conference (2018); the Center for Creative Leadership Best Paper Award (in Leadership Quarterly) (2005); and the Torrance Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (1998). In 2020, she was named one of the top 50 scholars, by citation count, in business/management (PLOS Biology). She has presented her theories, research results, and practical implications to various groups in business, government, and education, including Apple, IDEO, Procter & Gamble, Roche Pharma, Genentech, TEDx Atlanta, the Society for Human Resource Management, Pfizer, and the World Economic Forum. In addition to participating in various executive programs at Harvard Business School, she created the MBA course Managing for Creativity, and has taught several courses to first-year MBA students. Teresa was the host/instructor of Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, a 26-part instructional series originally produced for broadcast on PBS. She was a director of Seaman Corporation for 25 years, and has served on the boards of other organizations. Teresa's discoveries appear in her book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work. The book, based on research into nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from over 200 professionals inside organizations, illuminates how everyday events at work can impact employee engagement and creative productivity. Published in August 2011 by Harvard Business Review Press, the book is co-authored with Teresa's husband and collaborator, Steven Kramer, Ph.D. Her other books include Creativity in Context and Growing Up Creative. Teresa has published over 100 scholarly articles and chapters, in outlets including top journals in psychology (such as Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and American Psychologist) and in management (Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal). She is also the author of The Work Preference Inventory and KEYS to Creativity and Innovation. Teresa has used insights from her research in working with various groups in business, government, and education, including Procter & Gamble, Novartis International AG, Motorola, IDEO, and the Creative Education Foundation. ___________________ For More on Teresa Amabile Retiring: Creating a Life That Works for You  by Teresa M. Amabile , Lotte Bailyn, Marcy Crary , Douglas T. Hall  and Kathy E. Kram ___________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta The Balancing Act in Retirement – Stew Friedman Retirement Rookies – Stephen & Karen Kreider Yoder

It's time to look back at our best podcast conversations from earlier this year. We've covered smart moves you can make to optimize your physical and cognitive health and longevity; how a Life Calculator can give you a wake up call and stop you from procrastinating, and why more people are rejecting the idea of a traditional retirement - and choosing their own adventure. We also explored why our retirement system in the US needs an overhaul; how you can make today your last bad day; how social connections affect your health - and what you can do about it. Listen in for insights to help you retire smarter. Want to listen it any of of the full conversations? How Not to Age –Dr. Michael Greger  Live Like You Mean It - Jodi Wellman Why We Remember - Charan Ranganath Unretired - Mark Walton My Last Bad Day - Michael O’Brien The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy - Teresa Ghilarducci The Laws of Connection - David Robson ______________________ Other Best Of Episodes You May Like Best of 2024-Part One Best of The Retirement Wisdom Podcast 2023 – Part Two The Very Best of 2022 The Best of 2021 – Retirement Wisdom _______________________ About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host  Joe Casey is the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. He’s an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.4 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference.

What constitutes a good life? Marc Schulz, co-author of The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, highlights useful insights from the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has been running for over eight decades. You'll hear advice you can use in building your good life. Marc Schulz joins us from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. _____________________ Bio Marc Schulz is the associate director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and the Sue Kardas PhD 1971 Chair in Psychology at Bryn Mawr College. He also directs the Data Science Program and previously chaired the psychology department and Clinical Developmental Psychology PhD program at Bryn Mawr. Dr. Schulz received his BA from Amherst College and his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a practicing therapist with postdoctoral training in health and clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School. ______________________ For More on Marc Schulz The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness ______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer _______________________ Wise Quotes On Relationships and Well-Being "One is a finding that should be familiar to many of your listeners. We really want to take care of our body like we're going to be in it for a long time. Let's shoot for 100 years. And what does that mean? That means that we want to move our body. Exercise is good for us. We want to avoid smoking. We want to moderate our drinking of alcohol. And we also want to, particularly as we age, to go to doctors and make sure that we're getting treatments that are important to maintain our health, because many of us develop different kinds of challenges as we get older, physical and medical challenges that are important to take care of. The study also has made important contributions to recognizing that stuff happens to all of us, that very few lives happen without adversity, and how we meet adversity, and particularly the feelings and emotions that adversity tends to engender, are really important for our health and our well -being. But the big finding, and this is the finding that we talk about most in our book, The Good Life, is that it's very clear across this 86 years of research, and hundreds of papers, that the most important predictor of health and happiness throughout the lifespan is the quality of our relationships with others. How connected we are, how much we can rely on other support, and how much we're able to do that are really key predictors of how happy we'll be and how healthy we will be. And it's all kinds of relationships. It's not just the person who you may have been lucky enough to spend a good portion of your time with. So it's not just our marital partners or our intimate partners, it's friends, neighbors, people we work with, people in our communities, it's all types of relationships that matter." On Social Fitness "So we talk about this idea of social fitness as being really important. Obviously, it's a metaphor like physical fitness and some of the lessons about physical fitness apply here. We want to, first of all, assess where we are, and to be thoughtful about where we are. And this comes from our research when we interviewed people, for example, in their 80s and we asked if they had regrets. Most of the regrets that people had had to do with losses in relationships. People that they had been friendly with, that they lost touch with, people who maybe they hadn't been as kind to as they wish they had. And this could be the person that they were married to. It could be children. It could be people they worked with. But people talked about remorse and regret around not building and sustaining relationships over life.

