THE RETIREMENT CAFÉ
By Ernie J. Zelinski

RETIREMENT WEBSITES RECOMMENDED

BY THE RETIREMENT CAFÉ

65 (Soon 101) Retirement-Related Websites and Blogs That Will Help You to Retire Richer, Smarter, and Happier

1. US Government Retirement Website for Seniors: Official information and services from the U.S. government for the retired and soon-to-be retired including money and financial issues.

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.

3. Retirement Income Calculator: Take an edcuated guess at how much money you will have to spend in retirement by estimating your retirement benefits at this U.S. Government website.

4. The Money Café: Where Money Talks with a Conscience: This website gives you free financial advice on how to make money, how to save money, and how to spend money wisely. Hopefully, this financial advice will help you put money in proper perspective so that you achieve prosperity beyond your wildest dreams.

5. The Retirement Planning Association of Canada: (RPAC) provides a multitude of resources to its members via a variety of education programs. Their members also assist corporations and unions in delivering effective retirement education programs for their employees and members. A source of relevant information on the changes in retirement planning in Canada for the general public.

6. Retirement Home Exchange: The premier international home exchange and home swap service. Home Exchange is the vacation alternative where two families agree to swap homes for a vacation. "You stay in my house while I stay in yours." Price Is $99.95 per year.

7. Elderhostel Adventures in Lifelong Learning® Educational Travel and Learning Vacations for Retirees Offers group educational travel adventures especially designed for grandparents (over age 55) and their grandchildren. Discover nearly 8,000 educational tours in all 50 states and more than 90 countries with Elderhostel, the not-for-profit leader in educational travel since 1975. Alongside local and renowned experts, experience in-depth and behind-the-scenes learning opportunities, from cultural tours and study cruises to walking, biking and more.

8. Social Security for Retirement: When should I retire? Can I retire? The three major elements of your retirement portfolio are benefits from pensions, savings and investments, and Social Security benefits. To help you plan for retirement, this government website allows you to apply online for your Social Security.

9. Benefits of an Economic Recession: This Website will help you see the positives of a recession and help you survive a recession if your sense of humor is still intact.

10. CNN.Money Retirement: Cover topic such as Finding the right retirement planner, spreading your retirement money around, retiring later for bigger pay day, Gambling with your retirement nest egg away versus letting your retirement money grow and Social Security's future.

11. 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.

12. For Do-It_Yourself Retirees: DIY Woodworking, Home Improvement, and Art Projects. From building a guitar to installing a toilet, retirees can learn how to do it all here.

13 A Better Retirement Life: Health and Medical News. From USA Today, this blog features all the latest news on health and wellness.

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. 43 Things: 43 Things.com can be a great way to achieve your retirement goals. You can post your retirement aspirations for all to see. Your retirement goals can include such things as getting out of debt, becoming financially independent, becoming a millionaire, and retiring early.

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. Money Guru Suze Orman: Author of the books The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying and Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan. Quotes from Suze Orman: "Invest in the known before the unknown."

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 Jobs: helps retirees to identify companies most-suited to older workers. Whether you are seeking to supplement your income, a new challenge, a way to get out and meet people, or another reason, this website is your source for finding part-time retirement jobs or full-time projects that match your lifestyle.

French Edition of 1001 Ways to Enjoy Your Retirement
- Published by Groupe Eyrolles in Paris, France

23. The Retirement Quotes Café: A Comprehensive Collection of Retirement Quotes and Retirement Sayings for Any Occassion Including a Retirement Card or a Retirement Party. Also Retirement Letters, Retirement Speeches, and Retirement Poems.

24. National Institute on Aging: This U.S. government website is of special interest as it has an easily navigated presentation on diseases like Alzheimer’s, arthritis and diabetes.

25. Canadian Senior Years: a site specifically designed for Canadian retirees over 50. Here you will find retirement information, articles, news and Canadian site links available for seniors on the web today!

26. VocationsVacations®: Live your retirement dream job or retiree business with VocationsVacations® before your career ends or after you retire. Learn how to work in your dream job with short one-on-one mentorship. The only company of its kind, VocationsVacations® enriches retirees lives by allowing them to test drive the cool retirement jobs that they fantasize about.

