Retire Jobless Ch8 9
Retire Jobless Ch8 9
Retire Jobless Ch8 9
to help.
Virtuoso is a network of 250 independent travel agents who
specialize in arranging luxurious and out-of-the-ordinary getaways
for the moneyed class. The agents are
polled annually about the nature of the
business. One of the questions regularly I have wandered all my life,
asked is, “What was the most unusual and I have traveled; the
active/adventure trip you scheduled for difference between the two
clients?” Following are some of the is this — we wander for
responses that agents gave one year. distraction, but we travel for
These may give you an idea or two for fulfillment.
something unique you would like to — Hilaire Belloc
implement into your next trek.
Perhaps these ideas are a little too weird for you. No problem!
According to its website, Virtuoso can also help you arrange the
following: “Toast the season from pewter goblets in Colonial
Williamsburg. Celebrate a Dickens Christmas in London. Catch
‘The Nutcracker’ in Prague. Waltz in the New Year at Vienna’s
Hofburg Palace. Or, throw tradition to the wind and sail off to a
frangipani-scented isle.”
174 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
Become an Ecotourist
In Zen they say, “no matter where you
Perhaps you love nature, enjoy
go, there you are.” Well, here I am in
travel, and want to do your part
Hawaii and I know “where” I am, but I
to preserve the environment.
still don’t know “who” I am. All I know
Then why not combine all
is that I like drinking a lot of beer
wherever I go. three? An eco-friendly,
educational experience may be
what you are looking for and the
ecotourism industry is there to
serve you.
Don’t confuse ecotourism
with nature or adventure
tourism. With nature travel,
most tourist dollars come at the
cost of irreparable damage to
the environment and
diminishing wildlife
populations. For example, the
environment in the Florida Keys
has been viewed by many as a
tropical paradise, but most of the tourist operators are far from
eco-friendly.
Moreover, don’t fall for tourism advertising that paints the
operator as promoting ecotourism, when, in fact, the operator is
trying to be more profitable at your expense. Martha Honey, author
of Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?
recently wrote in the Boston Globe, “Take, for instance, the
increasingly common practice in hotels of giving guests the option
of not having sheets and towels laundered daily. A sensible step —
but hardly, as was claimed in one press release, one that will save
the planet. What it is does is save the hotel some money.”
Above all, ecotourism stands out due to its ethical values and
principles. Oliver Hillel, tourism program coordinator for the
United Nations Environment Program, declares that true
ecotourism “contributes to conservation of biodiversity, sustains
the well-being of local people, includes a learning experience,
involves responsible action on the part of tourists, requires the
lowest possible consumption of non-renewable resources, and
stresses ownership by the locals.”
You can learn more about ecotourism by visiting
www.ecotourism.org, the site of the International Ecotourism
Travel for Fun, Adventure, and More 175
183
184 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
Above all, get to know the cities and countries you are
considering. Research each place carefully. Books, magazines,
newspaper articles, and websites can be a big help. For example,
AARP’s former magazine, Modern Maturity (now called AARP The
Magazine), recently chose its top fifteen places that Americans
should consider if they want to retire abroad.
If you think you’ve found where
you want to spend your retirement, I am going to leave this one-horse
the best way to check it out town once it’s my turn to ride the
horse.
thoroughly is to take a vacation there
first. Go more than once or twice. Try
to visit the city or country in all
seasons so you can get a sense for
whether you’ll be happy living there
full time.
In your search for Shangri-la, don’t
overlook the possibility that paradise
may be where you are right now. There
is some truth to the words of Henry
Ford: “Everybody wants to be
someplace he ain’t. As soon as he gets
there, he wants to go right back.”
191
192 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
comes when you cast out all the I always thought lots of leisure time was
negative elements that cause for losers, but looking retirement straight
confusion and turmoil in your mind in the eye is probably the most
and allow serenity to prevail.” challenging and satisfying thing I have
ever done.
If you are to, as Howard Salzman
says, “awaken to the beauty of the
world around you,” you must put
your life in synch with your deepest
values and beliefs. You must pursue
what you truly want out of
retirement, and not what others
want you to pursue, or what other
retirees are pursuing. This is not an
easy thing to do, particularly in
modern Western society where we
are subject to so many outside
influences.