What's that sound? Our guest today explains that it's the retirement savings bomb ticking louder. Listen in and get smarter about RMDs, Roth IRAs - and the tax bomb that's ticking louder for you. Ed Slott joins us from New York. _______________________ Bio Ed Slott is the author of The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks Louder: How to Avoid Unnecessary Tax Landmines, Defuse the Latest Threats to Your Retirement Savings and Ignite Your Financial Freedom. Ed is a nationally recognized IRA distribution expert, professional speaker, television personality, and best-selling author. He is known for his unparalleled ability to turn advanced tax strategies into understandable, actionable and entertaining advice. He has been named “The Best Source for IRA Advice” by The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today wrote, “It would be tough to find anyone who knows more about IRAs than CPA Slott.” As president and founder of Ed Slott and Company, LLC, the nation’s leading source of accurate, timely IRA expertise and analysis to financial advisors, institutions, consumers and media, he provides: Advanced training to financial professionals to become knowledgeable recognized leaders in the retirement marketplace; and 2. Answers to retirement savers’ most important questions, continually providing practical, easy-to- understand information on IRA, retirement, tax and financial planning topics. Mr. Slott is a Professor of Practice at The American College of Financial Services and regularly presents on IRA and estate planning strategies at both consumer events and conferences for financial advisors, insurance professionals, CPAs and attorneys, including virtual events drawing thousands of attendees nationwide. He has provided topical keynote presentations for leading financial membership organizations, including the Financial Planning Association, National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, Estate Planning Councils and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as leading corporate financial firms coast-to-coast. Mr. Slott is an accomplished author of many financial and retirement-focused books, including most recently Ed Slott’s Retirement Decisions Guide: 2021 Edition (IRAHelp, 2021) and Fund Your Future: A Tax-Smart Savings Plan in Your 20s and 30s (IRAHelp, 2021) with The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb (Penguin Random House, 2021). He also hosts the popular website irahelp.com as a resource for financial professionals and consumers, where The Slott Report blog is followed by tens of thousands of readers. As the go-to resource for media on timely insight on breaking news as it relates to retirement and tax planning laws and strategies, Mr. Slott is often quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Kiplinger, Investor’s Business Daily and numerous additional national magazines and financial publications. He provides a monthly Q&A column to AARP and is also a contributing columnist and media resource to Financial Planning, Financial Advisor and Investment News magazines. He has appeared on many national television and radio programs, including NBC, ABC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, FOX , FOXBUSINESS, NPR, Bloomberg and Morningstar. ______________________ For More on Ed Slott Website  The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks Louder ______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like An Economist’s Take on Retirement Planning – Larry Kotlikoff The Balancing Act in Retirement – Stew Friedman Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson Independence Day – Steve Lopez _______________________ Wise Quotes On The Retirement Savings Tax Bomb "I think it's reaching a point where in my latest book, I call it The Retirement Savings Time Bomb Ticks Louder, in big letters, because I'm worried this ticking tax time bomb, if you can say that three times fast. The ticking tax time bomb you asked me about is simply the tax bill growing inside your I...

