The Best Is Yet To Be

Discovering the Secret to a Creative, Happy Retirement

By: Mike Bellah

Narrated by: Mike Bellah

Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

What do you do when you want to retire, but the numbers don’t add up?

What if you want to work longer, but your company forces you out - with a buyout if you’re lucky?

What if family or physical issues push you to an unwanted early retirement?

When college professor Mike Bellah took an early buyout, he expected the golden years to live up to the carefree, happy times pictured in magazine ads. But within weeks, the reality of lost identity and limited funds left him panicked and depressed. In The Best Is Yet to Be, Dr. Bellah uses extensive research, personal narrative, and real-time blogs to explain how he got his hope back and, with it, discovered the secret to a happy retirement.

©2019 Mike Bellah (P)2021 Mike Bellah

Bellah nails it!

"What if I told you money is not the number one requirement for a happy retirement?" That question, in the second paragraph of the Foreword, busted my paradigm, because the experts tell us that it is! At that point, the reader knows this is not a typical retirement book. Bellah takes the reader on a long walk around the subject, looking at retirement from every angle. He considers the positive and negative emotions, the spiritual aspect, the relational challenges, the physical changes, and the new opportunities to produce and create. The author's skills as a researcher, storyteller, spiritual guide, and observer of humans (starting with himself) all come together in this refreshing and helpful look at post-career life.

there must be more

While informative and nostalgic, be patient with the narrator's matter of fact drawl. I was searching for answers but only received confirmation about retirement wind down and need to make the best of retirement years with new ideas, family and friends. Life is what you make it, plan and prepare to enjoy each day. Don't stop learning. I did not discover what the best is yet to come is, but will keep making the best effort to do so.

Rethinking Retirement

In some ways, retirement is a bigger milestone than graduation. Young adulthood usually starts with a plan that changes dramatically several times—often involving new jobs, new locations, and even new families. A traditional retirement is also a new step, but the focus tends to be more on what has ended—a career built over decades, one’s professional identity, and even a regular paycheck.

If you are looking for a fresh perspective and a non-traditional retirement, this book is for you.
Dr. Mike Bellah expertly blends together personal snippets with research to show that our generation does not have to settle for our parents’ retirement. This audiobook gives insight into how to make the most of one’s “encore years.”