Erich Fromm in Escape from
Freedom wrote, “Modern man lives
under the illusion that he knows
what he wants, while he actually
wants what he is supposed to want.” Indeed, in today’s consumer
society, advertisers and the media dictate what people are
supposed to want. Many retirees consume this programming
greedily instead of stopping to question what will truly make them
happy. After all, it is much easier to try to fit in with the majority
than to question what the majority is doing and then doing
something different.
How do you fit into this picture if you are already retired?
Probably the hardest thing about living a satisfying and
prosperous retirement is to be true to your own dreams and refrain
from going along with the masses. At the best of times, chasing
after what everyone else is chasing is a zero-results game. To be
like everyone else is to lose your true self.
Following the majority as they look for happiness in all the
wrong places is about as pointless as installing a screen door on a
submarine. Understand that happiness doesn’t care how hard you
worked in your career. Nor does it care whether you wear designer
clothes, or how fancy your car is, or whether you get all of the other
possessions you want. Moreover, happiness doesn’t care how
beautiful, talented, or intelligent you are.
Perhaps by now you are thinking that these are just crazy
assumptions on my part. Be clear that I have not gone mad. On the
194 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
w Am I in control of my lifestyle?
w Do I make the most of my money to give me
the best quality of life?
w What can I achieve in my retirement that
would make me proud?
w What can I do that is unique?
w Do I have enough great friends in my life?
w Do I devote sufficient time to see my close
friends?
w Do I watch too much TV?
w Does my lifestyle complement my partner’s?
w Do I travel as much as I would like?
w Do my time commitments allow me to make a
contribution to making this world a better
place?
w Do my time commitments allow me to indulge
in creative endeavors?
w Am I developing spiritually as a human being?
w Do I exercise enough, in my own enjoyable
way?
w Do I complain too much?
w Am I as grateful as I should be for what I have
in my life?
w Am I continually learning something new?
w Do I do something special for myself each and
every day?
w Do I take enough time to meditate and keep
my mind in tiptop shape?
w Am I living in the right country or in the right
part of the country?
w What will make me feel better?
w Do I have everything I need to be happy, but
don’t realize it?
Look closely around you. You will see many people with a lot less
money than you. Yet some of these people are much happier than
you. Your thoughts may be: “I am sane; therefore, these people
must be crazy.” Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it’s the other way
around.
Indeed, some of the happiest people you will see around you are
labeled as eccentrics, people who others think are crazy, at least to
some degree. So which do you want to be? An unhappy person who
fits in with the crowd? Or a happy, fully functioning individual who
can ignore the crowd and do your own thing?
“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a
form of madness,” declared Dame Edith Sitwell. “It is often a kind
of innocent pride, and the man of genius
and the aristocrat are frequently
We are all born charming, regarded as eccentrics because the
fresh, and spontaneous and genius and the aristocrat are entirely
must be civilized before we unafraid of and uninfluenced by the
are fit to participate in opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”
society. The more you are out of step with
— Judith Martin society, the greater your chances for self-
discovery, adventure, and happiness in
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 197
For most of us, the ideal life is the life we do not lead. Indeed, it’s
the life someone else leads. In this regard, a French proverb
proclaims, “What you can’t get is just what suits you.”
What makes many of us unhappy, to the point of extreme
misery, is our unreasonable and false beliefs about how happy
others are. We have some strange idea that most people in Western
society are happier than we are. Yet this is far from the truth. As
Joseph Roux reflected, “I look at what I have not and think myself
unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy.”
It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that practically
everyone else has a much easier and happier life than you do.
There will always be friends, relatives, neighbors, or celebrities who
own bigger houses, drive flashier cars, wear more expensive
206 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
w A feeling of freedom
w Total absorption in the activity at hand
w Lack of focus on self
w Enhanced perception of objects and events
w Little awareness of the passage of time
w Increased sensitivity to body sensations
w Increased sensitivity to emotions
Salvation Army. Upon his recent death, it was learned that through
self-denial and a shrewd understanding of investments he
amassed a fortune of $9 million. At least there is a good side to this
story: Elwood left all his fortune to social agencies, including the
Salvation Army, which he had so loyally patronized.
As odd as it may seem, some people actually find making
money easier than spending it. Spending it is a chore that makes
them extremely uncomfortable. Giving his thoughts about
hoarding money, sixteenth-century French writer Michel de
Montaigne stated, “Once you have decided to keep a certain pile, it
is no longer yours, for you can’t spend it.”