Make no mistake. There's a lot you can't control about your retirement. The economy. The markets. That neighbor. But there is something you can control that will make a big difference in your quality of life. Your mindset. Michael O'Brien shares his compelling story and how he learned how to prevent bad moments from turning into bad days. Michael O'Brien joins us from the Garden State of New Jersey. _______________________ Bio Michael O’Brien is President and Founder of Peloton Coaching and Consulting. As a certified executive coach, he has advised, motivated, and inspired Fortune 500 executives, entrepreneurs, and other difference-makers at organizations like Brother International and Johnson and Johnson. He also serves as a mentor and volunteer with organizations that promote professional growth, such as the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association and James Madison University’s College of Business. Before starting Peloton Coaching and Consulting, he was a healthcare sales and marketing executive and received his marketing degree from James Madison University. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters. Michael is the author of two books, his inspiring memoir: Shift: Creating Better Tomorrows: Winning at Work and in Life and the companion work, My Last Bad Day Shift: How to Prevent Bad Moments from Turning into Bad Days: a practical and powerful guide to lead a life free of bad days. ________________________ For More on Michael O'Brien Shift: Creating Better Tomorrows: Winning at Work and in Life My Last Bad Day Shift: How to Prevent Bad Moments from Turning into Bad Days Website ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Self-Compassion – Dr. Kristin Neff The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman Taking Stock – Dr. Jordan Grumet _______________________ Wise Quotes On His Last Bad Day "But as I went through my recovery, I tried to put up this good front, like, Okay, we're going to make it. But I wasn't believing any of my hype. A mentor came to me and said, Hey, listen, everything in your life is neutral until you label it. You get to look at this any way you want to. And so then I started to realize, Okay, well, we're all living moments. Every day is filled with a whole bunch of moments. And if I have people in my life who I love and love me back, then I can't call a full day a bad one. That's why I came back to call my, that accident day, my last bad day. I've had definitely bad moments since then, but I still have a lot of love in my life. So I can't call a full day a bad one. But I also knew this, that I had to find a way to ground myself because my recovery felt so overwhelming. I had to figure out, much like in sports, how to slow the game down. Everything was just coming at me, much like life today. And I just knew I had to slow things down a bit to create some space so I could be thoughtful and intentional about how I wanted to go forward." On Who You Surround Yourself With "I think it's very important to surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. And I think this is a big thing because for a lot of us men, especially as we think about retirement, a lot of our relationships are work relationships that we think those guys are our friends, but they're really our colleagues. And some of them are friends, and they'll stay friends for a while. And I think it's very important to surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. But it's a minority of the relationships we have, maybe on one hand or both hands. So as we go into this next phase of our lives, into retirement, men or women, it's good to have people around you who can bring out the best in you, to help maybe clarify things when you get stuck or challenge you so you can be the best you can be - or to be there in celebration or to be there for a crisis or some type of comfort.

