In Canada, the life expectancy of women is 84.6 years, for men it is 80.6 years. This means many 2026 retirees must plan for a 25+ year retirement window.

Question? Are you going to sit and wait for whatever comes along, or are you going to tackle the challenges and opportunities of retiring successfully?

Many pre-retirees have a pessimistic view of their non-working years. They do not expect much and in turn, that’s what they get. Whereby, others welcome retirement as a new beginning. They are energized by the thought of pursuing new life goals.

However, for most pre-retirees, they have only vague thoughts and feelings about what a successful retirement looks like. They have not thought about how they’re going to spend time, or what needs consideration when building a health and wellbeing strategy. They’ve not considered using legacy to guide their actions or how relationships between partners can, and likely will, change.

There is an Inuit parable which states, “We should speak to those who have journeyed far themselves – to learn from their experiences, their trials and their triumphs. We thirst for the knowledge and power that they used to complete their journey”. This parable can apply to those facing retirement.

For over 15 years, I’ve studied and written about how best to prepare for life after work. I’ve interviewed hundreds of successful and unsuccessful retirees. Presented to groups from 15 to 300. I’ve facilitated workshops to hundreds of groups large and small. I’ve learned the secrets on how to be a successful retiree.

One of the secrets is, building your own realistic and well-rounded vision of retirement, and creating and implementing a plan to make it happen!

In my most recent book, Retirement: The Ultimate Life Journey, I provide the reader with insights and direction without compromising the reader’s own decision-making process. I help the reader create their own unique retirement vision and plan. I provide detailed examples, self-reflective exercises, lessons from true stories, all designed to provide a pathway to making the transition from work to retirement.

I urge you to learn from those who have already made the journey. They show us the tools and techniques used and the dangers to be avoided.

Reading Retirement: The Ultimate Life Journey is the first step towards planning and achieving a happy and stimulating retirement.

I hope you enjoy the book!

Rick Atkinson (a.k.a. Mister Retirement)