BEST RETIREMENT WEBSITES ACCORDING

TO THE RETIREMENT CAFÉ 

101 Retirement-Related Websites, Blogs, and Articles to Help You Retire Richer, Smarter, and Happier

This is a retirement directory of the 101 best retirement websites, the best retirement blogs, and the best retirement articles that provide retirement information which will help retirees retire richer, smarter, and happier.

1. Next Avenue: Next Avenue is a website launched for PBS by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) in St. Paul, MN. It offers news, advice, information, and stories aimed at seniors and baby boomers in the areas of Health & Well-Being, Money & Security, Work & Purpose, Living & Learning, and Caregiving.

2. US Government Website: Home page of the US Government's Official Web Portal for all government transactions, services, and information including links to Social Security and Retiree Benefits. This American Government Website includes links to Services such as Money and Taxes (Learn about taxes, money the government may owe you, investing, credit help, and more), Travel and Immigration (Learn about visiting, traveling within, and moving to the United States), Health (Find health resources from the government), Housing (Get information and services to help with finding and keeping a home,) and Jobs and Unemployment (Find out how and where to look for a new job or career, get help if you are unemployed, and more).

3. Retirement Income Calculator: Take an educated guess at how much money you will have to spend in retirement by estimating your retirement benefits at this U.S. Government website. If you currently have enough Social Security credits to qualify for benefits, you can use the Retirement Estimator for a retirement estimate based on current law and real time access to your earnings record.  The estimator provides an estimate of your retirement benefits comparable to the estimate you receive on your Social Security Statement each year, and lets you create additional "what if" retirement scenarios.

4. How to Retire Happy:  Your true nature is to retire happy, wild, and free. Never lose touch with it. You will, however, if you are not careful. The way to ensure that you have a happy retirement is to have a copy of The World's Best Retirement Book by Ernie Zelinski available at your fingertips. This webpage shows you why you should retire before you expire.

5. Retirement Quotes for Smart People: Part of the Sensational Quotes for Smart People Website which also has Funny, Inpsirational, and Motivational Quotations in the areas of Artists, Business, Cars, Creativity, Dancing, Dating, Education, Fame, Gambling, Hockey. Laughter, Life, Marriage, Opportunity, Single Life, Success, Travel, Work, and Writers.

6. Victory Lap Retirement: — Work While You Play. Play While You Work. The Joy of Financial Independence . . . At Any Age: This website/blog is an extension to Mike Drak's and Johnathan Chevrea's book Victory Lap Retirement. It is "A Retirement Book about Not Retiring".

7. 10 Great Retirement Books: US NEWS in an article about 10 Great Retirement Books by Steven Holbrook listed How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free in the Number 1 Position. "Retirement has long been seen as a time to settle down, grab a hot beverage and read a book or 10. Whether you’re already retired or preparing for it, these books are must-reads you’re looking to make the most of your golden years."

8. 6 Retirement Books You Should Read Now: In September 2014 the AARP (American Association of Retired People) posted this article on their website. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free was in the Number 6 Position.

9. Washington Post's The Best Websites for Boomers and Retirees by Rodney Brooks: Note that The Retirement Cafe is in the top-three after NextAvenue.org and the US News World Report's On Retirement".

10. Best Personal Finance Books for 2017: It's nice to see bloggers — even financial advisors at that — mention How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free even though it was first self-published 13 years ago. Financial writer Joseph Hogue mentions several really interesting financial books that I have never heard of. I will buy at least two of them even though my finances are in great shape. I like Hogue's comment about himself: "After taking control of my finances and learning how to make money in a job I love, I found a level of financial freedom that just has to be shared."

11. Ditch The Retirement Bucket List And Honey Do List For This: A curious list is better than the bucket list. "Don’t be cliché or old fashioned, ditch the retirement bucket list and honey do list for a new and more profound curious list. A good curious retirement list will support a balanced retirement that incorporates mental and physical health, social activities, financial well-being, and spiritual growth. It will also go a long way in helping you fill your time and replace our work identity."

