Ready to Retire?: What You and Your Spouse Need to Know About the Reality of Retirement

Ready to Retire?

What You and Your Spouse Need to Know About The New Reality of Retirement

Conceived and written for those about to retire - or already in retirement and the women (and men) who live with them. Ready to Retire? helps people understand what they and their partners are going through as they meet the new reality of life beyond the workplace.

Cultural messaging has traditionally reinforced the idea of the man as bread winner and men have a particularly hard time making the retirement adjustment as they so often completely self-identify with their work. In light of this cultural trend, bestselling author and sociologist Lyndsay Green sets out to demystify retirement for men and their partners, and provides an engaging and uplifting portrait of the emotional landscape of men in their sixties and seventies.

While most books on this subject focus on finances, Lyndsay Green writes more about the psychological implications of retirement. More descriptive than instructional, the book is based on interviews with over sixty people, from age 56 to 88, living in cities, small towns and rural areas.

In spite of the fact that many men have a deep-rooted fear about retirement, and that so often their spouses can be baffled by their inability to express those fears and needs, Lyndsay Green discovered that the story of men’s retirement is mostly one of adjustment, revitalization and reinvention. Ready to Retire? is an inspiring portrait of the emotional lives of men who have retired or are considering retirement, and the women (and men) they live with.

“Is there life after work? In this insightful and generous book, Lyndsay Green challenges our assumptions about aging and retirement. Green finds that retirement is often one of the richest stages of life. Read this book. It will inspire and encourage you, and change how you think about what it means to grow older and “retire.” - Bernie Lucht, executive producer of CBC Radio's Ideas program from 1984-2012, and currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University

“Lyndsay Green doesn’t prescribe, much less preach. Instead, she brings together 61 men and women, who have lived through just about every variation on the subject (including non-retirement), and lets them talk. The result is a book that will speak to anyone who is within shouting distance of retirement, with common sense, encouragement and wisdom.” - Katherine Ashenburg, author of The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History

“Insightful, comprehensive, incredibly helpful. As a “delayed retiree” I found Lyndsay’s book touched on every issue that I have been thinking about. It’s not a retirement roadmap, but it tells me how to develop one!” - The Hon. John Manley, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, President and CEO of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives

“If you think aging and retirement inevitably means drink, depression, divorce and dementia , you better think again. Instead, read Lyndsay Green’s Ready to Retire? which deftly combines anecdote, literature, philosophy and social science to give the intelligent reader enlightenment through insight and empathy. Give this book to a dad, husband or friend who is contemplating retirement or who has already retired. I guarantee they will thank you.” - Michael Adams, President of the Environics Institute and author of Staying Alive: How Canadian Baby Boomers Will Work, Play and Find Meaning in the Second Half of their Adult Lives

“Ready to Retire? is a most interesting and helpful study of the new realities faced by those like myself who are now contemplating retirement and reinvention”. - The Hon. Roy McMurtry, O.C. O.Ont QC LSM, Former Chief Justice of Ontario