Gail Rentsch

This work cheerleads women toward redefining themselves for and in retirement. Primarily aimed at women who have been in high-powered, mainstream positions, it provides a lot of inspirational language, bulleted lists to give insight on potential directions, and very little concrete information. Early in the book the authors quote psychoanalyst and management consultant Lawrence J. Gould, who "...is not a fan of the chirpy, cheerleader-like coaching and self-help books that push us to find immediate answers" (p.24). As I read further, this is exactly what I found, except without answers. This may be helpful for some people who are not yet focused on refining their "golden years," but it's not useful for me; I'm beyond the scope of this book.

One statement by Gould that I did find useful was, "...we need to use uncomfortable states as opportunities to learn and develop and grow. We need to ask the questions 'Who am I? ' 'What am I?' and 'What do I want to be?' rather than...deflect the discomfort or block altogether reflections about our experiences." When talking about retirement, many women are facing real life issues that are downright terrifying, and these need to be faced honestly to make beneficial choices for as secure a retirment as possible. For women who have little retirement savings and who don't see much opportunity for a comfortable retirement, there is little help here, so look elsewhere for tangible retirement information. There's a lot out there.… (mehr)