12. The Top 5 Regrets of The Dying: When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. A palliative nurse recorded the most common regrets of the dying and put her findings into a book called The Top Five Regrets of The Dying. This was the most common regret of all: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” 

13  A Tale of Two Retirements: FIRE and Traditional. January 13, 2020 By Chris Mamula: Chris Mamula used principles of traditional retirement planning, combined with creative lifestyle design, to retire from a career as a physical therapist at age 41. After poor experiences with the financial industry early in his professional life, he educated himself on investing and tax planning. Now he draws on his experience to write about wealth building, DIY investing, financial planning, early retirement, and lifestyle design at Can I Retire Yet? In this blog post Kevin Knox in the comments says, "Ernie Zelinski’s books (How to Retire Happy Wild and Free and others) are exactly the kind of thing everyone should read BEFORE pulling the trigger and leaving the working world."

14. NPR Planet Money for Retirement. NPR Radio's Money Blog. Keep up with the global economy with news from this blog. Categories include, Asia's Financial Crisis, Currencies, Economic Scene, Europe's Financial Crisis, Fun With Economics, Standard of Living, Understanding The Crisis, Wall Street.

15. 5 Secrets to a Happy Retirement: In a recent survey of MONEY readers, 48% retirees reported being happier in retirement than expected; only 7% were disappointed.

16. Planning to Retire Blog: By U.S. News retirement reporter Emily Brandon tells you how plan financially for retirement and how to make the best of your retirement years.

17. The Vancity Retirement Calculator:  This is my favorite retirement calculator for Canadians. The Vancity Retirement Planner Calculator can help estimate the amount of savings that you may want for retirement. Punch in your numbers for your age, your estimated date of retirement, the number of years before you pass away, your financial needs for retirement and your various expected sources of income to get a sense of how long your money will last or how much you should have when you pass away. Make sure to create the graph that gives you the full picture. By flagging any shortfalls or surpluses, the calculator outlines the savings you may need to reach your financial goals for retirement.

18. AARP: Health, Travel, Baby Boomers, and Retirement Travel. AARP is a membership organization leading positive social change and delivering value to people age 50 and over through information, advocacy and service.

19: AARP The Magazine: The World's Largest Circulation Magazine for Retirees: serves the interests of people 50 and over. Editorial topics include money, health, travel, and retiree finances.

20. Alliance for Retired Americans: ARA is an activist voice for older Americans and is one of the largest organizations today representing senior citizens and their families. Created to spearhead the charge to enact a health care program for senior citizens -- Medicare. Has approximately 3 million members. 

21. Retirement Jobs and Retirement Businesses at The Real Success Resource Center: Retire to a Job You Love Instead of One You Love to Hate! Top-10 Retirement Jobs. Top-15 Cool Retirement Jobs. Retirement Jobs versus Retirement Businesses.

22. RETIREMENT FOR 35 YEARS ON $180,000: Peter Dunn, Special to USA TODAY, October 26, 2019: Can $180,000 really last 65-year-old, soon-to-be retiree until 100? It depends.

365 REASONS WHY RETIREMENT ROCKS — AND WORK SUCKS!

Purchase The Joy of Being Retired on Amazon.com

Purchase The Joy of Being Retired on Amazon.ca

23. The Retirement Quotes Café: A Comprehensive Collection of Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings for Any Occasion Including a Retirement Card or a Retirement Party. Also Retirement Letters, Retirement Speeches, and Retirement Poems to help you retire happy.

24. Squared Away Blog; Financial Behavior: Work, Save, Retire:  Weekly blog posts by Kimberley Blanton (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College) includes interesting research and comments on why some people handle their money masterly while others wind up in the financial gutter. Also, why some people manage to prepare for a healthy retirement while others fail to save a cent.

25. How to Keep Earning a Paycheck in Retirement: More Americans aged 65 and older are working than at any time since the turn of the century according to 2016 Pew Research Center. There are many part-time and full time opportunities for older Americans. Figuring out what professional path to pursue is not easy, however. Robert Powell, editor of Retirement Weekly, offers some tips on how to find rewarding work later in life in this USA TODAY article.

26. Redefining the Ideal Retirement: This article by Dan Kadlec is one of the better articles about retirement (in fact, one of the top-10 out of hundreds that I have read). He missed just one really important point, however — being able to afford to drink way too much wine with your friends!

