Redefining Retirement: New Realities for Boomer Women.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Women in the Boomer years are the first generation of women to retire in massive numbers; they are creating a female retirement model to fit our rapidly changing world. With changes to life expectancy, family structures, and other social issues, the concept of retirement has evolved. Now, women in their 50s and 60s have to ask two questions: What are we going to do for the next 20 or 30 years? What are we going to live on while we do it? Most books on retirement are really financial planning guides. This work takes a different tact, assuming that an effective retirement plan has four parts: money, work, health, and relationships.

The authors make the point that it is not income level but spending level that defines lifestyle. They present strategies for ways to live on less and reduce costs, at the same time stressing that there are numerous possibilities for generating income after age 65. A strength of the financial planning section is a clear explanation of the government benefits available to Canadian retirees, with exact dollar amounts given for the current year.

Health in retirement cannot be separated from age-related medical problems. The most common ones are outlined, with a healthy lifestyle prescribed as a preventative approach.

For most people, leaving work means leaving a social structure that gives shape and meaning to their lives. Recognizing this, and the strong possibility, for Boomer women, of spending their last years living alone, the book stresses the importance of developing a social support network.

Retirement, the authors say, is not a one-time event but a journey that can — and should — be customized for the traveller. The work targets women contemplating retirement within 10 years, encouraging them to re-evaluate their relationships to work, community, family, and their own bodies. It is an overview, touching lightly on everything from RRSPs to incontinence, travel abroad to the death of a spouse. The style is uninspired but supported by the strengths of good organization, numerous useful references to both print and web resources, and some unique insights into the retirement phase of womanhood.