Clearly, financial satisfaction is more important than financial
immortality. Financial longevity is important until the day you die;
after that it’s useless. You may want to argue that you have to
leave money for your adult
Buying this new Porsche in my later years has children. This is hogwash.
proven that I can only be young once, but I can Your adult children can take
be immature forever.
care of themselves. Don’t you
have any faith in their creative
ability to make a living and
fend for themselves?
Unfortunately, many
people put together great
fortunes but never get around
to enjoying any of their money
in their retirement years. Their
children may not want an
inheritance and yet these
retirees insist on living like
paupers so that they can leave as much money as possible for their
estate. This is nothing short of insanity.
There is some good news in this regard, however, and it comes
from Britain. Many of the new generation of British retirees aren’t
too keen on leaving their children or grandchildren any inheritance
money according to a 2002 survey conducted by the insurance
company Eagle Star. Indeed, almost three-quarters of retirees
would rather spend all their savings on having a good time than
setting it aside for their children’s inheritance.
“While in the past retirees felt a responsibility to live sensibly,”
points out Phil Ost of Eagle Star, “this research shows the new
breed of over-fifties is really relishing the opportunities and
rewards retirement brings. They have planned and saved for these
years, so spending savings that could otherwise be put toward an
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 215
gives their lives purpose. Making the world a better place to live
helps them earn self-respect and the respect of others.
Volunteering is often viewed as serious leisure by many
retirees. It provides work-like activities that require goal-setting,
discipline, responsibility, and teamwork. Above all, volunteering
makes retirees feel needed and productive. On the other hand,
certain retirees refuse to volunteer because they don’t feel good
working at something for which they receive no pay. Unfortunately,
these mercenaries don’t see the great benefits that come from
volunteering.
Ex-president Jimmy Carter, who was quoted earlier, is
arguably the most famous volunteer in America. Carter had this to
say about volunteerism and the art of giving to others: “It’s not
something that’s special for former presidents; it’s the kind of
chances or opportunities that are available to every person in
America. There are hundreds or maybe thousands of opportunities
that we have to expand our lives and to do something that might
benefit other people, but in the long term we get more benefit from
it than the people we’re trying to help.”
Thousands of groups across the United States offer community
service opportunities for people aged fifty
and over with diverse backgrounds,
skills, and interests. For individuals who No one is useless in this world
are new to volunteering or are seeking who lightens the burdens of
new opportunities, VolunteerMatch, the another.
Web’s largest database of volunteer — Charles Dickens
opportunities, is a good place to start.
Volunteers enter their ZIP code on the
www.volunteermatch.org website to find local opportunities posted
by nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.
By helping others, you too can make life more worthwhile and
yourself happier than you have ever been. Just as work did before
you retired, volunteering can take your mind off life’s little
annoying problems. You won’t have as much time to focus on those
everyday aggravations that creep into our lives if we let them. A
recent research study indicated that retirees who volunteer live
happier and longer than retirees who don’t volunteer. Volunteering
retirees have less stress, are healthier, and reap physiological
benefits from regularly giving of themselves to others.
In another study, researchers at the University of Michigan
found that seniors who performed volunteer work had a 67 percent
lower risk of dying over a seven-year period than those who did no
such work. Marc Musick, a research fellow at the university’s
218 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
Institute for Social Research, said, “We are social animals and if
you think of volunteering as a type of social interaction, it can
make a big difference for older people.”
Indeed, volunteering offers many retirees the opportunity to do
something creative and out of the ordinary. They have the
opportunity to get out of the house and rub shoulders with a wide
range of people. Volunteers can shop around for activities that
complement their skills and there is usually training available for
those who want to try something new.
What acts of commitment and contribution would you like to
engage in that will add value not only to your own life but to the
lives of those around you? You don’t need to make a big difference
on a global level. You can make a big difference through a
commitment to help others in your community, volunteering for a
charitable organization or even on a one-to-one basis.
The best choice of a volunteering assignment is one in which
you learn new knowledge and skills while you are helping others.
You not only give to others but you get
something invaluable in return. The
It is only in the giving of
oneself to others that we
more you give, the more you will receive.
truly live.