27. Wikipedia: the online encyclopedia that is the work of 6,000 volunteers and covers a huge range of subjects including retirement and finance issues.

28.  How to Avoid Choosing the Wrong Retirement Paradise: Make sure your retirement location is right for you!

29. How a Couple Managed to Retire in Their Thirties: If you want to travel extensively in retirement, you should do so while you are still able to enjoy it. Travel requires a high degree of mental and physical energy. Winnie Tseng and Jeremy Jacobson have been enjoying themselves thoroughly after taking early retirement when they were both still in their thirties. The couple has been traveling around the world, using the income derived from their investment portfolio. This July 2015 article on the EJ Insight website explains how and why Tseng and Jacobson retired so early.

30.  Nursing Homes: Why They Cost So Much:  December 10, 2019: The non-profit chains are the most expensive. Their prices, adjusted for staffing levels, location and other facility-level factors, are about 6.6 percent more than the for-profit chains – or about $4,160 more annually – the study found. While the nonprofit chains are more expensive, they have also been shown to provide higher quality care, the researchent. Punch in all the data including your age, your estimated daers said.

31. 5 Things Rich People Say Beats Having $1 Million [for Retirement: Retired millionaires reveal their most important financial milestones, and you might be surprised at their answers. Rich retirees think these five financial milestones are more important than becoming a millionaire: 1. Retiring: 55 percent; 2. Paying off home mortgage: 43 percent; 3. Having the ability to pay cash for a new car or other special purchase: 31 percent; 4. Paying for children’s education: 28 percent; 5. Reaching a certain annual income level: 20 percent. 

32. Canada Retirement Income Calculator:  A step-by-step calculator shows you how much income you will receive annually through pensions, government benefits and investments. For educational purposes only.

33. PBS Video — Dinner and the World's Best Retirement Book: A Special PBS Video — Dinner and a Retirement Book Called How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. Aired: January 30, 2016. Length 26 minutes 54 seconds.

34. National Seniors Council of Canada: Takes into account the views of experts, seniors, retirement organizations and groups that provide seniors programs and services, provincial/territorial advisory bodies on seniors, and other interested parties and then provides advice to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, the Minister of Health, and the Secretary of State (Seniors).

35. Reddit - Financial independence / Early retirement from San Francisco, CA: This financial blog is for people who want to become Financially Independent (FI), which means not having to work for money. Financial Independence is associated with the concept of Early Retirement - quitting your job or career and pursuing other activities with your increased leisure time.

36. U.S. Government Department of Veterans Affairs: Information on veterans' benefits and other resources for the 25 million American veterans alive today.

37. A Complete Beginner’s Guide to 401(k) Plans: Trent Hamm on The Simple Dollar website offers advice on why people should take advantage of the 401(k) plans offered in their workplace. "It is an incredibly useful tool," says Trent, "for saving money for retirement." In short, A 401(k) plan offers a very simple opportunity for Americans to save for their retirement. "When you’re retired, the money from your 401(k) serves as 'income' on top of your Social Security check. It can easily turn a threadbare existence into a very rich and enjoyable one."

38. Budgeting & Savings Tips For Retirees: Financial advice on the right way to change spending habits and learn why the wrong ways don't work. Budgeting is an important tool to use at any age, although to many of us it sounds like a four letter word. Practical ideas for budgeting and saving that make managing expenses easy.

39. Is Early Retirement Great? For Some, It’s Hard Work to Have Fun: "While early retirement and a life of leisure may sound like the stuff of daydreams, the reality can be jarring for people who are used to being busy — and important. There can be boredom, a sense of isolation and a lot of awkward social questions," says Joanne Kaufman in the New York Times.

40. Retire Before Dad: Blog by an investor and blogger who is 43 years old and is based in the Washington, DC metro area. His major goal is to stop working before he turns 56, the age at whick his father retired. He hopes to combine both travel and family life in early retirement which is his primary motivation for financial independence.

41. My Federal Retirement: My Federal Retirement — with more than 2 million readers annually and 175,000+ subscribers to its free email newsletter — is the leading provider of financial and retirement planning information for federal and postal employees. This website/blog provides Federal Retirement Planning Resources for employees involved in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

42. 37 Things You Will Regret When You Are Older: To this list of 37 Things You Will Regret When You Are Older I would add:                         * Not having written a book.
 * Not having handled money properly so that you have plenty for retirement.
 * Not having made a much greater difference in this world.

