Review Excerpt:

While all that retirement money may go to worthy causes – such as making their Mercedes payments, providing their children with beautiful teeth that glow in the dark and liberating their expensive wine from its glass prison so it can find its way back into the water supply – our best defense is to remember that life isn't just about money.

The latest book in this realm (following the classic Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin and Ralph Warner's Get a Life: You Don't Need a Million to Retire Well) is How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free: Retirement Wisdom That You Won't Get From Your Financial Adviser by Ernie J. Zelinski (Ten Speed Press , $17). This book follows on his earlier The Joy of Not Working, whose title gives you an idea of his central theme.

Trust me – there are books about investing and personal finance that are far more complicated. But few are more accessible, useful and meaningful.

Scott Burns' columns appear on Sundays and Thursdays. Readers can send questions to scott@scottburns.com and visit www.scottburns.com.

The Book for Individuals Who Absolutely, Positively Want to Have a Happy and Meaningful Retirement by Vipbooks Retirement Author Ernie Zelinski

Top 10 Reasons to Buy and Read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free

1. You are ready to claim your freedom from corporate life.

2. You want to follow your retirement dreams instead of someone else's.

3. As a spiritually and highly evolved human being you know that how to enjoy life to its fullest is much more important for creating an active, satisfying, and happy retirement than how much money you have saved.

4. Many retirement columnists and retirement seminar presenters have ranted and raved about this book. For instance, retirement columnist Nancy Paradis of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida advises, "Get this book if you look forward to a retirement with 'zing.' "

5. With it's great title and the inspirational subtile, this book makes the perfect retirement gift for the soon-to-be retired friend or for the person retiring at the office.

6. You agree that "Retirement is the beginning of life, not the end."

7. You have put money in proper perspective so that you don't need a million dollars to retire.

8. You want to generate great purpose in your entire retirement life with meaningful, creative pursuits.

9. You like finding extremely useful information about retirement such as The Get-a-Life Tree that you won't find in any other book, but which is acclaimed by people who have read How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free.

10. Above all, you want to make your retirement years the best years of your life.