Givers are the greatest beneficiaries
according to Claus Wedekind, one of the
— Ethel Percy Andrus
researchers in the Department of Biology
at Bern University. The benefit is not a
direct, reciprocal one, but generous people win out over the long
term. This is due to the fact that giving is a trait that confers
respect and status within society. Helping someone has an impact
on an individual’s image within a community. By being regarded
more favorably by others, the generous are in a better position to
survive and be happy in society.
Indeed, most retirees profess that their volunteering experience
gives them much more than they put in. “Everything I need to
know in life, I’ve learned from an Ottawa soup kitchen. I’ve only
brought to it my time and energy and whatever personality traits I
possess,” declared Douglas Cornish of Ottawa. He has volunteered
at the soup kitchen every Saturday for over ten years. “It’s changed
me and made me a little better,” wrote Cornish in his Globe and
Mail article “Lessons Learned in a Soup Kitchen.”
Cornish mentioned that working in the Ottawa soup kitchen
had accentuated five of his personal qualities — patience,
persistence, compassion, understanding, and friendship.
“Collectively these qualities might be called ‘character’ ” is how he
put it. In the world outside the soup kitchen, these five qualities
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 219
Think about this quietly and carefully: Years from now, as you
review your life, what may you regret not having done? Clearly, it
won’t be to have worked longer and harder at your career. And it
won’t be that you didn’t watch more TV. Whatever it is, shouldn’t
you be doing it now?
To be sure, you don’t want to leave this world with songs
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 223
unsung that you would like to sing. Nor do you want to end up on
your deathbed pleading, “Lord, give me one more shot and I’ll give
it all I got.” Thus, you must start singing these songs today if you
are already retired. If you are working but contemplating
retirement, the sooner you retire, the sooner you will have the time
and freedom to sing the songs you have wanted to sing.
In an interview on CBC radio, a number of individuals, all over
sixty years old, were asked what advice they would give themselves
if they had life to live over. Here are six of their most important
suggestions:
your life, you may determine that some of the things you presently
want — things that you are pursuing with great zeal — may be a
lot less important to your happiness than you thought. On the
other hand, some of the things that you are presently neglecting
may be essential to your peace and contentment. If you want your
life to change for the better, you may need to change your
relationship with money, material possessions, time, leisure
activities, and even people.
The French have a saying, “L’homme absurde est celui qui ne
change jamais.” (The absurd human being is the one who never
changes.) I couldn’t agree more. If you aren’t getting much out of
life emotionally and spiritually, then you must look at what you
bring into life. Clearly, to get more out of this world, you must
make some changes in your life.
While making life-altering changes to create a fulfilling lifestyle
isn’t always easy, millions of retirees have shown it is possible.
They have gotten their emotional acts together and accomplished
what the majority have not. It is no wonder that these people live
happier and fuller lives.
You must be absolutely clear about what really counts. And you
must be even clearer about what doesn’t count. Only then can you
make the most of what matters most and make nothing of what
doesn’t matter at all. Do something every day to make your life less
complicated. You will find that life’s a breeze when you work as
hard at simplifying it as you now do at complicating it.
Never be discouraged because others have more money or
better health than you. You can always make up in creativity what
you lack in good fortune. Playing the game of life is like playing
poker. Playing three aces badly won’t get you as far as playing a
terrible hand well.
The defining moment for the amount of happiness you
experience in retirement won’t be when you become a multi-
millionaire. In fact, the defining moment will be when you realize
that, regardless of how much money you have to your name, you
couldn’t be any happier in the present moment. Some people are
able to reach this state with a net value of under $20,000. Others
never reach this state, despite having acquired millions.
If you are not as fulfilled as you would
like to be, perhaps you are playing it too
In a completely sane world, safe. The one thing we should never
madness is the only freedom. regret are our mistakes. And the one
— J. G. Ballard thing we should regret is not having
made more. Always waiting for the river
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 225
to run dry before you cross it is no way to live your life. Only by
facing some risks along the way will your journey be worth making.
Some days you may be so bored that an invitation to the
opening of a new garbage dump will excite you. Remind yourself
who is responsible for your boredom. To repeat the words of Dylan
Thomas: “Somebody is boring me; I think it is me.”
Handling boredom is actually quite easy. Get busy doing the
things you love, or something that you have always wanted to do.
Your willingness to be accountable for
your boredom is the creative force Master, I have Why? No matter
that will make it go away. come all this way how much wealth
You are not retiring from life; you to find out how to and fame you
are only retiring from a job. I must retire rich and attain, the size of
famous in your funeral will
repeat the importance of variety.