Retiring right requires a smart strategy. And if you didn't get started early in your retirement planning, the second best time to start is now. Rick Atkinson, Founder & President of RA Retirement Advisors in Toronto, shares his insights and advice. ___________________________ It's Back to School time. Here's your reading list to peruse: Best Books on Retirement ___________________________ Bio Rick Atkinson is Founder & President of RA Retirement Advisors specializing in retirement planning. For over 15 years, Rick has been helping people live their ideal retirement. As a human resources management specialist with over 30 years’ experience in industry and government service, Rick honed his understanding of what is required to lead a satisfying life after work. He then transferred this to writing and speaking about retirement planning and facilitating workshops and coaching. He is the author of five books including Don’t Just Retire – Live It, Love It! and Strategies for Retiring Right! Rick has written lead stories for well-known journals, as well as stories for various daily Canadian newspapers, and has appeared on Canadian radio and TV. Rick is an acclaimed speaker on holistic retirement planning appearing at groups from 10 to 300. He has spoken at conferences and service groups across Canada, and facilitates workshops and webinars for companies, cities, government agencies and religious organizations and service clubs. Rick has an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia. He is also a CHRP (Certified Human Resources Professional); CMC (Certified Management Consultant); Advanced Level, Ontario Society of Training & Development. Recently made a Fellow of Distinguished Financial Services (FDFS) for his service as an influential thought leader. As a point of pride and growth, for 10 years, Rick travelled extensively to Canada’s Arctic as a CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization) volunteer advisor to mentor Inuit supervisors and managers, and to impart his human resources knowledge and insights. Rick’s volunteering was part of the Government of Nunavut’s Initiative Program. ___________________________ For More on Rick Atkinson Books Website ___________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Design Your Life and Get Unstuck – Dave Evans Retire Happy – Dr. Catherine Sanderson Why Retirement is About Much More Than Money – Ted Kaufman & Bruce Hiland Ready to ROAR? – Michael Clinton ____________________________ Wise Quotes On Deciding When to Retire "So I think this whole piece of work stress for some, but for some others, what I found is that they have a feeling of unfulfillness -  that work is holding them back, that they've got things that they want to pursue, a passion project. They want to start a business,. They want to do extensive traveling. But there are others that, and I've had this myself, people saying, Why aren't you retired? You're X years old. Why are you still working? I met a couple and the wife had said to the husband, I didn't sign up for this. He just told me he's not going to retire. I thought we would have time together. There's another situation that says, is this the right time? I've met many people who have sat down with their financial advisor and the financial advisor had said, You know what, you got enough money to keep you going well into your 90s. And they walk out of the office and say, Hey, maybe that's it." On Mistakes to Avoid in Planning for Retirement "Oh, there's a whole myriad of things that you need time to think about these and plan for them rather than just the day you retire. Another mistake that I find that people make is that they concentrate so much on the money. The recession in 2008 devastated a whole bunch of folks and their retirement monies. And to my mind, it's not the money that you amass,

Time to take charge of your future? Design Your New Life in Retirement ________________________ Transitioning to retirement comes with challenges. And what if you love the work you're retiring from? That makes it harder. Our guest today, Cathy Bishop-Clark shares her experiences in transitioning to retirement - and why you'll want to have a retirement mentor. Cathy Bishop-Clark joins us from Ohio. ________________________ Bio Cathy Bishop-Clark recently retired after a 34-year career at Miami University of Ohio. She finished her career as Associate Provost of Miami’s regional campuses.  and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Applied Sciences. Prior to her Dean position, she was a professor in the Computer and Information Technology Department, a Department Chair, Assistant Dean and Associate Dean. She has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, an M.S. in Quantitative Analysis and a doctorate in Educational Foundations.  Over a period of 34 years she taught a variety of computing classes and she has published over 40 articles and a book, most of which related to the scholarship of teaching and learning. She enjoys exercise and new adventures including hiking, kayaking, camping bicycling, learning new things, and traveling.  A couple years ago she rode her bicycle across America. She and her husband (who was a third grade teacher) have two adult daughters and a son-in-law. Cathy and her husband both retired a year ago.  While her husband has excelled at retirement, Cathy has found the transition more difficult.  To help her learn about that transition she took Joe Casey’s group program, intensely studied retirement and taught a course on the topic of retirement this past Spring. ________________________ Mentioned in This Episode Riley Moynes Andy Robin Barbara O'Neill ________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like If You Love Your Work, What Challenges Will You Face in Retirement? – Michelle Pannor Silver The Power of Reinvention – Joanne Lipman Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller _________________________ Wise Quotes  On Having a Retirement Mentor "...and he talked about one thing that really resonated with me that I have paid attention to - and that is having a retirement mentor. You don't think about that right? Everybody thinks about having a work mentor. We have mentors at work and I had  done this in a way before I retired. I invited people who had retired to lunch and I said Okay what do I need to know about retirement? But the thing is everybody's retirement journey is so different and so some would say things like There's nothing to know about retirement. It's it's so easy and it's so great and there's nothing to learn. And other people would say Well, you know I struggled a lot with the schedule." And so interestingly, my retirement mentor has been the same career mentor that I had and she retired about five years ahead of me. I admire what she has done and so I continue to use her as my retirement mentor." On Trying New Things "So first for about a year a half, you just have a great big honeymoon. It's just fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. And then you start looking at different things to do. And then you start feeling a loss. Well, I think I simultaneously, like on day one, jumped in on all three things simultaneously. So I did vacation, in fact, and since we retired in May, I've been on nine different trips and I've been to Colorado many times, that's where my daughters are, Norway, Michigan, New York, Galapagos Islands. So we did lots of honeymooning and vacation. And then at the same time, I did a lot of experimentation. I took some new classes through a retirement group. I explored some new things, with my husband, we explored some new faith communities. We hired a personal trainer. I got into yoga. I started to deeply understand our financial planning. I had known it as a superficial level.

