Adobe PDF eBook Add to eBookBag Available copies:   2 Library copies:   2 File size:   2229 KB Digital ISBN:   1413302009 Release date:   Oct 28, 2005

Ready to pursue the rest of your life? Get going with Work Less, Live More. Professionally, you're experiencing the success that years of hard work brings -- but the long hours are taking their toll and you're burning out fast. Fortunately, there’s an alternative to the grind: Early semi-retirement. Work fewer hours, realize your goals and dreams, spend time with your loved ones -- and do it all years, even decades, before the "normal" retirement age of 65. With Work Less, Live More and a little planning, you can do it. The book provides a rational investment system based on Nobel Prize-winning research, a safe lifelong withdrawal plan and sensible spending guidelines. More importantly, the book provides inspiring stories and insights of many successful early semi-retirees, walking proof that meaningful work -- rather than full-time work -- is both fulfilling and rewarding. Are you ready to pursue the rest of your life? Turn to Work Less, Live More and get going.

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There must be some way out of here ... -- from "All Along the Watchtower," Bob Dylan There are a number of reasons why you might want to stop working fulltime well before you reach traditional retirement age. You may be reasonably happy at work, saving money, but wondering how long you can hold out against the gnawing sense that you're trading your life away. Or you may be a little further along, with ample savings, agonizing about whether you need to keep pounding away at a full-time career that no longer fires you up the way it once did. You may have tired of the long hours, the bills, the pressure, and the feeling there is never enough time to do the things that are important. Or you may just be ready to move on from what has come to feel like a constant diet of compromises, working for the man. You ask yourself: Do I really have to do this until I'm 65? Can I turn all this hard work into a ticket outta here? By husbanding your financial resources, managing your expenses, and making a commitment to graduate from the traditional workplace, you can safely cut back your time on the job by years, even decades. Lots of people are doing this now, leaving full-time work in their 40s and 50s, even some precocious ones in their 30s. They have plenty of time to relax and focus on living a life of clarity and purpose. And you can, too. A. Something Wrong in Paradise Working life was never supposed to be as stressful as it has become. A vibrant modern economy full of opportunity and well-paying jobs was supposed to mean we would all be happily challenged, with enough money to buy the things we needed. Then we would enjoy this bounty during the leisure time freed up by our sparkling efficiency. At least that was the theory. But something happened to derail that vision. Instead of enjoying more leisure as our earning power went up, we decided we'd have to work even more to pay for all the goodies we couldn't live without. In fact, we really needed two incomes just to afford a place in a decent neighborhood. Now, rather than feeling energized and challenged by work, we feel stressed and trapped. The problem has less to do with the nature of the work and more with the amount of time we spend there: The hours that American workers put in today should really be called Overwork. Most career-track professional employment requires 55 or more hours a week of sustained in-the-workplace effort, along with more labor at home or on the road checking email and catching up on relevant business news. The average American worker logs nearly 48 hours a week on the job. Some people can put in fewer hours, but the pace in their workplaces often makes it feel like more. And for many, leaving work early is like pasting a big target on their backs marked Fire Me First. With a mortgage, credit card debt, and an endless parade of bills, missing a few paychecks could even spell ruin. Life for many full-time workers has become an adrenaline rush of long hours, big spending, unrelenting stress, and poor health. RETIRING RETIREMENT? Plenty of people are uncomfortable using the term "retirement" to describe their lives after leaving full-time work. For them, that word conjures up images of frail elderly people who have hung up their spurs. If someone asks them what they do they simply say, "I take French lessons." Or "I am an investor." Or for the historically inclined, "I am a gentleman of leisure." They think of themselves as just living life -- not withdrawing from it in any sense. Even people who retire in their 60s often feel the term simply doesn't connote their active new lifestyles, with the phrase "phased retirement" now being used to refer to a raft of semi-retirement alternatives.

 

Early semi-retirement. Work fewer hours, realize your goals and dreams, spend time with your loved ones -- and do it all years, even decades, before the "normal" retirement age of 65. With Work Less, Live More and a little planning, you can do it. The book provides a rational investment system based on Nobel Prize-winning research, a safe lifelong withdrawal plan and sensible spending guidelines.

Introduction A. Something Wrong in Paradise B. The Solution: Early Semi-Retirement C. Escaping the World of Work: One Story D. How This Book Can Help E. A Look at Some Typical Early Retirees How to Use This Book A. Stages of Early Retirement B. A Quick Look at the Chapters 1. Figure Out Why You Want to Do This A. Why Work Seems Stale B. Work in Other Times and Cultures C. Planning to Make the Leap D. Moving From Work to Early Semi-Retirement 2. Live Below Your Means A. What It Means to Live Below Your Means B. Creating Your Spending Plan C. Determining Your Annual Spending D. Determining Your Means E. Planning for Changes F. Shifting Your Thinking to Reduce Spending G. Children and Early Retirement H. Retiring Outside the U.S. I. Deciding Whether It's Possible to Retire Early 3. Put Your Investing on Autopilot A. Help for the Beleaguered Investor B. Where Wall Street Goes Wrong C. Myths About Investing D. Prize-Winning Portfolio Theory E. Rational Investing F. Examples of Rational Investing Portfolios G. Rebalancing Your Portfolio 4. Take 4% Forever A. The Safe Withdrawal Rate B. The Safe Withdrawal Method C. Data and Results G. Using the Safe Withdrawal Method 5. Stop Worrying About Taxes A. Tax Benefits for Early Retirees B. Strategies for Lowering Taxes C. Comparing Taxes: Salary Earners and Early Semi-Retirees 6. Do Anything You Want, But Do Something A Why Work? B. How Work Evolves in Early Semi-Retirement C. Making the Shift D. Common Work Options for Early Retirees E. Unpaid Work Alternatives F. Advantages for the Early Semi-Retired Worker G. Finding New Activities 7. Don't Blow It A. Challenges of Early Retirement B. Special Advice for Couples 8. Make Your Life Matter A. Simple Steps for a Life Well-Lived B. Taking Your Pulse Appendix 1: The Asset Classes in the Rational Investing Portfolio Stocks Bonds Other Appendix 2: Resources Early Retirement Personal Finance Rational Investing Safe Withdrawal Rates Work/Life Issues Index

"Terrific advice on how to safely reach semi-retirement while still in the prime of life."

 

 

Work Less, Live More: The New Way to Retire Early by Bob Clyatt
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