Get our latest book recommendations, author news, and competitions right to your inbox.
Published by Ulysses Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Find out how harnessing the powerful business principles of design thinking can make retirement your best chapter in life.
There is no one right time or way to retire. Retirement is a major life transition; but if you spend the time designing a future filled with promise and possibilities, the prospect can be utterly exciting and revitalizing. In Retirement by Design, professional mentor and coach Ida Abbott shows you how the innovative business principles behind design thinking can be applied to plan a rich, fulfilling, and more meaningful retirement. Her guided workbook uses a business-like approach to leaving business, making your switch much smoother and less jolting. Whether you’re considering a new place to settle down, working through financial planning, strategizing how to unwind a business, or deciding on which organizations you want to stay engaged with, making critical decisions takes a lot of organization, thought, and planning. Abbott shows how the five principles of design thinking will revolutionize your retirement-planning process:
The new and innovative, self-coaching approach of Retirement by Design helps you spearhead and navigate a major next step in life. Whether your retirement is 10 years away or swiftly approaching, this workbook ensures you will create a future that is perfectly tailored to you.
There is no one right time or way to retire. Retirement is a major life transition; but if you spend the time designing a future filled with promise and possibilities, the prospect can be utterly exciting and revitalizing. In Retirement by Design, professional mentor and coach Ida Abbott shows you how the innovative business principles behind design thinking can be applied to plan a rich, fulfilling, and more meaningful retirement. Her guided workbook uses a business-like approach to leaving business, making your switch much smoother and less jolting. Whether you’re considering a new place to settle down, working through financial planning, strategizing how to unwind a business, or deciding on which organizations you want to stay engaged with, making critical decisions takes a lot of organization, thought, and planning. Abbott shows how the five principles of design thinking will revolutionize your retirement-planning process:
- Empathy: Get inside the shoes of your future self. What will be important to that version of you?
- Define: Hone in on what is and will be most critical for you to focus on (whether it’s volunteering, family, activities, or skills).
- Ideate: Draw, scribble, brainstorm, and throw around as many different retirement scenarios as you can come up with.
- Prototype: If retiring across the country in Arizona sounds perfect—try it out first. Come up with opportunities to test out your scenarios with short trips and trial time off.
- Test: This is the fun part—get back to the drawing board and try more retirement scenarios (and future versions of yourself) before sitting down to make those life-changing decisions.
The new and innovative, self-coaching approach of Retirement by Design helps you spearhead and navigate a major next step in life. Whether your retirement is 10 years away or swiftly approaching, this workbook ensures you will create a future that is perfectly tailored to you.
Product Details
- Publisher: Ulysses Press (March 10, 2020)
- Length: 224 pages
- ISBN13: 9781646040582
Raves and Reviews
"Retirement by Design turns the daunting task of getting ready for retirement into the remarkably exciting, creative experience it always should be. Abbott. . . [has] built a revolutionary and healthy way to look at and plan for life’s next great adventure."
– Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and Founder of the Modern Elder Academy
"If the best way to predict the future is to create it, Ida Abbott’s Retirement by Design offers essential tools to help you figure out how to do just that. The practical, step-by-step exercises will help you slow down, think about what you really want, and provide the roadmap for a more fulfilling future. Buy this book before you buy a rocking chair!"
– Brigid Schulte, award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author of OVERWHELMED
"Retirement by Design presents a revolutionary and entirely professional take on planning for retirement--one that approaches the task like the exciting opportunity it is; and where endless options and tough decisions can be solved through creativity, experimentation and innovation."
– Marshall Goldsmith, New York Times #1 bestselling author of WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE and TRIGGERS
"By the time you have worked your way through this book, you will have a much clearer idea about the right retirement plan for you, and how to put it into action."
– Baby Boomer Retirement Blog
"Would you like a blueprint for your future based on your values, goals, family concerns and financial situation? This practical guide by retirement consultant Ida O. Abbott tells you how to make one. It starts with getting you to explore your attitudes—both positive and negative—about leaving your job, career or business. Next up: Think about who you want on your personal advisory and support team, because you’re going to need one. Obvious choices should be family and close friends whom your personal decisions will affect. Other members should include trusted professionals, such as your financial adviser and physician.
In addition to addressing practical issues like finances and family responsibilities, Ms. Abbot asks probing questions about your values, goals, interests and dreams. Answering these questions will help you fashion a future that accommodates all of those factors. She’ll also help with figuring out what comes next, whether it’s in volunteer or philanthropic work, taking courses, or joining clubs or community groups. An extensive appendix contains lots of additional helpful information and resources."
– Diane Cole, The Wall Street Journal
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Retirement by Design eBook 9781646040582