Check our Best Books for Retirement ________________________ Have you considered phased retirement? Most working people dream about that day when they'll ride off into the sunset and into retirement. But a full stop retirement isn't for everyone. It can make the transition to retirement quite challenging. Many people are choosing insread to glide into retirement. Phased retirement is trending as a way to gradually retire, on your own terms. It's essential a flexible work arrangement. Our guest today is Jennifer Barnes, a CEO, who shares her experiences with phased retirement in her company. Jennifer Barnes joins us from San Diego. ________________________ Bio Jennifer Barnes, CEO of Optima Office, graduated with a Finance and Marketing degree from the University of Arizona, earned an MBA from San Diego State University, and completed the Becker CPA coursework. She spent 15 years as a Controller for numerous companies and non-profits throughout San Diego before starting her first company in 2012, which was the 5th fastest-growing company in San Diego in 2016 and made the Inc 5000 in 2017 and 2018. Jennifer has won numerous awards as the CEO of the two companies she founded. Her favorite is the best place to work because having high retention and happy staff is what drives her. Both of her companies have made it into the Inc 5000 and SDBJ’s fastest-growing companies list. Between 2021-2023, Jennifer was named Woman of the Year by SDBJ, received the top corporate citizen award, made it in SD’s top 500 most influential leaders, and the top 50 Women of Influence in Accounting and Finance for two years in a row. She was also recognized as a finalist for the Entrepreneur of The Year 2024 Pacific Southwest program. Jennifer has sat on many boards in her career and currently sits on the board of The Better Business Bureau, NuFund Venture Group (formerly Tech Coast Angels), Junior Achievement, and a publicly traded company, Presidio Property Trust (SQFT). She volunteers her time at SDSU and the REC at Miramar College by participating in mentor programs and as a judge in various student competitions. She is currently a member of Rotary 33, Vistage International, Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), Young Executives Council, and Social Venture Partners. ______________________ For More on Jennifer Barnes Company Website Fortune Article: I’m a CEO and 12 of my employees are in ‘flextirement.’ With boomers opting not to retire, the arrangement will become more common _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like  Is Your Company Ready for the Aging Workforce? – Paul Rupert Unretired – Mark S. Walton _______________________ Mentioned in This Episode Poem - The Summer Day by Mary Oliver _______________________ Wise Quotes  On Why Phased Retirement Works  "What's interesting, Joe, is that at Optima, we've always had a flexible work environment and we didn't really think about it as flex retirement because we've always allowed employees to work whatever hours made sense for them. But as we looked at our workforce, we realized that many of our employees are over 50, some over 60 and some are even 70 and over. And what we find with these employees is they have a wealth of knowledge. They are so experienced, they've worked in so many different industries, and they can really add a ton of value to our clients. And so if we can capture these people's attention and get them to work with us on hours that make sense for them, whether it's 16 hours a week or 30 hours a week or somewhere in between, it is incredibly efficient. It is such a huge value add to our clients. The employees themselves really get a chance to work for different companies and not fully retire but still be engaged and many of them say, keeps them young." On Leading a Team with Flexible Retirement "When we're on, we're on. And so when you're billing clients and you're working on an hourly basis to help peop...

