Monday, May 17, 2010

Canadian Edition of The World's Best Retirement Book

I received this e-mail the other day:


    From: Jerry M
    To: vip-books
    Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 7:17 AM
    Subject: How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

    Hi there,

    I was wondering if there are two versions of your retirement book - Canadian and American. I'd love to purchase a copy of the Canadian version (if there is one). If not, does VIP sell copies via email? None of the local bookstores seem to have a copy, and Amazon has a two week waiting period.

    Thank you!

    Jerry M.
    Nova Scotia
This was my reply:

    Hello Jerry:

    Actually, there are a Canadian version and an American version of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. The two editions are the same except for the cover.

    Unfortunately, retirees would have ten times the chance of finding a copy of the book in a Barnes and Noble store in the U.S. as they would in a Chapters store in Canada.

    (This is typical of Canadians who won't support Canadians but will support Americans; I won't get into this, however.)

    I sell copies of the book directly to people but I don't accept Visa. For example, just this last week the University of British Columbia Pension Fund ordered 25 copies of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free but they are paying me by cheque.

    The problem with you sending me a cheque is that you will still have to wait about two weeks from the time you send the cheque to me, the time I receive it, and the time it takes for me to send you the book.

    If you would like to do this, the price will be $20 plus GST plus about $3 for shipping for a total of $24.00. If you would like two copies, then send a total of $40.00.

    Make the cheque out to "Ernie Zelinski" and send to:

    Ernie Zelinski
    P.O. Box 4072
    Edmonton, AB
    T6E 4S8

    As an aside, here is the promo about the book that I send to companies:

    Just a reminder that a happy retirement is dependent on a number of factors as detailed in my book How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor).

    This book has already sold over 120,000 copies and has been published in 8 foreign languages since it was released.

    Conduct a search for "retirement" or "retire" on www.Amazon.com and How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free appears in the number 1 position. Better still, search for "retirement book" in Google and the Amazon page for How to Retire Happy appears in the number 1 spot — out of over 29 million webpages!

    What sets this retirement book apart from all the others is its holistic approach to the fears, hopes, and dreams that people have about retirement. This international bestseller goes way beyond the numbers that is often the main focus of retirement planning in most retirement books.

    There are many ingredients of a happy retirement and several retirement planning tools that help retirees plan for their retirement in new and more meaningful ways. One of the most powerful tools is The Get-a-Life Tree that you won't find in any other retirement books.

    I have attached the E-book (in PDF format) with over half of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free that is available as a free download on the Creative Free E-Books Webpage at the Real Success Resource Center.

    I have also attached the PowerPoint Slide that indicates the benefits that your company can attain by giving away copies of The World's Best Retirement Book.

    Please feel free to forward both the E-book and Slide to any of your colleagues, friends, and clients who may be interested in using this book as a gift for retiring employees or clients.

    Many thanks and so long for now,

    Ernie J. Zelinski

    Best-Selling Author, Innovator, and Creativity Consultant
    Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
    (Over 120,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
    and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
    (Over 240,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)






    ****************************************************************************************************************

    Note: This is a one-time notification about How to Retire Happy, Wild & Free. Please do not consider it as SPAM.

    If you have any objections, please respond and we will not send you further e-mails about our other retirement giveaway e-books that we intend to release.

    Our retirement books are designed for corporations so that they can create GOODNESS, COOLNESS, and AWARENESS with clients and customers.

    Even more important, our funky retirement books such as 365 Reasons Why You Will Love Retirement help retirees and the soon-to-be retired to earn their retirement karma points so that they retire happy.

    *****************************************************************************************************************

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Lazy Persons Guide to Success - For Workers and Retirees


I recently received this e-mail:


    hi!

    im joaquin Diaz Cieri from Argentina and i just finished El exito de los perezosos (The Lazy Person's Guide to Success ) and it changed my point of view of the life, job, relationship, carrer, etc.

    I keep working on my lifestyle so i hope i can live in the way you tell us.

    just wanna say to you: THANKS! THANKS ! THANKS!

This was my reply:




Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Retirement Needs and Wants Are Two Different Things




This comes from a recent press release by Hewitts Associates:
    Four in Five Americans Not Expected to Meet all Their Financial Needs

    Typical U.S. employees will need to have resources equal to more than 15 times their final pay to maintain their standard of living after they retire, according to analysts at Hewitt Associates Inc. About 80% of workers may fall short of meeting all their financial needs in retirement, says Hewitt Associates.

    The figures come from a Hewitt study of projected retirement savings totals of about 2 million employees at 84 large U.S. companies.


First, are we talking about "wants" or "needs"?

Plain and simple, everyone's needs have always been provided — otherwise they would be dead.

The problem with U.S. society today is that a need is any luxury that the neighbor happens to have.

Second, actuaries such as well-known Malcolm Hamilton give good reasons why the large majority of retirees, whether they live in Canada, the U.S., or other Western nations, can live on far less than 80 percent of their pre-retirement income.

Indeed, government statistics indicate that retirees live comfortably on 45 percent to 62 percent of their pre-retirement income.

Although these studies by Hewitt and financial institutions indicate that retirees will require a relatively high retirement income to support these "needs", the writing is on the wall: Most retirees will be living on a small fraction of the income that they made working.

And my guess is that many of these retirees will be just as happy as when they were working - or even happier.

My guess is based on the number of people who have written to me over the years about their experiences with retirement and unemployment.

Ernie J. Zelinski
Author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 120,000 copies sold and published in 9 languages)
and The Joy of Not Working
(Over 240,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)