Living the 10 Retiremyths ─ An Unconventional Journey in Retirement Planning

What’s a RetireMyth? It’s a belief you might hold about life after retirement, only to find out once the party’s over that it’s not at all what you expected. If you thought you could keep working, win the lottery, depend on your children to support you, or live your current lifestyle on Social Security, you just might be a victim of the RetireMyth. If that’s the case, this book was written for you. Over an intense three-year period, Judy Ann Michael watched her career dissolve (taking her six-figure salary with it), lived in a retirement center to help her aging father through an illness, and took a much-needed Pre-Retirement Timeout to re-assess her future. She used her time off to rest, but also took a hard look at her future and what would be required of her, both personally and financially. Like many Baby Boomers and Gen-Xer’s facing retirement, she felt uncertain about her financial future. After a failed attempt at starting an internet training business and facing brick walls as she applied for over 75 jobs, Ms. Michael experienced how difficult it was going to be to fund her current six-figure lifestyle and her retirement. Using desperation and determination, she embraced the need for a simpler life, downsizing from an expensive home to a small apartment and ridding herself of over half of what she owned. Simplifying her life turned out to benefit her physical, mental, emotional and financial health and she includes specific steps on how to embrace your own simplified life. She used her 30 years of business acumen to address her finances. After solving complex financial problems for over 50 large organizations, she realized she could use the same approach and create a new personal money management system. Instead of using the outdated model of spending within her means, she reversed the formula to determine how much income she would need to support the simpler lifestyle she chose. Ms. Michael also discovered that employing these new financial systems would only work if she could adopt a new mindset, one that included being clear about what she wanted and using her intention and language to support her goals. Using humor and determination, Ms. Michael chronicles how she survived Living the 10 RetireMyths. She will take you on her personal journey through letting go of her old life and designing a future built to withstand the rigors of impending retirement. In sharing her story, you will learn to take control of your own financial and professional future now, before you become caught up in your own Retiremyth.

Judy Ann Michael, MBA is a speaker, author, and consultant. She uses her 30 years of business experience at over 100 organizations, along with her unique personal experience, to help people develop a practical understanding of their finances. Judy earned both her Bachelor of Science in Business, with a major in accounting, and a Master of Business Administration from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Her business career led her to projects at many Fortune 500 companies across 10 different industries, in addition to engagements at over 100 hospitals. She led her own consulting practice for nearly 20 years, serving clients across the United States. Judy lives with her standard poodle, Sir Beckett, in the Seattle Metropolitan area. She enjoys her family, friends, exercise, and a simple lifestyle. A lifetime student of spiritual disciplines, she enjoys meditation, Tarot, traveling, and a rousing afternoon of great food and laughter with her closest friends. Judy has recently developed the DIY Retirement Planning system to support people who want to own their retirement financial future. It offers simple, easy to use tools that answer the question How Much Do I Need for Retirement? For more information, visit her website at JudyAnnMichael.com.