43. 3 Misconceptions about Retirement in Canada: These are: “1. Most people don’t know their retirement date far in advance. 2. Only a minority become ‘snowbirds'. 3. Few people work part-time after retirement. The details on myth No. 1 were most interesting. “Among the survey respondents, 55 per cent expected to know their retirement date a year or more in advance. But just 39 per cent had that much notice. In fact, 16 per cent had no advance notice of their retirement.”

44. Retirement: A Full Time Job: The Unfettered Pursuit of Happiness After four years at a Big 8 accounting firm, and almost eighteen at a venture capital firm, Sydney Lagier is making her career-long fantasy of retiring in her 40's a reality.

45. Don't Make These Common Retirement Mistakes: Tammy Flanagan in Government Executive magazine regularly gives advice on how to prepare for life after government. In this article Tammy shares three common errors that can cost you more than just your pride after retirement. Tammy also states, "One of my all-time favorite books to prepare for the mental transition to retirement is How to Retire, Happy, Wild and Free by Ernie Zelinski."

46. BEING BUSY IN RETIREMENT USING THE GET-A-LIFE TREE: When my husband’s company was sold and he was not working for a while, my son bought him a book titled, The Joy of Not Working, by Ernie Zelinski. I’m sure it was kind of a joke, but I picked it up one day and started reading. It is meant to be a practical and reliable guide to create a paradise away from the workplace. It was written for the retired, unemployed or those that are working but not loving the 9-5. It’s a book meant to get you excited about life and when you wake up every morning, excited about the day. My favorite exercise in the book was The Get-a-Life Tree.

47. 100 Blogs That Will Make You Smarter: An Online Universities Blog Entry By Alisa Miller. Includes popular topics for retirees such as politics, news, sports, higher education, science, and art.

48. Vanguard Blog on Retirement - Valley Forge, PA: Blog Retirement Insights and opinions from Vanguard leaders. Ideas on how to build your retirement nest egg and make your savings last. Contributors conduct research and provides thought leadership on retirement topics around the globe and includes global retirement systems, personal finance, retirement planning, and portfolio construction strategies.

49. Seniors Discounts: SeniorDiscounts.com is an online directory of US businesses that offer age related discounts to people 50 years of age and older. The website lists over 150,000 business locations offering discounts. Includes the contact information, discount information and other information necessary to receive each discount.

50. The School of Life: Great for retirees who live in London, The School of Life is a new social enterprise offering good ideas for everyday retirement living. Based in a small shop in Central London this private educational institution offers a variety of programs and services on how to live wisely and well.

 

51. The 10 Best Personal Finance Books of 2020: Manage your money better with these reads" BY BEVERLY BIRD - Updated April 10, 2020. " Weirdly, it was through synchronicity that I found this article. For my new book "Money Wisdom for Smart People — Dummies Don't Bother," I was looking to add to my list of recommended financial books and the first result on Google was this webpage. Note that How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is number 9 out of number 10.

52. Where to Retire Magazine: The website of the magazine with more than 500,000 American and Canadian readers each issue. Where to Retire magazine covers all topics related to retirement relocation. Now in its 15th year in publication, the magazine may help you discover the ideal setting for a happy and fulfilling retirement.

53. UK Government Retirement and Pensions Webpage: The Pension Tracing Service can help you find the contact details of a personal or company pension scheme that you've lost touch with.

54.  The Best (and Worst) Places in the World to Retire: Are you planning a fruitful retirement? If so, you may want to consider emigrating to another country. Mercer’s annual Global Pension Index assesses the retirement income systems of 25 countries based on 40 categories that include savings, tax support, demography, regulation and communication.

55. Create Your Own Joyful Retirement: "Perhaps one of the most read authors on retirement is Ernie Zelinski, an authority on retiring. His books, How To Retire, Happy Wild and Free and The Joy of Not Working. Stresses his belief that ordinary people can attain out-of-the-ordinary results and make a difference in this world while still taking plenty of time off to enjoy life. I like his theory. When we venture on unscripted or out of the ordinary activities we gain the potential to fuel our souls and bring calm and satisfaction to our lives. We become better, happier people when we view retirement as a time to enjoy and reflect on the good aspects of life. It’s also an effective way to stay happily married in retirement!"