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. Health.com: Health.com is produced by editors and journalists dedicated to delivering accurate, trusted, up-to-date health and medical information, for consumers, including retirees. The website focuses on problem-solving content using real-life examples to help you make decisions during complicated, stressful times.

29. Healthoopedia: This website is a medical and health consumer information resource containing comprehensive and unbiased information in patient-friendly language from trusted sources on over 1,500 health topics, 70 focussed health centers, and more than 11,000 drugs and medications.

30. Health Canada: Health Canada is the Canadian Federal Government's department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health, while respecting individual choices and circumstances.

31. NIH Senior Health: A government health website that features health and wellness information for older adults from the National Institutes of Health.

32. 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.

33. U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Money and Financial Resources, Information, Advice, Research and Databases for Retirement Planners, Financial Advisors, Investors, and Consumers.

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. Seniors Canada: Government of Canada website with Information and Services relating to the areas of Care Facilities, Finances & Pensions, Health & Wellness, Housing, Legal Matters, Retirement, Seniors Networks, Travel & Leisure, and Work & Volunteering.

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

37. The Friendship Café: Where Best Friends Learn How to Become Great Friends. Friendship Is an Important Factor for a Happy Retirement. This Website Offers Friendship Tips, Friendship Advice, Friendship Quotes, Friendship Proverbs, and Friendship Poems.

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. Fiscal Fitness for Older Americans: Stretching Your Savings and
Shaping Up Your Financial Strategies. Advice from The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which has been publishing FDIC Consumer News quarterly since 1993 to help people protect and stretch their money.

40. Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement: from the U.S. Department
of Labor: "Know Your Retirement Needs Because Retirement is expensive," according to this website. It goes on to state that, "Experts estimate that you will need about 70 percent of your preretirement income to maintain your standard of living."

41. Retirement Planning Strategies for All Ages: A To-Do List for retirement planning.

42. National Save for Retirement Week: National Save for Retirement Week is the first American Congressional effort created to encourage more working Americans to save for retirement. It is a key event American employers use to inspire their employees to save more for retirement.

43. Debt Management Tips for Seniors: by Aleksandra Todorova Cites five overlooked debt-management strategies that can help retirees dig themselves out of a financial hole.

44. U.S. Internal Revenue Service Page for Seniors & Retirees: Tips for Seniors and Retirees in Preparing their Income Tax Returns. Cover common pitfalls for retirees and seniors to watch for when preparing their individual tax returns.

45. Canada Pension Plan: Official Government of Canada Website for Canadian retirees and soon-to-be retirees. Check out how big of a pension you can expect to get when you retire.

46. CARP: Non-government Canadian organization that claims it is committed to enhancing the quality of life for all Canadians as they age. Advocates social change that will bring financial security, equitable and timely access to health care and freedom from discrimination for seniors and retirees.

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. Travel and Recreation for Seniors: Official U.S. government website includes information on the Amtrak Senior Citizens Discount, Driving and Older Adults, Parks and Recreation Pass for Seniors and Tips for Seniors Traveling Abroad.

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. Retirement Living TV: RLTV is the website of the American cable network dedicated to serving the needs of adults 50+ with information and entertainment that inspires and changes the perception of aging. The network addresses a variety of subjects including health, finance, travel, reality, comedy and drama.

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. 100 Best Retirement and Finance Guides for Seniors:

55. Suddenly Senior by Frank Kaiser: Cited as “a place for everyone who's become a senior before their time.” Frank Kaiser specializes in senior jokes as well as useful information and poignant true stories for retirees.

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 T he 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 625,000 copies worldwide.

58. Sensationally Creative and Innovative: .

59. The Joy of Being Retired: 365 Reasons Why Retirement Rocks (and Work Sucks): A Retirement Gift Book for Individuals and Corporations to use as a retirement promotional giveaway.

60. The Fun at Work Cafe : For the soon-to-be retired who want to have fun at work before they retire.

61. Retirement Promotional Giveaways by VIP Books: The World's Best Retirement Book Is the Ideal Promotional Giveaway to Give to Retirees and the Soon-to-Be Retired.

62. The Retirement Planning Coach on Squidoo.

63. Retirement Letters on Squidoo: This webpage contains several sample retirement letters, not only written by employee to employer, but also ones written by employer to employee.

64. Retirement Speeches on Squidoo

65. Retirement Poems on Squidoo