More blog posts

“The biggest lesson I learnt from George is to think differently. George’s course and my conversations with him taught me I need to find my tribe and put myself out there to create opportunities, see what happens and not be afraid of failing.” Dr Richard Sibthorpe is...

The importance of change in retirement How often have you heard the phrase ‘no pain, no gain’? It’s wildly overused, but it’s true. Breaking up a relationship, fasting, even sugar-strip waxing… We all do things we know will hurt because, in the end, they make our...

There's no shame in retirement... Ask any retired person what they do, and most will respond with, “retired teacher”, “former salesman” or “well, I used to be a doctor, mechanic, cook…” It’s rare for someone to simply say, “I’m retired.” So why is this? Well, the...

Ready to find your purpose in retirement? It may sound harsh, but I often ask people, “What are you doing here?  What are you contributing to this world? What’s your purpose?”  The answers are often vague and usually accompanied by a worried and/or startled...

Purpose - The Real Secret To Retirement Now I know I’ve said this many times, but for those of you who don’t know, when I retired it was sudden. One day I was living a life filled with purpose, the next, I was told that I only had six months to live. Thankfully, that...

Retirement courses: Why they're as important as financial advice Spoiler alert: I’m not one to get mad. I don’t shout, well, not very often. And I like to resolve disagreements in a non-confrontational manner. But this week, I felt the need to scream at my screen and...

Life is a journey - and retirement shouldn't be the final destination A couple of weeks ago, a friend introduced me to a brilliant new podcast – Time of My Life – and as you can imagine from the title, it’s right up my street.It’s the brainchild of journalist Laurence...

Ageism is all around.  It’s ingrained culturally, socially, economically. It’s the last acceptable prejudice and, as the UN puts it, “an insidious scourge on society.” You only need to turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper or take public transport to see that. Sadly,...

It's all about the pension pot We're often told that to enjoy a healthy retirement, we need to be adding extra pennies into our pension, that saving more or for longer is the answer.  In this day and age that advice is, in my opinion, irresponsible and fundamentally...

The gender pension gap is real! 17% in just one year - that’s the amount the gender pensions gap in the UK widened in 2020. Of course, these stats made headlines. And of course, COVID had its part to play, but this issue is not new. This shocking disparity is...

Let me help you create a retirement with purpose Are you thinking of retiring? Perhaps you just have? Maybe you were spurred on to do so by the craziness of the past couple of years. Whatever your reasons I’d like to ask you a question… How much time have you spent...

Is COVID creating a retirement crisis? In last week’s blog I looked at the reality of retirement and why it’s so different from the dream us baby boomers have been promised. Retirement today isn’t about long, lazy lunches, rounds of golf and an endless stream of all...

Long, lazy lunches, rounds of golf, a spot of yoga and an endless stream of all expenses paid holidays. Is this the kind of retirement you dream of? Whilst many aspire to spend their third stage of life like this, the reality is, few can – or do.  COVID aside, it’s...

Does retirement scare you? I ask because fear of retirement is something I hear over and over again.  Clients often tell me that their work gives them purpose and a sense of identity, something they really can’t imagine life without. My response to their concerns is...

Do you have a ‘blueprint’ for your later life? The reason I’m asking is because many people don’t… And yet they still expect to live the life they want in retirement. But the problem is, creating such a blueprint takes time and effort. I know many of you have put that...

Want to know how to have the perfect retirement? You need my new quiz! What’s your retirement personality type? Is this something you have ever wondered? I ask because when I’m talking to my clients, I see three distinct types emerging. And they are always fascinated...

Are you sleep-walking into retirement? If you’ve been following my blogs, podcasts and social media posts, you will probably have heard me mention a few times that I believe many of us are ‘sleepwalking’ into retirement. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across an...

Eight ways to prevent complacency creeping in during later life It’s easy to become complacent in retirement: I should know, it happened to me when I semi-retired a while back. It’s one of the reasons I became a ‘retirement rebel’! And I see it in my clients too: when...

Want to know the secret to a daring retirement? As a baby boomer, retired or not, you know there are things you could, and should, be doing differently in your life. But perhaps you simply haven’t had time to figure out what you should be doing next.  That’s why, in...

Do you know what your purpose is? I want to talk to you about what your purpose is. Do you really know? If the answer to that is “No” or, “I don’t know”, don't worry… you’re not alone! But consider this: not recognising what your purpose is until the end of your life...

Do you have a ‘blueprint’ for your later life? The reason I’m asking is because many people don’t… and yet they still expect to live the life they want in retirement. But the problem is, creating such a blueprint takes time and effort. I know many of you have put that...

Why is purpose so important in life?You may already have noticed my fascination with the concept of ‘purpose’ – indeed, my flagship course dares you to discover your own!But what exactly is purpose, and where does the word come from? Well, it originates from ‘purpus’,...

Are your pensions funds in fact a fantasy?One big issue that comes up time and time again for my clients is not appreciating that they are absolutely correct in worrying about their finances and pensions funds. This is because they know, at a subconscious level that,...

Why uncertainty is good for you We’ve all faced a lot more uncertainty than usual over the last year. And it’s no surprise that for many of us this feeling hasn’t been very welcome, that’s because uncertainty -  feeling unsure about what’s happening next in your life...

The changing face of retirementAs we all know, the global pandemic has affected millions of people financially. And not just that, COVID-19 has also changed the way we look at retirement, which is of particular interest to me.This week I read about some new research...

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the lockdown declutter that I was having – like many of us are at the moment. As I told you, I’m a firm believer in ‘making space’ for new things in life by clearing out the old.In this blog, I wanted to follow on from that...

Have you ever asked yourself this question? It’s something I get asked a lot by my clients. And that’s why I’ve created something brand new which I’m excited to be sharing with you today. It’s a quiz called “What Retirement Mistakes Could You Be Making?“ and you can...

Positivity and its life-changing effects on your brainI have always thought that positivity was good for the brain. However, I was still taken aback when I read a recent article on the CNN website, titled Negative thinking linked to dementia in later life. This didn’t...

Loneliness: One of the many hazards of retirement I recently read a fascinating article in The Economist, called ‘All the lonely people’. It was actually a review of two books that once again opened the debate on the difference between solitude and loneliness, a theme...

I’ve been reading recently about ‘andropause’. Have you heard of this term? I’m fascinated with the idea of a ‘male menopause’ and wanted to research if it’s even based on any scientific fact. What I discovered was that although andropause is often called ‘the male...

The past can often help us understand the future, and in these uncertain times, I wanted to share with you a little about the history of retirement. I talk about this in some depth in my online program, ‘Dare to discover your purpose’, which is coming soon.  When...

Research from the Institute of Economic Affairs suggests that retirement may initially benefit health – by reducing stress and creating time for other activities, but adverse effects increase as retirement goes on. It found retirement increases the chances of...

We are all here for a purpose - and our lives have meaning, not just for us but for those close to us - yet, surprisingly, many of us feel disconnected to this idea and for them it doesn’t resonate at all. As I’ve discovered in my life (I even wrote a book about it),...

Three fundamental ways our lives change in retirement “What is true in the morning of life is a lie in the afternoon of life”, said Carl Jung, the eminent Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst of the 20th century. This quote rings especially true when you’re thinking...

When you picture your retirement, what does it look like? No more rude awakenings from your alarm clock… no more commuting to work in traffic or packed like a sardine into a subway train… no more taking orders from your boss.Instead, you’ll be in paradise: basking on...