56. SeniorNet: America's leading nonprofit technology educator of older adults 50+ headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. Besides teaching retirees how to use computers, SeniorNet works toward raising awareness throughout the legislative community of the need for technology access and education for the nation’s older adult population.

57. The Joy of Not Working Website: Features The World's Best Retirement Book  and The World's Second Best Retirement Book. Real life success stories about people not working, 25 reasons to retire early, and retirement quotes, letters, jokes, and poems from an author whose books have sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide. The two retirement books mentioned above have together sold over 700,000 copies.  

58. Most Retirees Doing Very Well by Living on a Mere 66 Percent of Preretirement Income: Two major financial institutions — JPMorgan Chase & Co. and T. Rowe Price — provided studies in 2014 that most retirees are doing well with less income than they had while they were working. Both studies found that until Americans hit the latter retirement years, when health care expenses tend to scale up, they’re spending far less than 85 percent of their pre-retirement income, on average. Even the 70 percent number can look excessive.

59. The Joy of Being Retired: Besides featuring the retirement gift book The Joy of Being Retired: 365 Reasons Why Retirement Rocks — and Work Sucks!, this website also includes retirement resources such as retirement quotes, retirement poems, and snappy retirement cake sayings. Also, a collection of retirement poems to compliment and compete with the collection on The Retirement Poems Cafe by Ernie Zelinski.

60. The Fun at Work Cafe : For the  soon-to-be retired who want to have fun at work before they retire. This website has a webpage totally devoted to the soon-to-be retired.  

61. Mastering Midlife and Beyond: Why We're Flunking Retirement:Retirement today has become a “a depressing image,” according to Forbes and Mark S. Walton, a Peabody Award-Winning Journalist. Walton talks about how Horace Deets, who left his job at age 63 as Executive Director of AARP, was at one time the giant of the retirement industry but concluded that the very concept of retirement was absurd. Walton suggests that you, "Take some time off to rest and recharge between phases of your life’s work. Then, set your brain free to ponder what’s next. Let it chew on what fascinates you, what you’d really love doing and how you might go about it."

62. Bank On Yourself by Pamela Yellen: This blog by Pamela Yellen is a personal finance blog for Retirement and Investment Advice. It helps individuals take control of as well as grow and protect their finances. Blog articles include There’s a Good Chance You May Be Forced to Retire Sooner Than You Expect written on April 18, 2019.

63. Loneliness Can Be Hazardous To Your Health: A new research study from the University of Chicago shows that loneliness poses a significant health risk for older adults. The report looked at over 2,000 people over the age of 50 and looked at whether they were lonely or not. What they found is those who were lonely are at increased risk for all sorts of health problems. In fact, loneliness may be twice as unhealthy as obesity for older people.

64. 8 Unconventional Retirement Communities: Not anywhere that I would like to live in my retirement but some of these may appeal to other retirees.

65. Retirement Planning for Academics: This is an interesting and well-written article about retirement planning for academics. Retirement planning: it’s about more than money.

66. Retiring at 27: Ambitious, Lazy or Crazy?  Here is a guy who decided (when he was 21) to retire at 27 - and did it! He walked the talk, in other words. Some people will despise the guy, and want to take his money away, to give to the people who failed to save for retirement. But I admire him, and wish that I myself had been able to achieve what he did by the time I was 27.

67. Best Books About Money : Posted by Andrew | May 27, 2020: "After reading hundreds of personal finance books, I can tell you that some should definitely be read and do a very good job of explaining certain niche topics when it comes to money. Here are our top eight recommendations for the best books about money, organized by some of the most important pillars of finance." Note that How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is number 6 out of number 8.

 68. Retirement E-book: The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement:  Few things spice up an article, a book, a conversation, or a speech more than a great quotation. From a collection amassed over many years, this is a wonderful assortment of some of the most unpredictable, ridiculous, outrageous, humorous, motivational, and inspirational quotations about RETIREMENT.