I’m excited to tell you about it … and more!
Bottom line: The ebook version is available at amazon.com and many other country-based Amazon websites. The paperback version should be available on Amazon within days.
The price is US$9.99 for the ebook and will be US$14.99 for the paperback version, and whatever equivalents Amazon uses in other countries.
Online you get a free look inside the book. You can read the preface in full. That tells you what the book is about, in some detail. And also the full table of contents and the start of the book itself.
Now some details, because there’s much more that accompanies the book …
You’ll recall that initially I planned to write a book about life after full-time work that I tentatively named Freedom, Time, Happiness. (Let me refer to it as FTH, for short.) And most of my blog postings are a part of that book. Through the website and personal correspondence, I’ve learnt a lot from all of you.
- The initially planned FTH would be far too long.
- It’s interesting background, but it isn’t designed to be action-oriented.
- It needs to be better organized by subject-matter.
Well, here’s my solution.
Life Two is much shorter and consists of the essential elements of FTH. Like FTH, Life Two is a guided tour of the land of life after full-time work. It consists of 24 “Walks,” with me as your tour guide. Each of the Walks has an exercise at the end: not something with a “right or wrong” answer, but a way for you to apply the lessons to your own situation and create your own plans – that’s the action-oriented part.
Life Two is about one-quarter of the length of what FTH is growing to. The balance of FTH will be put on the website, as a companion volume that complements Life Two.
In order to make Life Two available widely, I’ve published it through Amazon and have deliberately put a modest price on it. FTH, on the website, will be free, as of course is access to the website. (And there’s no advertising on the website, and no sponsorship, and I don’t sell your name or aggregate data to anyone.)
I will organize the main content of FTH under four familiar headings:
- Happiness and psychology (because happiness is the destination);
- Investment (because that’s what powers the vehicle that gets us there);
- Longevity (because we should have an idea of how long that second life will be);
- Finance (putting it all together).
Over the years I’ve written some advanced thoughts on some of these topics – thoughts that may appeal to the enthusiasts among you. So, while I think of Life Two as a series of Walks, and FTH as a sort of hop-on-hop-off (or Hoho!) Bus Tour, I think of the advanced pieces as being on the Trail for Enthusiasts.
I’ll publish the sections of FTH, and the Trail for Enthusiasts, one at a time on the website, rather than all at once. When posted, some of the sections may not be complete, but I’ve written more than 95% of it all and I won’t hold up website publication just for the sake of completing it.
The posts that have formed the original basis for this website will remain. All the posts, back to the first one, will still be available here, along with readers’ comments, and new posts will be added so that you can continue to express and share your views – something I know you enjoy, and it educates me too. Thank you!
So I’m keeping everything that’s now in the website and improving it. While it’s being improved, it will continue to be available. All of that is feasible because it’s in the hands of the good folks at Out:think, an outstanding group that designed the website and continues to maintain it for me.
One further addition.
A new feature (available, free of course, on the website) will be a series of podcasts, designed and prepared with the respected Toronto firm Common Wealth to accompany and amplify the content of Life Two. They’re a link between the lessons for individuals in Life Two and FTH and the wider thoughts of some of the best thinkers around the world we’ve had the good fortune to meet. I’ll let you know when they’re available.
I hope you’ll bear with me through the process of revamping the website and gradually publishing FTH, and that you’ll enjoy the expanded version of the website even more than you enjoy the current version. And if you buy Life Two, that should please both you and me!
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12 Comments
I have written about retirement planning before and some of that material also relates to topics or issues that are being discussed here. Where relevant I draw on material from three sources: The Retirement Plan Solution (co-authored with Bob Collie and Matt Smith, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009), my foreword to Someday Rich (by Timothy Noonan and Matt Smith, also published by Wiley, 2012), and my occasional column The Art of Investment in the FT Money supplement of The Financial Times, published in the UK. I am grateful to the other authors and to The Financial Times for permission to use the material here.
Hi Don,
This is exciting news! Congratulations and I look forward to continuing to follow your writing and now, podcast!
Mary
Thanks very much, Mary, greatly appreciated!
Congratulations Don! Well done!
Thanks, Cindy! You’ll know what an effort this has been. Thanks for all your help — look for your name in my Thanks section.
Hi Don – that is absolutely fantastic news – CONGRATS!!!! I am buying the book immediately!!!
Hope you are well. We are loving Boston. Do let me know if you ever are close by….
Chantal
I’m delighted, Chantal! Will definitely be in touch if I’m anywhere near Boston. Look at the Thanks section and see if there’s a familiar name there … I really appreciate all your input.
Nicely done. Just a fantastic journey. Glad to know it is not the end. If I knew how to do the happy face thing, I would put it right HERE. Congratulations. I look forward to reading it.
Thanks, JJ — it’s so easy to visualize your happy face! Thanks also for being such a dear friend for such a long time and through so many episodes in my life.
Looking forward to lunch next month. Perhaps I’ll buy a copy for the FCA too?!
Thanks, Mike! Before you decide whether or not to buy a copy, you can read the entire Preface on Amazon, and that should enable you to see who might and who might not enjoy the book.
Don I’m 55 and stopped working Fridays a couple of years ago and hope to stop working Thursdays next year. I’m an investment surveyor in property in London so with some financial background but found your book so interesting in planning all aspects (of what used to be called retirement!).
My approach was to start chatting to older people a while ago and find out what made their life after work successful and that was it turns out a great idea but a bit haphazard. To find your book (via the FT article) has been a fantastic bonus and I look forward to putting it into action and spreading the word.
Thanks!
Steve
Thanks very much, Steve. You’ve made my day! Congratulations on your initiative in seeking insights from others — I’m glad the book was able to help. All the best for your own Life Two!