America. still pretty much
Florida retiree Douglas Spangler, a depend on the
former university administrator, weather.
claims, “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.”
The secrets for living a full,
rewarding, fulfilled, and enlightened
life are not really secrets. These
principles have been passed down
through the ages but the majority of
humans tend to discount them and
follow principles that don’t work. “In
the end these things matter most,”
revealed Buddha. “How well did you
love? How fully did you live? How
deeply did you learn to let go?”
According to a Hindu proverb,
“True happiness consists in making others happy.” As far as
possible without surrender, be a kind, gentle, generous, and loving
person. Share whatever happiness you experience with others. In
this way you will multiply the happiness that comes into your life.
Generally this is not understood by most humans: We are
always free to change our futures by being more alive and creative
in the present. Happy, successful people don’t expect mysterious
forces to make tomorrow worth living. They themselves make it
that way by what they do today.
According to the Buddha, “What we think, we become.”
226 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
Therefore, always think and act as if you and your life really
matter. Surprisingly, after awhile you won’t be able to tell the
difference.
Don’t do things because you feel you have to do them. Do
things because you want to. The difference in the results you attain
will be beyond belief.
It is folly to strive for total comfort, however. Be creative, active,
and productive in leisure activities that require some risk,
challenge, and discomfort. Comfort is a double-edged sword. A
little will increase health and happiness; too much, and it will
destroy both.
You may hope for but you won’t be happy with an entirely easy
life. When you always do the easy and comfortable, life turns out
difficult and uncomfortable. When you do the difficult and
uncomfortable, however, life becomes easy and comfortable. Think
about this carefully; it applies to many areas of your life.
In your search for Shangri-la, don’t
overlook the possibility that paradise
may be where you are right now.
Enjoy every day as if it was
Everyone seems to want to be
your last and one day you will
somewhere they aren’t. Choose to be
be right about it.
where you are right now and you will be
— Graffiti happier than 90 percent of humankind.
Again, retiring happy, wild, and free
is about attitude. Alter your thoughts
and behavior and you will not only change yourself, you will
change the world around you. Whatever psychic energy you put
into the universe will be reflected back to you. The more positive
energy you put into imagining and creating a happy, wild, and free
retirement, the more it will manifest itself in the real world.
Happiness, it seems, doesn’t like people who are desperate for
it. The desperate pursuit of happiness is one of the chief causes of
unhappiness. Thus, stop trying so hard to be happy. Slow down in
your pursuit of happiness and it is more likely to catch up to you.
When happiness forgets about you, see what treasures you can
find in your unhappiness. It won’t be long before happiness
remembers who you are, and sneaks back into your life again.
Everything keeps its best character by being put to its best use.
This applies to both people and things. Thus, pursue retirement
goals in harmony with your character and values. Anything short
of this and you will be cheating yourself out of many hours of
happiness and satisfaction each and every day.
Do the simple things that are important for your happiness.
Happiness Doesn’t Care How You Get There 227
Spend time with people whom you like best. Get involved in the
activities that you enjoy most. And totally avoid the people and
activities that you like least. This strategy is so obvious, but few
people use it.
Strive for personal freedom. Otherwise you will be imprisoned a
good portion of your life. As indicated in the first chapter, you will
have attained freedom when you can get up in the morning when
you want to get up; go to sleep when you want to go to sleep; and
in the interval, work and play at the things you want to work and
play at — all at your own pace.
For independent-minded individuals, freedom contributes to
much happiness. But freedom isn’t the ability to do what others
are doing. On the contrary, freedom is the ability to do what the
majority in society are afraid of doing on their own. Only when you
are able to be creative and different —
even wildly eccentric — will you be free.
Don’t lose touch with the craziness Sail away from the safe
within yourself. Often one gets a harbor. Catch the trade winds
reputation for mental stability simply in your sails. Explore. Dream.
because one doesn’t have enough Discover.
courage to make a fool of oneself. Is it — Mark Twain
more important to live with zest or to
have people think nice things about you?
The point is, if you want to be truly alive, forget about what people
think.
To a large degree freedom entails nonattachment to what others
can’t do without. Zen masters tell us that people become
imprisoned by what they are most attached to: Cars. Houses.
Money. Egos. Identities. Let go of your attachment to these things
and you will be set free.
