Are you ready for a contemporary retirement?

My name is Ann Harrison and I'm a Retirement Options™ trained retirement coach and Too Young To Retire™ facilitator.  I’m passionate about helping people like you to get the happiest, healthiest, most vital, productive, energetic, prosperous and fulfilling retirement you could possibly have, whilst, at the same time, helping you to balance having the kind of retirement you want and deserve to have, with planning to meet your future needs.

I have a fun, compassionate, practical, down-to-earth coaching style.  I'm also a writer, blogger, trainer and creator of information products, having retired from my job in education management 8 years ago at the ripe old age of 43.  I'm the author of ebooks, 'The Retirement Detox Programme: 40 days to get your retirement back on track',

and 'Thought Provokers: Questions you need to ask yourself BEFORE you retire'.

For over 20 years, I've worked with individuals and groups as a life coach, manager, lecturer and trainer.  I trained as a coach with CoachU and the Graduate School of Coaching at Coachville.  In addition, I have a B.A. Honours Degree in Teaching and Training Studies, a Certificate in Education (Adults) and 8 other teaching and training-related qualifications.

I love to learn - particularly anything that will benefit my clients and make me a better coach.  Some of the recent courses I've participated in include:

The Couples Conversation: Helping couples transition into retirement

Tim Kelley's Purposeful Coach Training Program (Training to help people find their life purpose and discover the difference they are meant to make in the world)

The Wellness Inventory Certification Training (Training to enable me to use The Wellness Inventory - a holistic assessment and life balance program designed to help you gain personal insight into your state of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness)
 

I live in lively, vibrant Manchester in the UK but I coach clients from all over the world. 

To find a role model of a contemporary retiree, I don’t need to look much further than my own dad.  The first thing that my dad did upon retiring, was to enrol as an undergraduate student for a Bachelor’s degree in History.  Now, with his degree under his belt, he works as a volunteer museum guide, transcribes historical documents for the local library and is an active member of the town’s historical society.

Before his retirement, Dad was a marathon runner, and he continued to run in the London marathon until he was well into his 60’s.  At 76 years of age, he is still a competitive athlete (although over shorter distances these days), consistently clocking up race victories in his age group (the over 75's), and he coaches other, much younger runners from his running club (and still manages to keep up with them).

Recently, my Dad believed that he was going to have to call a halt to his running career because he began to suffer quite badly from an untreated hernia that he had had since he was a young man and which became much worse over a relatively short period of time.  Fortunately, he was admitted to hospital for corrective surgery quite quickly, had the op and was discharged from hospital the following day.  When I called him that afternoon to find out how he was doing, I caught him just as he was leaving the house to go for a walk (the day after his operation!) and he was able to resume his running and coaching within a very short space of time.

I believe that his remarkably rapid recovery was due to the fact that he is extremely fit and healthy.  The fact that he also keeps himself mentally agile, means that no-one ever believes him when he tells them that he is 76 and he could easily pass for a man 10 or 15 years younger than he actually is.  My dad is someone whom I would consider to be a great example of a man living a vital, healthy, prosperous, productive and fulfilling retirement...
 

Think about the following:

What would your ideal retirement look and feel like?

What is your definition of happiness at this stage of your life?

Do your vision of your ideal retirement and your definition of happiness at this stage of your life match those of your partner?

What is your definition of 'healthy togetherness' with your partner?  And does your partner share that definition?

Where do you want to spend your retirement and what factors are important when choosing a place to live at this stage in your life?

Do you have an interest in or a need for a second or retirement career?  What will that be and how much time do you want to devote to it?

How do you feel about your other relationships (for example, those with your friends, children, grandchildren and elderly parents)?  What expectations do they hold about your retirement?  Do your expectations and their's blend together?

Do you want or need to have more friends?

How many interests do you share with the important people in your life?  Have any of those interests been 'forced' onto you?  Are you still happy for that situation to continue?

Do you focus enough attention onto your health, wellbeing and illness prevention?

If you are single, how do you feel about meeting new people, now that you are no longer out working every day?

Have you been too cautious in your life thus far, or not cautious enough?  What needs to change?

What do you still want to be, do and have?

Are you being your authentic self and, if not, how would you like that situation to change during this next stage of your life?

Would you like to explore the answers to these questions with a certified retirement coach?