My Next Phase: The Personality-Based Guide to Your Best Retirement

by Eric Sundstrom, Randy Burnham, Michael Burnham

Too many people 'flunk' retirement--even after a lifetime of hard work. Why? Because they only plan on their financial needs, not their emotional ones as they move into the next phase of life.

The key to a successful retirement lies in your personality, NOT in your bank account. My Next Phase--featured in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and The Washington Post--offers a revolutionary, step-by-step process to figure out your personal "Retirement Style" and creates a unique retirement plan based on who you are. Take the My Next Phase quizzes and find out:

WHAT'S YOUR SOCIAL STYLE? If you're outgoing, you'll need companionship through your days, whether you leave your job or keep working. If you're contemplative, you'll need solitude as well as social connection to find the fulfillment in the years ahead.

WHAT'S YOUR STRESS STYLE? If you're resilient, you'll push yourself to find challenge--and get bored without it. If you're responsive, you'll need to pace yourself. Either way, you'll need a passion that gives you a reason to get out of bed each day.

WHAT'S YOUR PLANNING STYLE? If you're structured, you'll prefer to schedule your time. If you're flexible, you'll want a freer, less scheduled life.

And many more questions (and answers) to ensure a happy, fulfilling 'next phase' of life.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Rik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a lot that made good sense to me. The book is full of short quizzes about your personality and exercises that help pull out information that will guide decisions about future plans. Unfortunately it appears the company and website no longer exist.

[Wren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has several quizzes about personality style, work style and communication style, designed to help the reader select retirement activities and living situation that matches the person's nature. The book also has a lot of great stories about people who found a good match (some after trying a really bad match, like the very social man who bought a lot of acres in Montana, only to find himself too isolated in that setting as an extreme extrovert). A little pop-psych-y, but it brings into sharp focus some principles that may be just intuitive and "fuzzy" without this tool.

[Cindy K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another personality-based book, like "Why Should Extroverts Make All the Money?", but it was well-written and more interesting. It just helps you think through what you need when you make the major transition from working full-time to...whatever is best for you in retirement. I thought it had merit. The authors have a website that might be of interest to some folks.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful in many ways...redundant and high in resemblance of similar "personality-based" self-help/self-guiding books.