Tips For A Satisfactory Retirement

Retirement could be looming for me...and you, for that matter. All this discussion about green pigs isn't very helpful to us potential retirees. So, at last, here is some practical advice. It's not from me: I got is from Walter Updegrave, a senior editor of Money magazine. We're not pals or anything, but he writes, and I read. It's not exactly a symbiotic relationship, either, since he gets nothing out of it as far as I know. I'm about to be a "fixed-income" guy. I can't be sending him money.
Anyway, he says there are three things for potential retirees to consider (hopefully, BEFORE retiring!)
1. Create a steady income for retirement. Seems logical. Without a steady income, I'd starve. Updegrave indicates the need for a pension-type income (which I will have) and indicates greater satsifaction is exhibited among those with a 401(k) plan or "income annuity" which I also have. So far, so good, at least for me.

2. Keep active, to a point. Updegrave suggests that the most content retirees stay active by working a little and/or volunteering. Thes folks are 13% more satisfied with retirement than others who have nothing to do of consequence. He does caution, however, not to be so involved that these activities become like, well, WORK. Updegrave also indicates that those retirees who work because they need the money are destined to be less satisfied than those who work for other reasons. Gee, I could have kept my radio job...I surely didn't make any money there!

3. Control your exit. People who leave on their terms are 30% more likely to be satisfied with retirement than those who are pushed out the door (even if they get a watch). The reasoning makes sense: those who go when they want to have had the opportunity to plan for the next events in their lives while those who are surprised to find themselves "retired" are left scrambling.
As an addendum, Updegrave indicates that older retireees are more satisfied than the more recently retired. I guess they have an opportunity to accustom themselves to a new lifestyle while someone who is used to a lifelong routine that gets changed might have difficulties. Or, at least possibly, happy hour stretches longer than an hour. Mas cerveza, por favor!

That's a lot of condensed information to digest,readers.
"Money don't get everything it's true, but what it don't get I can't use"
Thank you, Barrett Strong.