The Two Best Retirement Books - What Is the Difference?

Cover of Indonesian Edition of The Joy of Not Working

I received this e-mail message the other day:

----- Original Message -----
From: Eliyahu Shiffman
To: vip-books (at) telus.net
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 2:46 AM
Subject: What's the difference?

Hi Ernie:

Help me out here -- I'm only going to buy one of them. Tell me what the difference is between How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and The Joy of Not Working so I can decide which is right for me. Or is one just an updated version of the other?

Thanks
Eliyahu

This was my reply:

Hello Eliyahu:

There are some similarities between How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free and The Joy of Not Working.

If you are already retired or about to be retired and looking for a retirement book, How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is the better choice.

If you are working and will continue to work for quite some time The Joy of Not Working is the better book (That's why it's subtitled "A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked).

I hope this helps you make your decision.

In case you haven't downloaded from one of my websites, I have attached my E-book (in PDF format) The 237 Best Things Ever Said about Retirement.

Thanks for your interest in my books.

So long for now,

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 100,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages)

Here is one of the many quotes about retirement that I have amassed which can help you retire happy, wild, and free:

The happiest people I know in retirement are those who have not only one interest outside work but many. For me, writing, photography, travel and several other interests fill my days to the point that I can't imagine how I found time to also work before I retired.
- Author unknown

Retirement Living Is Better than This Retiree Thought It Would Be

I received the following e-mail today from an individual in the United Kingdom who read The Joy of Not Working: A Book for the Retired, Unemployed, and Overworked and who feels that retirement living is better than he had expected.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mickey White
To: vip-books (at) telus.net
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:45 AM
Subject: RETIREMENT: it's even better !!


Hi Ernie,

I took early voluntary retirement from the Mail Service after thirty plus years when

I was fifty seven. My kids bought me your book, The Joy of Not Working as a gift on the day I finished. Mind you I was happy to take E.V.R. and I agree with everything you say !!

In fact, if I'd known that retirement was going to be this good I'd have done it the day after I left school !!!

Good Luck.....

Mike .....

It would be great if all retirees felt this way.


Even The U.S. State Dept Likes The Joy of Not Working

This short review of The World's Second Best Retirement Book ( The Joy of Not Working ) comes from the United States Department of State.

"A delightful indictment of workaholism and ways to counteract it. The author views unemployment as a true test of who one really is."
- U.S. Department of State Book Reviews

What It Takes to Write Retirement Books

At My Last Book Launch with Mary Who Is 52 Years Old (I Sure Wish All Women Over 50 Looked This Good and Were This Trim)

Some retirees wonder what credentials I possess to have written two retirement books. First, I have worked only half of my adult life. In other words, I have been in and out of retirement since I was in my late teens. Second, although I am not fully retired at this time, I have been semi-retired for the last 25 years.

I work only four or five hours a day; for the other 20 or 19 hours a day I have the same freedom that all full-time retirees have 24 hours a day. Even during my working hours I have a great deal of freedom since I work on what I want to, when I want to.

There is one important point about my semi-retirement, since in my retirement books I discuss the importance of money and what part it plays in having a successful retirement. When I semi-retired thirteen years ago, I was over $30,000 in debt. So much for the theory that you need a great deal of money to succeed in semi-retirement. The same applies to full retirement.

$200 Ugly Websites Outsell Million Dollar Websites Every Day of the Year

I received this e-mail from Wendy in Peace River today:

Hi Ernie

I read your first book The Joy of Not Working right after you published it and recently recommended all your books to a friend who is unhappy in her career. She is getting it with your work.

I recently heard a CD you did for Dave Dubeau and the Fast Track to Cashflow people.

Who is the internet marketing company that teaches how to build an ugly but workable web site? I am at the stage of wanting to build a web site but have limited funds at present. I could not hear the name on the CD.

Thanks for your help.

This is my reply to Wendy's e-mail:

Hi Wendy:

I can't ever recall doing the CD.

Regarding ugly websites, internet marketing millionaire Tom Antion says he intentionally makes his websites just a little bit ugly and his $200 websites will out sell the million-dollar websites every day of the year.

Check out Tom Antion' main website at Tom Antion.

I find this website really cool because it is so plain and yet owned by one of the most successful internet marketing gurus. As I have said in my books, perfectionalism is the last refuge of the idiots of this world.

Another example is his website wedding speeches which makes him about $35,000 a year.

Tom Antion, incidentally, learned the secrets to internet marketing from his mentor Corey Rudl who started the Internet Marketing Center in Vancouver.

Corey Rudl was killed in an auto racing accident about 3 years ago and IMC is now owned and run by his friend Derek Gehl.

I took an internet marketing course from IMC two years ago in Vancouver and the presenter Jason Bax also said "ugly inexpensive websites make more money than expensive artistic ones. Problem is, most website designers who do cool and artistic websites have never made a cent marketing on the Internet.

Have you ever noticed how many "cool and artistic" people in society are broke?

As millionaire Harv Eker says, "I would rather be nerdy and rich than cool and broke."

Thanks for your e-mail and so long for now.

Ernie Zelinski
Author of the Bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
(Over 100,000 copies sold and published in 7 foreign languages)
and the International Bestseller The Joy of Not Working
(Over 225,000 copies sold and published in 17 languages

Hard Work - Trying to Give Away 430 Copies of The World's Best Retirement Book

I have been trying to creatively give away 430 copies my international bestseller How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

See my blog post at Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get from Your Financial Advisor.

Incidentally, some people have assumed that How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free is going out of print because I am giving these copies away.

In fact, I will be doing a new print run for Ten Speed Press in January and this book should be in print for at least 20 years given that I intend to sell over 500,000 copies.

Allstate Financial in North Brook, IL, just purchased 3,700 copies with the corporate name on the cover to give away to its baby boomer clients.

If you take the 430 copies, I can also send you a carton (about 26 copies) of the Allstate edition which you can also give away to clients.

One more note:

There are also 265 copies of my book Real Success Without Real Job in the same condition at the Ten Speed Press warehouse.

Although this is not a retirement book, it will appeal to so called "retirees" who would like to keep working but not in a corporate setting. (This book is also still in print but will be reissued in February 2009 with the new title: Career Success Without a Real Job.)