The early registration discount for Design Your Life in Retirement ends on August 15th. Register here ______________________ If you're pondering early retirement, have you considered another option? For some people a sabbatical offers an an opportunity to recharge, reflect and to experience a new adventure. Steve Hoffman's book A Season for That details the experience of an extended leave with his family in a winemaking village in France. It may inspire you to imagine what a sabbatical experience may do for you. While your vision for a sabbatical may be quite different, you'll be interested in hearing what he learned from it - and how it's shaping his ideas about retirement. Steve Hoffman joins us from Minnesota. _______________________ Mentioned in This Episode The Sabbatical Project | Inspiration for the Experience of a Lifetime _______________________ Bio Steve Hoffman is a Minnesota tax preparer and food writer. When he dies, the tax-preparer-food-writer industry will die with him. He is a French speaker and shameless Francophile. His writing has won multiple awards, including the 2019 James Beard M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. He has been published in Food & Wine, The Washington Post, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Artful Living magazine. His first book, A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France, published in July 2024, edited by Francis Lam. It is the story of his family's gradual (then precipitous) acceptance into a tiny winemaking village, of his bottom-up education in Mediterranean food and wine, and of a hard-won self-acceptance in mid-life. Hoffman shares one acre on Turtle Lake, in Shoreview, Minnesota, with his wife, Mary Jo, their elderly and entitled puggle, Jack, roughly 80,000 honeybees, and a nesting pair of sandhill cranes who summer in the back yard. _______________________ For More on Steve Hoffman A Season for That: Lost and Found in the Other Southern France Website _______________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Practicing Retirement STILL – Mary Jo Hoffman Inward Traveler – Francine Toder PhD _______________________ Wise Quotes On Investments for Retirement "I would wish on behalf of my clients that they started spending their money a little bit earlier in a lot of cases. Money is a means not an end. It's very easy to slide that over into the 401k and you're watching that grow and it seems as if you're accomplishing something that's more or less automated. And there can be a form of losing sight of other important things that are really also investments, if you think about family, if you think about friendships, and if you think about skills that are outside of work. Those are investments too, and they have an ROI, and they pay off later and they require a certain amount of deferred gratification, but they're in many ways as important. But I do think that those other things are more intangible, they're harder to put a price tag on." On Seasons of Life "And when you live in wine country you realize not every vintage is better than the last vintages. There are good vintages and bad vintages, but they come around every single year, and you live your life there by saying, Okay, this is the season for the harvest, this is all we do right now, this is what this part of the world is offering us, and we have no choice but to do this because this is what the season tells us we need to do. And if that leads to a bad vintage, that's okay, you did your best. And then that same harvest is going to come around next year, and you're going to give it another effort. So I just found it a really refreshing way of looking at life. And then there is an additional element to that which is that there are sort of seasons of the year, but then there are seasons of a life. And there are times when you need to be a parent, and you can't do other things that you might like to...

Do you have your affairs in order? There's a lot to consider with something that is often put off: End-of-Life Planning. Attorney Adam Zuckerman, founder of Buried in Work, a website with resources to simplify estate planning and end-of life planning tasks. Adam joins us to discuss the steps you should take, the differences between wills and trusts, how assets are distributed and more. Adam Zuckerman joins us from Maryland. ______________________ Bio Adam Zuckerman is an experienced attorney and the founder of Buried in Work. His platform focuses on making estate planning accessible and comprehensive for everyone. Adam’s personal experiences and professional expertise make him a visionary in transforming how we think about securing our legacies. Formerly, he was Director, Ventures & Innovation at Discovery, Inc. His role was often described as the company’s global intrapreneur and futurist,responsible for identifying new technologies for implementation, investing in startups, and serving as the primary contact for startups. Adam earned his BA in Political Science, and his JD, and MBA from Washington, University in St. Louis. _____________________ For More on Adam Zuckerman Website - Buried in Work.com _____________________ Podcast Episodes  You May Like Living Like You Mean It – Jodi Wellman Ride or Die – Jarie Bolander On My Way Back to You – Sarah Cart ____________________ Mentioned in This Episode In Memoriam - Bob Newhart _____________________ Wise Quotes On Estate Planning "Using the legal background and my business background, I was executor. My Mom's still around. I hopped in and started taking very diligent notes of everything that I was doing to transition the estate. When I met with my Mom's financial planner to show her everything I had done and I was literally, this is the reason why I called this company Buried in Work. This is the form that I filled out. She said it was the most comprehensive