The beginning of a new year is the traditional time to gaze into that proverbial crystal ball and make your New Years resolutions. And hey, this time you are really going to keep them, right? No question about that. And in 2008, you really will stop your ten-year spending spree. Good for you! If the US economy collapses as a result, there's always Aunt Gertrude in Germany who will take you in.

What is so hard about retirement? This sounds like a made up question. Many people feel retirement is no big deal; you just stop working! But, let us ask the question another way: what is a good retirement? After all, we pretty much know what a good education is and have some ideas about a good career, but what are the qualities which make a "good" retirement? If you believe the ads from financial service companies, you probably think that money is the answer.

You've spent years dreaming of your retirement: the things you'll do, the places you'll go, the things you'll see. So why now, after a year or more into retirement, do you feel vague, unfocused, unhappy, and perhaps even miserable?

If this is you, you are not alone. In surveys of retirees, 40% say they were happier when they were working.

So that day that you never thought would ever get here is getting here. Soon. You have dreamed about it. You play-acted it on your recent vacation. You saved for it. Maybe not enough, but hey, it's never enough, right?

But are you really ready to retire? If your financial advisor tells you that the money is sufficient, that's wonderful! But that alone does not make you ready.

What is so hard about retirement? Many people have asked themselves this question. Well, if it is so easy, then why are 41% of retirees five years out depressed and say retirement was the most difficult transition of their life? Now they are unhappy and tell us their life was better when they were working!

You can avoid this fate. To learn how, you need to understand the difficulties associated with this transition, beginning with why there are so many negative psychological associations with the whole concept of "retirement" which you may not consciously understand.

Before you retired, remember how you dreamed about what your life would be like after you stopped working? All the places you would go? All the things you would do with all your new-found extra time? How wonderful life was going to be? How long ago was that?

Now here you are, months or years later. Your life is not what you envisioned.

Most athletes are born competitors. Since our early years, we have been conditioned to think in terms of "how many," "how much" and "how fast." The cruel twist of fate parallels the wisdom of age with the slowing of the fast-twitch muscles. The athlete who wishes to retain enjoyment in his older years needs cunning as well as brawn to do well, feel well, and be well!

Our primal instincts regarding the ever-upward ascent of our achievements have to withstand the changes in absolute measure (hardly any of us will be faster at sixty than we were at twenty, or even forty).

Why do we call "retirement" an art? After all, as many believe, you simply stop working. The answer is that, for many of us, this period of life is the first time we actually have the opportunity to create the life we want! There is no model for this period, no Uncle George or Aunt Josie to tell you which is the best school to go to or what is the best place to work with the best benefits.

Do I have enough money to retire? That is a question that 77 million baby boomers are asking themselves. Many do not retire simply because they don't know the answer. And they are right to be fearful. Studies have shown that, based on their current savings, 60% of Americans will not be able to sustain their present lifestyle in retirement!

The most common advice you will hear from the financial community is that you will need 80% of your pre-retirement annual salary.

When we speak about retirement, we usually refer, consciously or not, to a period of withdrawal. This may be tinged in Technicolor, with images of grandchildren, travel, and other things we dreamed of but didn't have time for during our employment phase, but rarely does the concept include commitment, leveraging our personal resources to impact a world view, or connecting to our community in a more profound way than had previously been envisaged.