Showing gratitude for what you have — to God or otherwise —
should be a daily ritual. The more gratitude you express for the
things you already have, the less you will need or want. Develop a
new appreciation for the things you take for granted, such as the
fresh smell of coffee, a gentle wind blowing in your face, and the
purring of your cat. And never tire of watching a sunset or smelling
the roses.
Resist accepting society’s way of living as the right one. Your
primary duty is to be yourself. Invent a lifestyle that expresses who
you are. In the end, there is no right way of living. There is only
your way.
Regardless of your age, try to reconnect with your childhood
tendencies. To enjoy life in later years you won’t need a second
228 How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free
Put another way, this is it! Today — this is all you get. Take it
or leave it. And you can’t leave it. Therefore, make the best of it.
This way, if you get to Heaven, you will be well prepared to enjoy
yourself there.
Freedom and happiness are easier to attain than you think.
Take your lesson from children.
Don’t fret about the future. Don’t When it’s time for my retirement, I would
like to have the arrogant bloke on the
regret the past. Live only in the
back of this bicycle pedal me around for a
present. The happiness you have at year or two.
any moment is the only happiness
you can ever experience. Reminisce
about your great yesterdays, hope
for many interesting tomorrows,
but, above all, ensure that you live
today.
It’s essential that you identify
the resources most important for
your present-day happiness. When
money is lost, a little is lost. When
time is lost, much more is lost.
When health is lost, practically
everything is lost. And when
creative spirit is lost, there is nothing left.
The rest of your life begins right now. It can be more than it has
ever been. Your goal should be to enjoy everything in life that you
can. It is a mistake not to. Let it be a wondrous life. Life is all
around you. Live it to the fullest, with all your senses. Listen to it.
Look at it. Taste it. Smell it. Feel it.
Always be true to yourself. Do not blindly believe what you are
told about what brings happiness, even what is reported in this
book. Find out for yourself what brings joy and contentment to
your world. Your inner voice will tell you what will bring you peace
of mind.
Above all, ask yourself what would give you true happiness.
Listen to your answers carefully. Then do what you have to do to
attain it. You cannot afford not to. Many years from now you will
regret the things that you didn’t do much more so than the ones
you did do.
Again, retirement life is a game.
Life is long if it is full.
Happy people are the players. Unhappy
people are the spectators. Which would — Seneca
you like to be?
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ask the friendly staff at your local library with these direct links.
to order it. They will be happy you did.
After all, the books Ernie Zelinski hasn't written are better
than the ones many authors have. Luckily for people who need
guides on how to enjoy life to its fullest, Ernie has already
written The Joy of Not Working and How to Retire Happy,
Wild, and Free.
Note: The second last page (page 244) lists prices for
quantity purchases of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.
About the Author – Ernie J. Zelinski
Ernie J. Zelinski is best known as
the author of The Joy of Not
Working: A Book for the Retired,
Unemployed, and Overworked,
published by Ten Speed Press in
Berkeley, California. This
international best-seller has sold
over 175,000 copies and has been
published in 16 languages (English,
French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean,
Japanese, Polish, German,
Portuguese, Greek, Dutch, Czech,
Finnish, Indonesian, Turkish, and
Italian).
To date Ernie has negotiated
81 book deals with publishers in 23
countries for his 12 books. His most recent published work,
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free, was released in the
United States by Ten Speed Press and will soon be published
in China, South Korea, Greece, Taiwan, France, Japan, and
Spain. His twelfth book, Life’s Secret Handbook for Having
Great Friends, will be published by Spanish and French
publishers in 2005.
Feature articles about Ernie and his books have appeared
in major newspapers including USA TODAY, National Post,
Oakland Tribune, Boston Herald, Toronto Star, and
Vancouver Sun. He has been interviewed by over 100 radio
stations and has appeared on CNN TV’s Financial News,
CBC TV’s Venture, and CTV’s Canada AM .
Quantity Price
10 copies $12.95 each
20 copies $11.95 each
50 copies $9.95 each
100 copies $8.95 each
500 copies $8.45 each
1,000 copies $7.95 each
5,000 copies $6.95 each
Note: Above prices are in U.S dollars. Add $10.00 basic shipping charge
plus $0.50 for each book ordered. Make checks payable to Visions
International Publishing. Send orders to Visions International Publishing,
10518-68 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6H 2B1.