transition she's ever seen in her life and I had to give it away. We created a website. We thought it would just be a small site that had a few tips and tricks to help people in a similar situation. What we found was very surprising. In under a week, we had over 10,000 visits to the website and since then it has turned into an online repository for do-it-yourselfers and for people that are seeking guided approach and help for end of life products, for estate tips, for simplification of that entire process. Buried in Work came out of an experience and is helping a lot of people. Most people think that having a will or having a trust is estate planning, and that is a very comprehensive component to it. It's a foundational component to it, but the reality is, it is so much more than that. Comprehensive estate planning really means that you have to have your family members, your heirs, your loved ones in a position to step in, in the event that you are incapacitated. It leads up to everything. They have to have advanced directives in place to know where they are, because the reality is that after you pass away, the estate takes on average in America 570 hours to administer, and that's a lot of time that most people don't have. So what comprehensive estate planning really means is positioning everyone to have the information and the resources they need, so when things do get tough and complicated, they aren't figuring things out for the first time." On Getting Organized "Our recommendation is first of all, get organized. Figure out what you want to do. Get all your documents in place because that is an important step in the process. In step three, you have to tell those individuals who are going to be impacted and the key people in your life. Because if you have these documents in place and they don't know where to go and look, then it's as if they don't exist at all. " _______________________ About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring,

Don't put it off: Design Your New Life in Retirement Group Program Register here ______________________ Last week before heading off on a family vacation in Colorado, I was reminded of the power of a deadline. Getting things done before vacation is one thing, but are there things you really want to do but are putting them off? Jodi Wellman, author of  You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets, discusses how to leverage the power of  temporal scarcity, and offers practical advice on how to break out of autopilot to live more fully.  Jodi Wellman challenges us to confront our mortality head-on and use it as motivation to live more purposefully. Her work combines insights from Positive Psychology and her personal experiences, with a refreshing take on how awareness of death can actually enhance our lives. You'll want to try out Jodi's Life Calculator and discover how to "live like we mean it." Jodi Wellman joins us from California. ___________________ Bio Jodi Wellman is a former corporate executive turned executive coach and the author of You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets. She has a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she is an instructor in the Master's program and a trainer in the world-renowned Penn Resilience Program. She is a Professional Certified Coach with the ICF and a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from CTI. She has coached and spoken with clients like American Express, Fidelity, pwc, Royal Bank of Canada, BMW, and more, and runs her own business, Four Thousand Mondays. She lives between Palm Springs and Chicago with her husband and cat, Andy. _________________________ For More on Jodi Wellman You Only Die Once: How To Make It To The End With No Regrets Website Life Calculator _________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Edit Your Life – Elisabeth Sharp McKetta Happier Hour – Cassie Holmes, PhD The Wisdom and Wonder of Uncertainty – Maggie Jackson The Portfolio Life – Christina Wallace __________________________ Wise Quotes On The Value of Deadlines "And it's all about how when we are made aware, consciously, we focus on the ending of something that is temporary or rare, like a limited time only thing. Well, our perception of its value definitely increases. If we knew we would live forever, which sometimes is a fantasy. And to be honest, other than it sounding exhausting, if we knew we were going to live forever, we would never take action on anything because there'd be no real literal deadline. You'd just say, Yeah, I'll go and take that college course maybe like in the next thousand years, because you could do it. But we'd never get anything really done. We unfortunately need the deadline and it can be a bummer, but it's the activating force that can help us to get going on our dreams and our intentions." On the Life Calculator "So my company, I called 4,000 Mondays, because we roughly get 4,000 weeks, with the math of working backwards. First of all, if you want to calculate how many Mondays you have lived so far, good for you. And let's celebrate those years and Mondays. That's amazing. But more importantly, what do you have left? So for example, I know I have 1,814 left if I live an average female life to 83. Men live till an average of 78, at least in the US to make this a localized calculation. And the math would be that you take either the 83 or the 78 or 80 if you don't identify with other gender, and minus your current age, and then multiply by 52. And that number is designed to make you go Oh!" On Identity & Purpose in Retirement "Identity is a real thing. A lot of people will end up re-evaluating life in a new retirement or even, have been in retirement for a while. and say, it actually gives me such delight to know that my purpose is to just be a really good grandfather or I'm the best dog parent there is,