I asked Ernie what books or audiobooks he recommends. Here are his suggestions:
1. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won’t Get from Your Financial Advisor by Ernie J. Zelinski ISBN-10: 096941949X ISBN-13: 978-0969419495
(Amazon review:) How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free offers inspirational advice on how to enjoy life to its fullest. The key to achieving an active and satisfying retirement involves a great deal more than having adequate financial resources; it also encompasses all other aspects of life — interesting leisure activities, creative pursuits, physical well-being, mental well-being, and solid social support.World-class author and innovator Ernie J. Zelinski guides you to:
- Gain courage to take early retirement; in fact, the earlier the better.
- Put money in proper perspective so that you don’t need a million dollars to retire.
- Generate purpose in your retirement life with meaningful creative pursuits.
- Follow your dreams instead of someone else’s.
- Take charge of your mental, physical, and spiritual health.
- Better envision you retirement goals — including where you want to live.
- Above all, make you retirement years the best time of your life.
What sets this retirement book apart from all the others is its holistic approach to the fears, hopes, and dreams that people have about retirement. This international bestseller (over 110,000 copies sold in its first edition) goes way beyond the numbers that is often the main focus of retirement planning in most retirement books.
There are many ingredients of a happy retirement and several retirement planning tools that help retirees plan for their retirement in new and more meaningful ways. One of the most powerful tools is The Get-a-Life Tree that you won’t find in any other retirement books.
2. What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement, Second Edition: Planning a Prosperous, Healthy, and Happy Future byJohn E. Nelson and Richard N. Bolles (Jul 13, 2010); ISBN-10: 158008205X ISBN-13: 978-1580082051
(Amazon review 
Today’s economic realities have reset our expectations of what retirement is, yet there’s still the promise for what it can be: a life stage filled with more freedom and potential than ever before. Given the new normal, how do you plan for a future filled with prosperity, health, and happiness? As a companion to What Color Is Your Parachute?, the world’s best-selling career book, What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement offers both a holistic, big-picture look at these years as well as practical tools and exercises to help you build a life full of security, vitality, and community.
This second edition contains updates throughout, including a section on Social Security, an in-depth exercise on values and how they inform your retirement map, and the one-of-a-kind resource for organizing the sea of information on finances and mental and physical health: the Retirement Well-Being Profile. More than a guide on where to live, how to stay active, or which investments to choose, What Color Is Your Parachute? for Retirement helps you develop a detailed picture of your ideal retirement, so that—whether you’re planning retirement or are there already—you can take a comprehensive approach to make the most of these vital years.
3. Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
Audible Audio Edition: $17.95 Kindle Edition: $8.98
- ISBN-10: 073820904X
- ISBN-13: 978-0738209043
Whether it is chosen or thrust upon you, change brings both opportunities and turmoil. Since first published 25 years ago, Transitions has helped hundreds of thousands of readers cope with these issues by providing an elegantly simple yet profoundly insightful roadmap of the transition process. With the understanding born of both personal and professional experience, William Bridges takes readers step by step through the three stages of any transition: The Ending, The Neutral Zone, and, in time, The New Beginning. Bridges explains how each stage can be understood and embraced, leading to meaningful and productive movement into a hopeful future. With a new introduction highlighting how the advice in the book continues to apply and is perhaps even more relevant today, and a new chapter devoted to change in the workplace, Transitions will remain the essential guide for coping with the one constant in life: change.
4. Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ; Daniel Goleman (Author)
- ISBN-10: 055380491X
- ISBN-13: 978-0553804911
New York Times science writer Goleman argues that our emotions play a much greater role in thought, decision making and individual success than is commonly acknowledged. He defines “emotional intelligence”?a trait not measured by IQ tests?as a set of skills, including control of one’s impulses, self-motivation, empathy and social competence in interpersonal relationships.